Jill Criswell

Full Review on my blog!

Let me just say, the cover is what drew me in! Yes, I totally judged this book by its cover, and what a beautiful cover it is!

Beasts of the Frozen Sun is Jill's debut novel and the first in a new fantasy trilogy that I'm really exited about! I really don't want to give anything away because it's such a beautifully written novel, clearly inspired by Celtic and Viking mythology and you need to experience it firsthand.

We follow the journey of two enemies: Aillira or Lira for short, the daughter of a Chieftain and Reyker, a warrior from a far distant, cold land from a clan known as Beasts of the Frozen Sun. Although, they meet in unfortunate circumstances, they create a bond that develops from hate to trust and then finally attraction and love. It wasn't just about them though, there was just about everything you could possibly want in a YA fantasy; action, suspense, monstrous men, powerful women and meddling gods. It was well-rounded, imo. It felt very raw, and was unique. I love the world building and especially the character development, It was slow burning and swoon-worthy. Also, let me just say how flawless the transition was between first and third person point of views; between the two characters.

But anyways!

I loved this so much, and I'm really, REALLY looking forward to where the author takes us in the rest of the series!

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I received an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Beasts of the Frozen Sun is the first in a new fantasy trilogy about a girl touched by the gods, and a boy who is supposed to be her enemy.

I love books inspired by mythology and playing with gods, and I loved the narrative in this book around the two different stories about what happened so many years ago. Which god is the hero, and which is the villain? Which one of them is the traitor? And how does the mortal woman the gods love play into all of this?

That being said, there was one thing that stuck with me and became more and more impossible to ignore: the most important women in this book other than the main character are a dead mother and a dead ancestor. Almost everything Lira does is motivated by her brothers, her father, her uncle, the enemy warlord, the male gods warring over her, the boy she finds on the beach, or the boy who was her childhood love. She has a best friend who had potential, and a few other (god-gifted) women appearing here and there, but at the end of the day, Lira is defined by the men in her life. She only realises her life matters when she is useful to Reykel, and even at the end, she claims she belongs to him.

You could argue that Reykel also belongs to her, and that this is part of their star-crossed fated love story, and that's fine - but that doesn't explain the others. Moreover, all this happens in a world soaked in misogyny, full of barbaric, violent men who steal and rape and threaten women. I know this is nothing new in mainstream fantasy, but every time a writer creates a whole new magical world, then goes and fills it with the same stale bigotry, my heart dies a little.

Overall, if you're not yet sick of heteronormative, misogynistic fantasy worlds, you might enjoy this more than I did - the plotline with the gods and Lira's gift is actually nice. But the number of sacrifised and fridged and sidelined and nonexistent women was just too much for me, personally.… (más)