*I received an ecopy of this novel for review from NetGalley. All my thoughts an opinions are my own.*

DNF at 40%

I went into this novel with very high hopes. It seemed to have everything I was looking for in a fun, dangerous fantasy. Janneke sounded like a brave and exciting young woman to follow and learn more about her and the Goblin’s she is living with, after being captured in a raid some 100 years ago.

I liked the new take on Goblins, they seem more like elves or another creature, but I was fine with them being Goblins.

I liked the set-up of Janneka being forced to be Janneke by her family because her father wanted a boy so much after having so many girls. So she is forced into a more masculine role. She now wears this a shield against her feelings later on.

However, that is where my interest ended.

I think this is a very cluttered story, yet at the same time, the pacing was way off for me. We are dropped into the middle of a new fantasy world with no explanation of these people. That would have been okay if not for the fact that Janneke has already been with the Goblins for over a century!

I personally feel it was a big mistake to come into this novel at the time that we do. It was so confusing! The trauma that we experience in flashbacks with Janneke, of her rape and torture by a harsh Goblin, would have been much more impactful if we weren’t 100 years removed from it. I know she can still be struggling with it, but for that long?

Also, her and Soren’s relationship cannot have been this slow of a burn. For goodness sakes! If he had saved her, cared for her and protected her for a century, she would at least be better friends with him. It’s fine if no romance has come of it yet, but for her to hate him and be distrustful after all this time. I just didn’t buy it.

And then, the complaining! She hates herself. Self-loathing is everywhere. It just did not sit well with me. Granted, I did only give this 40%, I hope Janneke learns more about herself and that it can be a strength. But every other scene was Soren telling her to embrace who she could be and Janneke just keeps rejecting it. I had enough.

2 stars is my review.

The Quick Cut: A girl fights her inevitable change to Goblin as she continues to survive in the Permafrost.

A Real Review:
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dark fantasy written well is a tricky concept. You want that mystique that makes it chilling and envoking a creep factor, but at the same time have to balance that feeling out with still telling a compelling tale with characters the readers feel emotionally invested to. With "White Stag", it seems the author lost her way while writing in finding that balance.

Janneke is the survivor of a village on the edge of the Permafrost that was attacked by Goblins. As the sole survivor, she has since worked for Doren - a goblin of the Permafrost who claims to care only for her continued survival. The longer she lives here, the more she loses her connection to the human world and begins turning into one of them. How long can Janneke hold out or is she already one of the monsters?

From the outside, I should've loved this book. It had all the elements I adore about dark fantasy and with the core story - it even asks a deep philosophical question (which I always love). However, I ended up hating this book with a passion instead.

Why? Well, simply told: the author clearly doesn't understand her own audience, especially in relation to today's society. Rape is used in the story of this book. I have no issue with the use of rape for a story as long as it's used delicately.

However, the rape in this one is used to basically buy some emotional sympathy for a character and then really isn't addressed again (as if a person would be okay after that). It's one thing to survive in a difficult environment, but another entirely to ignore what's happened to you. It didn't read as natural to me and turned me off big as a reader.

Beyond that, it didn't work. I didn't feel an emotional connection to any of the characters in this book (good or bad). That's a sign when your audience feels nothing but apathy... Something is missing.

With a myriad of misused elements, you are better off reading a better written dark fantasy book.

oh my gosh this was so much fun - the story was so compelling from the first page as we followed Janneke and her struggle to overcome all that's thrown at her. It's got the perfect combination of everything that kept me reading and engaged throughout.

The main character's rape was not handled as it should be. I question if the author or editor sought out help from sexual assault survivors or sensitivity readers. Plainly put, the rape in this book was used for shock and to elicit emotions that could have been obtained through other means.

The reader is meant to feel "bad" or "sorry" for the main character while being bashed over the head again and again with the fact that she was assaulted. Nothing comes from this. It's a poor plot device that doesn't play out.

I wish more emphasis would have been spent on worldbuilding and plot, and less on shock or the insensitivity towards trauma. I will not be recommending this book. In fact, I will warn people, especially sexual assault survivors and those triggered by such to stay away.

I loved this dark fantasy tale! Janneke is a daughter raised to be a son - while her sisters are taught the "skills of a woman', she's taught how to hunt and fight. She goes through horrible situations and hardships, and ultimately has to make an incredibly difficult choice. This was a wild ride and I was really excited to see that it's the first in a series!

Original fully formed world incorporating many myth and creation stories as well as adding unique elements that make this a really exciting read. This rolls along smartly and grabs you and drags you into the story. I am grateful to #netgalley for the chance to read #whitestag in an ARC. Will look for the next book by this author.

I absolutely loved this! I was a bit unsure because Janneke's love interest is, yeah, a goblin. Janneke's growing into what she was meant to be is a trial in itself but throw in an evil, ex-owner goblin and you have a lot of action. Have to mention Seppo. Yes, throughout the book I read him in Korg's voice from Infinity War. When you read it tell me if you think so too. Love his snarkiness. Can't wait for the next one. One for the keeper shelf.

I’ve been hitting a serious slump lately and finding it so hard for anything to hold my attention so when I picked up Kara Barbieri’s book (WAY out of order from when I was planning to read it) I honestly didn’t have huge expectations. I mean, nothing’s been working for me so far so why would this? Just another fantasy book, right?

This book HAD me from the first chapter! The first night I flew through at least 100 pages like it was nothing and had to force myself to put it down. I just loved the story so much and thought it was so different from anything else I’ve read.

I was a little put off at first by the whole goblin idea, I mean that’s kind of an unusual choice of character, but I actually didn’t mind it. We get more of a Garreth from Labyrinth than a tiny, gross Princess and the Goblin type of character and that really worked for me. I know, I know “goblins can’t be pretty” but let’s be honest with ourselves here; if vampires can sparkle then there’s no reason why we can’t have beautiful goblins. Just enjoy the Bowie-ness.

I do feel like the character and relationship development of both Soren and Janneke (Janneka? This name thing seriously drove me nuts and confused me to the very end of the book) was a little lacking in some areas and rushed in others. I won’t go into detail on those because I don’t want to spoil anything but sometimes less over a longer period of time is more and there is such a thing as way too much! I also think that we were lacking a lot of Lydian. Don’t get me wrong, I get that he is an ass of a character and I didn’t necessarily want to see more of him but I was left with so many questions that need to be answered. Seriously….what’s the deal with the snake? Please tell me this is being addressed in the next book!

There was a lot of focus on abuse as well and I’m not sure it was necessary. I feel like, although Janneke was the heroine in this book, she was portrayed way too often as the victim. I’m sure the point was to show how traumatizing events can stick with you and can ultimately be overcome, but the situation was constantly brought up and not just by Janneke but by everyone. This ended up being such a huge focal point when coming to terms with herself, her relationship with Soren and their hunt for the stag that I felt it took away from any possible revelation or growth her character was desperately trying to achieve. The constant state of victimization was important for her as a character, but very overplayed over the course of this book.

The world building in White Stag was practically non-existent but I didn’t mind. With such an assortment of Norse creatures and the Permafrost bordering a human village, I think that creating too much of a world would have really taken away from the book and slowed the pace too much. I would, however, had enjoyed a little more of an idea about how huge the Permafrost really is. I don’t think I really realized at first just how vast a place we were going to be travelling through so I guess maybe a little more world building would have helped after all. I just wouldn’t go too crazy.

I absolutely did NOT see that ending coming. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that was not it and I’m very much on the fence on whether I am happy about that or not. It’s not that the ending was bad, just… unexpected and a little on the strange side. Again, I have questions.

Since I’ve gone way over what I thought I was going to say in this review, I’m just going to try and wrap this up here. I thought that White Stag was an enjoyable and captivating read. This is definitely a dark fantasy series that I will be reading in full and I can not wait for the next installment. As a young debut author, Barbieri has impressed and I will be excited to see what she comes out with next.

Also…more Seppo. That needs to happen!

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this complimentary copy to read and provide my honest opinion.

I found the world building in this book had a lot of flaws. There were a lot of strange "rules" and a lot of convenient exceptions to those rules when it suited the story. It felt like the rules were being made up, and altered, as the story went along. However I did enjoy the interactions of the characters themselves. Seppo and the wolves, Rekke, Janneke and Soren. The story stands well on it's own. There definitely is some hint at the sequel at the end but there is enough of a story here, with enough of an ending (for this adventure anyway) that I feel quite satisfied ending here. I don't think I'll continue on with this series.

SPOILER ALERT

We learn early in the story that goblins can't lie. Then later in the book after Soren lies, we find out that they can lie they just have some kind of built in biological lie detector. Then even later in the book we find out after Janneke lies and is believed , that these built in biological lie detectors only work on other goblins.
The whole premise for goblins having human thralls was because goblins apparently can not do anything that goes against their predator nature. They can't tend the land, they can't grow things or create things that aren't directly related to destruction. But near the end of the book we find out that Soren's mother was attacked while tending her garden.
Janneke was apparently goblin enough to be burned by iron, but not goblin enough to be affected by the running water which wasn't given much explanation. Something about taking their power?

There were more. A lot of annoying little inconsistencies which really brought down my rating.

Rating ~3.5

"We are all monsters in some way."

This book was a very pleasant surprise. I'll be honest I was rather charmed from the start because some of the elements are quite reminiscent to a few of my favorites series. That said, the book is certainly a solid read on its own.

White Stag by Kara Barbieri is one of the best books I have read this year. I was a little apprehensive due to the mixed reviews I read on Goodreads but I am so glad I read it. It was incredible. The world building was amazing, the characters were complex and interesting and I seriously could not put it down.
The story is about a young girl named Janneke who was the sole survivor of her village being attacked by goblins. She was taken captive by the sadistic goblin Lydian and eventually sent to work for his nephew Soren. As Soren's thrall (the state of being in someone's power or having great power over someone), she cannot leave the Permafrost, the world where they live. She has been there for nearly 100 years. Soren is much kinder than his uncle and has very un-goblin like traits such as sarcasm that he is trying to learn from Janneke and a sense of humor, sometimes.
Their relationship takes a dramatic turn when he invites her to accompany him on The Hunt. The Hunt is a contest of who can capture and kill a magic white stag which will make that person king of the goblin world. She becomes even more conflicted when he tells her that having survived there for so long she will eventually become goblin.
Overall I was absolutely enchanted with this story. Within the first few pages I was already hooked. There is some flashbacks to her time with Lydian that are quite graphic but I feel it helps develop Janneke's character and shows us her state of mind and how it works after living so long among these creatures.
Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic book. I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!*

White Stag is about a human girl named Janneke who was raised in a village near the border between human and goblin lands. She is taken by a sadistic goblin named Lydian who tortures her for reasons she does not understand. Finally she comes under the care of his nephew, Soren, who teaches her to hunt and embrace her exceptional instincts. But the more she learns from Soren, the more she loses touch with her past, and the hunt for the white stag brings Janneke to a difficult decision.

I really enjoyed this book! I was drawn in by the writing and the fantasy world from the first few pages. The fantasy elements of the goblins and their magic are fascinating. There are some great action scenes, and Janneke is such a strong lead character. I liked the different characters and creatures, and the romance. I did see the ending coming, but that doesn't really bother me. How the characters got to that ending had many unexpected twists and turns. I loved that the ending was satisfying but also open to possibility, and I would return to these characters and this world if the series continues.

I recommend this book for fans of YA fantasy with strong female characters. I do need to mention that it is a little violent, and there is a trigger warning for rape. The rape is not described explicitly, but it is pretty central to the storyline, so it is alluded to frequently. I can see how that might be tough for some readers, so keep that in mind before picking it up.

White Stag is a dark, brutal and magical fantasy novel. Our protagonist Janneke is the only survivor after her (human) village gets attacked by goblins and is taken prisoner of an especially sadistic goblin. The goblins only respect the powerful and feel a satisfaction in killing the weak. Hence, Janneke has to adapt to this new life quickly to stay alive. The Permafrost, where the goblins live, is an icy and deadly wasteland most humans never dare to enter. The magic of the Permafrost has blessed Janneke with longevity. Despite still being mortal, she has lived in the Permafrost for 100 Years and still looks 17 when the story starts. For these past 100 years Janneke has managed to survive between goblin kind, which is far from normal. Goblins take humans as thrall, but most don’t survive very long in this deadly society.

I really enjoyed Janneke as a protagonist. She was imperfect, broken, scarred, and sacred, but so strong. She always kept going, even when the odds didn’t look good for her, and it broke my heart that she blamed herself for what happened to her family, her village.

The Hunt is the most important event for every goblin. The one who hunts and kills the White Stag will become the next Erlking, the most powerful of all goblins. The Hunt is brutal. Every power-hungry goblin wants to kill the stag themselves; the ones who aren’t powerful enough align themselves with the one they think is most likely to win. Janneke is aligned with Soren, one of the younger goblins who she has to admit she sees a friend. During the hunt Janneke is bound to make hard decisions, and while she finds herself becoming less human with every creature she kills, she also struggles heavily with the ghosts of her past. She keeps thinking of her family and she wonders why she survived while they didn’t. She feels guilty for surviving and becoming less human over the years. She doesn’t want to die; she wants to survive, but doing so makes her feel like a traitor. Janneke’s story is about finding yourself, growth, and that you shouldn’t dwell in the past for too long, but instead live in the present, but that doesn’t mean you have to completely forget about your past.

The adventure of the hunt stretches through the majority of the book, and we get to explore more of the Permafrost and its folk. The book is inspired by Norse mythology, and so it’s no surprise that we get to see Nøkken, Svartalves, and several other creatures found in this mythology. It was a very atmospheric journey. I liked the descriptions of the frozen landscape that is the permafrost. I could particularly feel the frosty air.

The writing style was very good and I liked the flow of it. The entire book was very fast paced and action packed, though I found some of the action scenes a little confusing. I would have liked to know a few more details about the world building as well. We find out why the Stag is so important at the end of the book, but I would have liked to know it at the beginning. I spent a lot of time wondering why exactly the Stag is so important, what makes it so special etc., so some information before the hunt starts would have been helpful. I also kept wondering what time period the story was set in. Every story needs to be inspired by a specific time period, that helps it seem more real in my opinion.

At first, this was very confusing. I wasn't sure who the first person narrator was. It did take me a bit to really get into this. However, by the first 50 pages, I was absolutely hooked.

This is a fresh narrative coming from a POV that is very interesting. The main character, Janneke(Janneka) has a lot of angst but it isn't the typical teenager angst you might expect. She's an unusually old teen having lived a century as a thrall to a goblin lord. She's gone through some awful things that are not glossed over (truly sensitive types might need to talk this out.) Her current owner/lord, Soren, is transparent in how he treats Janneke(a) but she is blind to his interest.

Thank goodness this isn't another triangle love story. Soren and Janneka have only themselves in the way of this romance. But romance is not the true theme of this book. This is about a hunt, a White Stag, and the kingship of the Permafrost. Watch for subtle and not-so-subtle references to Scandinavian mythology.

As I said, this book hooked me. I will be looking for the next one with great interest. There is brutality in this book but none of it felt out of place to me. The final battle with Soren, Lydian (a really nasty piece of work even for a goblin), the White Stag, and Janneke(a) was a nail-biter. And I did not see the ending that came. Not at all. I was shocked by it.

I think Barbieri should be watched. If this is her debut, then she's already hit a homerun to start.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this title!**

Janneke was the last child in a long line of daughters, and was raised as the male heir to the family, given the male pronunciation of her name, and taught to hunt, track, and fight. She was raised as a boy and while that rankled her when she was a child, it instilled in her a survivor's instincts, which is what kept her alive when the rest of her village was burned to the ground, and during these last 100 years as a goblin slave.

At first, Janneke was mistreated and almost killed by a twisted goblin named Lydian, in the magical new land of the Permafrost. After besting him in a fight, she was given as a gift to his much kinder nephew, Soren, who actually treats her with respect. But that was almost 100 years ago, and now Janneke is dismayed to find that she is actually starting to absorb some of the magic of the Permafrost and turn into a goblin herself.

And that is when the Erlking dies, and the hunt for the white stag - the contest by which the next king is named - begins. In a fight to the death, can there ever be a real winner?

**MY NOTES** Okay, I love this book. Janneke is not a perfect character, and not always likeable, but that's okay, because she's HUMAN! (At least, for now.) The amount of trauma she went through would leave a mark on anyone, and Janneke has as many emotional as physical scars to deal with. Can you blame her for wanting to hold on to scraps of the past (including the actual scrap that is the iron nail - both the last remnant of her village that she has, and the tool she used to defeat Lydian)? I certainly can't.

This has been a hard review to write. There is so much that I truly found myself loving about this book, but also quite a bit that I found myself disliking. The main character is unique in the sense that she has suffered from so much at the hands of the goblins, but happens to be turning into a monster herself. I found her backstory to be interesting, but almost overdone. The suffering that she went through really added to her as a character, however parts of the torture felt as if it was just for shock value. Some of the things mentioned, should not be taken lightly and could upset some readers. The supporting characters added a lot to the story. I loved the different creatures that were shared throughout the book. Some of them were really interesting to me.

I had a bit of issue with the world building, there was so much that I could not picture. When goblins were first mentioned, I immediately pictured something more on the grotesque side. Goblins, in my mind, have never been beautiful or alluring. It was an odd twist that I did find myself liking. The only other part that I had a difficult time with was the overall story of the stag.

Overall, I truly did enjoy reading White Stag. I really cannot wait to read the next book in the series!

A beautifully written story that fits well into the dark YA fey genre that has the feel of ACOMAF by Sarah J Maas (though much tamer, actual YA not NA). I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to fans of Wintersong and ACOTAR series who still enjoy these types of books (Like me!), but if you’re looking for something unique to the genre because you’ve read it all, this may leave you wanting.

A young woman was taken from her family by monsters, the ghouls. Time has gone by and she has survived. Now the ghoul who murdered her family is trying to become king. If he succeeds he will have the power to kill her.
While this took me a little bit to finish, I did find it to be interesting. There was some cool world building. Some interesting philosophical questions are also in the story. I will say there were some parts of the story I figured out but there was a surprise ending which I always appreciate.

Overall this was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it.

This isn’t your typical YA drivel. I don’t even know that this is YA. Is this YA? Hang on. Let me go look. Yikes. This is considered YA? I wouldn’t classify it as such, although it does have very slight moments of teen angst-y stuff, but they are few and very far between, and obviously I had to stop and go look to even see if this book was considered YA. There are several scenes and depictions of violent rape and torture in this book, which is why I wondered at the YA classification, however, they are not gratuitous, nor are they overly detailed so I can kind of see how it still lands in the category. Janneke is a heroine for the ages. She is a take no prisoners, take charge, ass kicker of a woman that knows what she wants and doesn’t shy away from a fight. I really like this character. She’s fleshed out, flawed, vulnerable, angry, and soft at the same time. And the male protagonist is fun too. He’s a perfect counterpoint for her. Seppo is fun, he’s a goofy addition to the pair and I’m looking forward to seeing him in future novels, I hope he makes an appearance in the second book. I’m looking forward to more of this series, and am very glad this is just the beginning of Janneke’s adventures. This is a breath of fresh air in the very stale YA fantasy genre.

The dark atmosphere and wonderful writing had me at the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading. The story gave me so many feelings and I am so excited to reread it already!