A surprising gem of a book that kept me interested! The character craft and relationship of the main characters was great and believable. Can't wait for the next book.

This cover is absolutely gorgeous and was the first thing that pulled me to this book. 
If you asked me what words immediately come to mind I would say - badass, fast paced, and brutal.

Beasts of the Frozen Sun was unlike anything I’ve ever read! It features intense danger, a slow burning romance, and worldbuilding that will suck you in from the first page.

The story follows Lira, a girl with a gift that allows her to read people’s souls. With this gift, she can view memories and feel emotions locked away inside someone. This was such a unique gift, and I enjoyed getting to learn about what she can or can’t see with that gift.

There were a lot of really cool elements to this story that really made it shine for me. One was the language gap between Lira and Reyker! Too often in fiction do characters from opposing cultures (or even planets!) speak the same language, which seems more like narrative convenience to me. The gap between Lira and Reyker goes on for a long time, and I enjoyed their early interactions more because of it.

Another element that I loved was the supernatural/religious lore in the book. We learn a lot about the gods worshipped both in Lira’s land and in Reyker’s. The gods play a big role in some parts of the plot, so I’m glad that Criswell included a lot of detail about this.

Also, we totally need to talk about Reyker! He was such a complex and deep character. I loved how protective and devoted to Lira he could be. He was written in such a way that he’s obviously a powerful warrior, but he doesn’t overshadow Lira’s own strength! They’re romance didn’t start with insta-love, and in fact they seemed to be at odds for a while, before circumstances drive them together.

I also want to talk about our villain, Draki. He’s actually dangerous, and terrifying, and powerful. From the first time we see him on the page, he’s already menacing and pretty awful, and he only gets worse as time goes on. He’s definitely not the sympathetic villain type, but in this book, where we have other villians as well, I don’t think that’s too much of a problem.

My only issue with the book was pacing. It starts off fast paced, but there are times when I just felt that it lulled a bit. (I can’t say where, as it would spoil things a bit!) Things picked up and became action packed again, but just be warned that there’s a bit of a lull to push through.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book! I can’t wait for the sequel! (That ending though!!!) 4.5/5 stars for me.

Overall I did enjoy this, but it was very definitely young adult, and I doubt I'll be reading the sequels. That being said, this was a strong debut with intricate worlbuilding and memorable characters.

It was very good to read and kept me entertained. It was well paced and enjoyed not getting bored and the story line moving forward without lulls. Loved Reyker so much and Lira is a very good character that made the whole story.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. I will review this title at a different date.

Um, wow.

I just finished Beasts of the Frozen Sun and I’m not okay. From page one, Beasts took my breath away as it introduced a fierce heroine with the ability to touch souls and a boy Beast desperately trying to not turn into the monster his brutal clan demands him to become. And gosh, I loved every second of it!

I was expecting to love Beasts since the premise makes it sound so intriguing, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so… dark and chaotic. I think this is one of the few books I have read this year that immediately jumps into action and basically has you running, trying to catch up. It’s as if the pages dragged you into the middle of all the intense action scenes: from the moment the warriors of the west (the beasts of the Frozen Sun) start attacking villages to when the Gods suddenly decide to interfere and meddle with human lives. By the time I reached the end, my eyes were open wide!

Oh, but let me get back to my girl Lira! She’s one of the main characters and gosh, I loved her so much. She’s god-marked by the infamous goddess Aillira who once upon a time, brought war and destruction to the people of Glasnith. Now, having a gift from this goddess and being named after her, Lira faces rejection from her own people, as her father uses her to read into people’s souls and pass judgement–this often ending in her ruining someone’s life. When she saves Reyker and realizes he is one of the westlanders from the Frozen Sun, her own curiosity leads her to discover the conflicting truths about the deeds he has done under the enemy clan’s ruthless leader and to question whether or not her own people are as equally brutal, if only in a different way under the influence of Gods.

Lira is fierce, loyal, and the kind of person that puts her family above everything else. Before the Westlanders invade, she is torn about the idea of either marrying into another clan or heading into Allira’s Temple to continue to practice her own god-given gift. I felt her frustration of only having these two options, since women in her time and place were not allowed to be independent. She wanted to stay close to her clan, but also to travel and find her own place where she would not be seen as a bad omen. Totally rooting for her to accomplish this dream by the end of the trilogy!

But REYKER. Ugh, my heart weeps for this boy whose life has been filled by anger and bloodshed. Forced to work under the Dragon’s influence, he has done terrible deeds and endured it all to somehow bring the leader of the Frozen Sun clan down. I really liked the way his relationship develops with Lira, as they both try to come to terms with their roles and how they are fated to be in the middle of an ancient war between gods and a ruthless tyrant.

Lira and Reyker are star-crossed lovers through and through and I am in for it. ♥

“I didn’t trust him yet. But I’d have to try.
Beneath the dancing flares of sparkflies, beneath the steady gaze of his eyes, I placed a hand over my own heart. “Safe, Reyker.”

There’s so much to say about Beasts of the Frozen Sun, but right now I feel like I am not nailing it at all. So to wrap this up, I have to state that this book is a mesmerizing read full of magic, meddling gods, non-stop action and the enemies-to-lovers trope we love to ship.

Love this so much! The main character gave me all of the feels! I do think the writing can do with some improvement but as a debut novel it was really good. 

I giv eit 3.5 stars. 
TW: abuse

** spoiler alert ** This is exactly what I was looking for to read. It's a fanaasy but wouldn't classify it as YA but as NA, since it's much more darker with more intense topics (mentions of rape, torture, death..), which is what I love!
I love how the author writes a slowburn chemistry between Lira and Reyker, and not to mention that they are enemies and forbidden to be together.. It has all my favorite tropes! 😍
Definitely will be checking out the next book in the series!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review 

This book kept my interest and was a fast read, but it was ok.

The book has vikings that alone is reason enough to pick it up. There have been a few YA books in recent years that focus on vikings and gods and while some of them don't hit the mark, Bears of the Frozen Sun totally does. I just feel bad that I forgot to post my review because honestly the book was amazing.

I loved this book!! It had everything I look for in a fantasy read. I loved the heroine, the plot and the pacing!! I cannot recommend it enough.

You know those books that immerse you completely and get you excited to fall deep into them? This is one of those books. And boy oh boy, am I excited that it’s a series.

I don’t read a lot of fantasy so I couldn’t compare it to others in the genre, but it had me hooked. Forbidden romance, ancient gods, and possession? Sign me up. The entire book is a true testament to Criswell’s ability as a writer. Thoroughly enjoyable, unputdownable, and exciting.

First of all; the cover! As always, I am a cover-lover at it’s finest and this one instantly caught my attention!

I really liked how the book sounded when I first heard of it, and was definitely intrigued. The story about a girl who is god-gifted, but doesn’t like how she has to use it, about a boy from strange lands who she should hate but can’t.. it definitely sounded right up my alley.

I mostly liked the book, I thought the way the world worked is amazing and well-thought, and the combination of that world in the world of Lira herself, with her clan, her family and friends, it came together so well.

Lira is a character I found difficult to like sometimes, as she is definitely powerful, not only because of her gift, but also because of the swordfighting she’s able to do. I am always up for strong female characters and she surely is one. The only thing I sometimes didn’t like was the choices she made. Of course, that’s part of the story but I just felt like she chose too much for Reyker where she “told” me she cared so much for her family.

Reyker is a boy who Lira should hate, for various reasons, but for some reason, she is unable to. Instead, she saves him from death and patches him up in secret. She talks to him, cares for him, and slowly learns to communicate with him. There is a certain kind of darkness in him that she sometimes refuses to accept, however, later in the book it is explained. He keeps telling her she should not help him, even tries to refuse her help, to attack her for helping him, but nothing stops her.

Lira’s family and clan is something I don’t usually read a lot about in the books I read, but from the beginning on, it’s clear how things work there. The clan has a chieftain, and the clan listens to the chieftain. And no one is there to stop that in any other way than challenging the chieftain to a duel for the position. I personally find that difficult yo read about sometimes because I’m all for own opinions and voices, but it fit with the book very well.

The story was intriguing, and I found myself wondering what would happen next many times. Although at some point I expected something would go wrong, and then got better again, and I got it right, I still really liked reading the book. There are some mentions of things in the book that might be triggers, so I put trigger warnings in my review. I personally was not affected by them.

I wonder what the gods have in mind for Lira and Reyker and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series!

Lira is a soul reader, which means she can peer inside someone to see their secrets and sins-- quite valuable skill for the daughter of a chieftain. When we meet Lira, she's at a crossroads, unable to choose between two paths in front of her: getting married or joining a temple filled with others who have similar powers. When she finds a still living body washed on the beach, everything changes. The survivor is named Reyker, and he's a foreign berserker who Lira can tell is different from his bloodthirsty brethren. Lira and Reyker have met before, when Lira was taken from her home and Reyker saved her from his companion, a shockingly powerful and scary figure known as a the Dragon. Now, Lira saves Reyker by nursing him back to health. As she and Reyker spend time together, she realizes that, if she can't "bring Reyker into the light, the Dragon would crush us all."

Issues with this:
• I really dislike books were the purpose of the heroine is to redeem or transform the hero. It's 2019, and we can be our own heroes. This also seems somewhat ineffective-- after finishing the book, I'm at a loss about how Lira brought Reyker into the light.
• Not enough effective world-building. This involves the meeting of two cultures, one I assumed was possibly inspired by ancient British tribalism and one that seems Viking-esque. Maybe? Besides language barriers, I couldn't get a sense of how the two peoples are different or the scale of the conflict or anything.
• The two main characters, Lira and Reyker, meet at some point in the past, and it is totally unnecessary. The prior meeting hardly builds trust between the two characters, but it eats up page count and confuses the timeline.
• The two villains are incredibly flat.
• The mythology is key to the plot, but it didn't grip me in the slightest.
• The main characters are magically transported without explanation after bonking, and this infuriated me. It utterly spoiled any sense of distance and scale, prevents the characters from meaningfully discussing what happened between them, and it smacks of the fast travel issues in later seasons of Game of Thrones.

Some books aren't for me, and this one definitely wasn't for me.

Sigh. Beasts of the Frozen Sun started out so good. It has a Tristan and Isolde vibe to it. Enemies. One injured and nursed back to help by the other. Time spent together. Feelings develop. Forbidden romance. All good, good things. I was so excited to keep reading this book.

Lira is god gifted. She's able to read people's souls. But Reyker is different. She's never experienced a soul like his before. Lira loves her family. But her father has been using her gift and using her in the process. She's faced with two choices: go to live at the temple or get married. She doesn't feel drawn to either path before her. And when Reyker washes up on her shore, everything changes.

Reyker. He's struggling with himself. Who he was, what he believes in, versus what he's done and allowed himself to do in order to survive have him at war with himself. Darkness and light in a constant battle. Lira can see to the core of who he is. She brings the light forth. From a writing standpoint, I struggled with Reyker's character. He's built up as being super strong. A beast, right? He's the Dragon's Sword. He's a weapon. And at times he describes himself as letting a black river take over--almost like he's given over to battle lust and can't be defeated. Yet time and time again, he's bested by those of Lira's people. This isn't even about Draki at this point.

And that leads me to my next point. I was thoroughly enjoying Beasts of the Frozen Sun until about the 4 or 5th time that Lira and/or Reyker was captured and held hostage. These two could never get ahead. They made the tiniest forward movement in their missions. I truly feel like this was a writing flaw. Too many bad things were happening to the characters that it almost leaves the reader without hope for them. And it creates doubt in their abilities. This means that when they ultimately do end up overcoming their obstacles in order to achieve their happily ever after, it's going to feel unrealistic. That after all of these failed attempts to escape, to make an impact, they all of a sudden succeed at what they've been failing at time and time again. I hope that is remedied in the future of the series.

The world-building for Beasts of the Frozen Sun was almost too complex. There are two nations, each with their own histories and gods. The acknowledgments state that Jill Criswell was inspired by George R R Martin. And I can certainly understand how his vast world-building would inspire her to do something similar. Yet his books were no less than 800 pages long, and after 5 books that's 5200 pages (almost). You can do quite a bit more world-building in that amount of pages than you can in 368 pages.

Beasts of the Frozen Sun started out wonderfully to me. Yet the further I read into the story the most disappointed I became. I do think I'll want to read more and finish the series at this point, but the characters had too many failures and setbacks. And the setbacks were basically the same thing over and over again. The characters get captured before they can accomplish much nearly every time they try to move forward. The characters are built up to be larger than life in how they're described, but when push comes to shove they fail over and over. I wanted to see something that would give me cause for hope. In the end, I think Beasts of the Frozen Sun gets 3.5 Stars. Have you read Beasts of the Frozen Sun? What did you think? Let me know!

<i> Beasts of the Frozen Sun </i> is one of those books I wish I'd read when I was a teenager. 15-year-old me would have lapped this book up, and then some.

When a stranger from the Land of the Frozen Sun washes up injured on the shores of Glasnith, Lira of Clan Stone makes a decision that will tear her from her own clan; rather than turn the stranger in, Lira heals him of his wounds in secret, realising he is not like the other invaders and beasts of the Frozen Sun as she knows them. Lira is gifted with the ability to see into the souls of others, and when she touches Reyker's soul, she sees a soul that needs to be healed and protected. Her decision starts a chain reaction that quickly pulls the pair into danger at every turn, her home plunges to war.

The first thing that got me about <i> Beasts of the Frozen Sun </i> was how in-depth the world-building is. Being a fantasy-lover through and through, I always appreciate the work that author goes to in order to create a fantasy world that feels like it could exist outside of the book. I felt that way about the island Glasnith and the mythology surrounding Aillira and Gwylor. I loved how it was essentially a story within a story, on the one hand we have the story of Lira and Reyker and on the other we have Aillira and Veronis - each distinct but at the same time intertwined. This was the main draw point of the book for me and will get me to return to the series if there's a sequel. 

This book really is something that a younger version of me would have devoured at speed and probably would've been a favourite read for me - but being slightly older now and less prone to swooning at cute fantasy/romances, I felt more inclined to simply enjoy the book for what it was, and let myself be swept up in the world building and mythology of Glasnith and the Land of the Frozen Sun.

I give this read 3.5 stars and definitely recommend it to older teenage readers who enjoy fantasy/romance genres.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A well-built world with lovable characters and enough action and romance to please any fans of epic fantasy.

Lira and Reyker aren't supposed to fall in love. But when Lira saves Reyker because he saved her life once, they slowly fall for each other, overcoming the barrier of language and speaking with gestures and stories. Lira's kingdom of Glasnith considers the warriors of Islenede as enemies. As such, their relationship is forbidden, and has no chance of blooming. But Lira is a god-gifted soul reader and if anybody's got a chance to defy the gods... it's her.

I loved the dual narrative, especially Reyker's dark past, which made him a lovable character. Lira was more of a Mary Sue, but equally lovable. There was much more romance than I had anticipated. The action scenes were thrilling, but I thought the scenes repeated over and over, that it became an exhausting cycle of running, hiding, getting caught and fighting. 

Fans of Epic Fantasy would surely love this amazing world and plot twists. The cliffhanger ending was satisfactory and yet makes you crave for the sequel.

Ever since reading Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young, I have been looking for more YA fantasy that features ancient mythology. Beasts of the Frozen Sun is inspired by both Celtic and Viking mythology, so I couldn’t wait to dive into this one!

Lira lives in Glasnith (a community comprised of several clans) and is the granddaughter of the Chieftain to the Stone clan. As with tradition, once the chieftain dies, the honor must pass on to another male with her family. This leaves Lira with two choices: 1) marry a man of her father’s choosing or 2) pledge herself to Aillira’s temple, a sanctuary for god-gifted women. Lira is god-gifted, but her abilities are unlike the typical gifts that are bestowed upon the women in her society. She can read souls. She can look into a person’s soul and tell you if they are lying. Her gift is exploited by her father who uses her to dictate whether an accused man is innocent or guilty.

Reyker barely has any redeeming qualities left. The prologue opens with the savage raids that he committed along the coast of Lira’s homeland. When he washes ashore, barely alive, Lira recognizes him as the boy who helped her escape the Dragon a lifetime ago. Since she owes him a life debt, she hides him away to nurse him back to health. She can’t trust him since he is one of the beasts of frozen sun…a member of the clan enemy to her own.

This story is violent. There’s bloodshed, abuse, attempted rape…everything that you would except in a mythological story of this time period. The author does a fantastic job of immersing you into this epic battle without holding back any of the gory details. I loved watching Lira and Reyker slowly peel away their layers of distrust. This is by no means a love at first sight type of pairing. They must learn to trust and respect each other if they are going to survive together.

Overall, this is a fantastic start to this new trilogy, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for my eARC. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

Note: This is only a partial review. The full review is on my blog.

Beasts of the Frozen is not very different from the books that I normally read, and yet it is still unique in its own right. It's a YA novel that has elements of fantasy and an enemy-to-lover main plot-line. That's all it took for me to be intrigued. The fact that Reyker, the male lead of this novel, has a troubled past, filled with anguish and terror made it even better. I am a sucker for a good angsty story, with a lot of character development!

This was a very intriguing read. If you want to be exposed to a whole new world, with compelling lore and legends, you should definitely give this book a try.