Book Review: Beasts of the Frozen Sun

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publish date: August 6, 2019

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Burn brightly. Love fiercely. For all else is dust.

Every child of Glasnith learns the last words of Aillira, the god-gifted mortal whose doomed love affair sparked a war of gods and men, and Lira of clan Stone knows the story better than most. As a descendant of Aillira and god-gifted in her own right, she has the power to read people's souls, to see someone's true essence with only a touch of her hand.

When a golden-haired warrior washes up on the shores of her homeland--one of the fearful marauders from the land of the Frozen Sun--Lira helps the wounded man instead of turning him in. After reading his soul, she realizes Reyker is different than his brethren who attack the coasts of Glasnith. He confides in her that he's been cursed with what his people call battle-madness, forced to fight for the warlord known as the Dragon, a powerful tyrant determined to reignite the ancient war that Aillira started.

As Lira and Reyker form a bond forbidden by both their clans, the wrath of the Dragon falls upon them and all of Glasnith, and Lira finds herself facing the same tragic fate as her ancestor. The battle for Lira's life, for Reyker's soul, and for their peoples' freedom has only just begun.

Plot (5 stars): As I talk about this book, you're going to realize that I love, love, love this book! I want to read it again!! So, this book is 368 pages. It did not feel like 368 pages though. The plot was not slow at any point. There was action, things were moving, it was beautiful. I loved every second of the plot. The world Criswell created was so complex. It reminded me a bit of the viking culture. I imagined How to Train Your Dragon the whole time I read it. I don't know if that's how the author pictured it or not, but that's what was in my head. Just a warning though, in the first 20% of this book, my heart was racing and I was crying. The plot is great.

Characters (5 stars): Oh my goodness. The characters!! I couldn't help but to fall in love with the characters. They were all beautiful with their own personalities. The development was perfect. Lira and Reyker won me over pretty quickly. I also loved Lira's brothers and Quinlan. They have such incredible personalities and are written so well.

Writing (5 stars): Which brings us to the writing. This, too, was great. Sometimes when you read high fantasy type stuff, the detail gets away from the author. As a reader, I feel bogged down. Criswell was able to walk that fine line between beautiful details without supplying too many to bore the readers. Criswell is just a beautiful weaver of words.

Overall: AMAZE-BALLS!!! I really don't know what else to say about it. Read this book! I can't wait until the sequel comes out.

I received this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

If you're interested in purchasing this for yourself, here is the Amazon link.

Author: Jill Criswell is a writer of Young Adult Historical Fantasy. She was born and raised in the swamps of northeastern Florida. She earned degrees in English and Psychology and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida. Her greatest passion, besides reading and writing, is traveling the world; she’s visited fifty countries across six continents, falling in love with places like Iceland, Namibia, and Cambodia. She works as a university English teacher and lives in South Carolina, near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her husband and daughter (who is named after a volcano in Iceland).

For more info, check out her website.