Hello Goblin Goodness from Kara Barbieri!!
I feel like I need to start this by saying I adore anything with Goblins or Goblin Kings. It’s from an early age *cough Labyrinth cough* that I’ve had this love.
First, big thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is book one in a series called “Permafrost” and to be honest, it doesn’t end on a cliff and I’m not sure where book two will take us. I’m fully in for the adventure though.
“We’re all monsters to someone or something by some definition. It’s the context of the situation that matters.” White Stag, Kara Barbieri
White Stag delivers to one of my favorite plot points. Shades of grey and the question of what really makes a monster or a villain. I love books that ride that line of questioning and also seeing the perspective from the other side. Having the reader question all characters and their motives is what makes an excellent story. (In my opinion anyway, I could be wrong…haha)
To back up just a tad, Kara Barbieri originally published this book on watt pad, where it received over 300,000 reads. This, to me, shows how outstanding this story already is before it reached my hands. There is already a following for the story and for the next book to happen.
The world follows Janneke, a seventeen-year-old that was raised on the other side of the permafrost. The youngest in a family of daughters, raised to be a hunter and tracker. Until one day her village was burned and she was stolen to be a thrall to a Goblin named Lydian. Where she’s then given to his nephew, Soren.
Soren is adorable. Well, as adorable as a cruel character can be really. He tries to fit in and I guess that makes him more endearing but he also does his best to treat Janneke with respect and that makes his character good enough for me to like him. Janneke is in flux as a character and I was with her the whole way.
The writing for this book is rather abrupt. In the sense that you’re immediately thrown into the plot and the story. Immediately thrown into the action and the hunt. The reader doesn’t get time to originally process what’s happening but it’s very similar to what the character is also going through.
Overall, I would recommend this to anyone that reads supernatural type books or action fantasy. If you enjoyed Labyrinth as a kid, I also highly recommend it. (hahahaha)
- Overall Rating: 4 Stars
- Plot: 4 Stars
- Character Development: 4 Stars
- Dialogue: 4 Stars
- Writing: 4 Stars
Happy Reading~
Ash
2 Comments
Elizabeth · March 10, 2019 at 8:51 pm
Sounds good! But, is there a lot of gratuitous violence in it?
Although, with goblins, I’m not sure what would qualify as gratuitous.
Ash · April 18, 2019 at 2:56 pm
Hi Elizabeth!!
There is quite a bit of action but most if not all is directly related to the story line. It does involve war as a whole. I wouldn’t say it’s too too graphic but if you’re not a huge fan of war and hunting, it may be a pass on this one. 🙂