Review: Touch of Frost - Jennifer Estep

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy - a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.

But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos.  First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities.  Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War.  You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things.  Freaky stuff like this goes on all of the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why - especially since I should have been the one who died . . .

Mythos Academy Series:
First Frost (prequel ebook novella)
Touch of Frost
Halloween Frost (ebook novella found in the Entangled anthology)
Kiss of Frost (November 2011)
Dark Frost (June 2012)

Visit Jennifer Estep's website for more information

Review:
Gwen has been an outcast since she started at the Mythos Academy, with the student's all training to be warriors and claiming to be from families of Spartans, Amazons & Valkyries, Gwen is the uncoordinated one who struggles to make it through weapons training without doing herself an injury.  She does have an ability though, she may not be good at fighting but she is able to know the history of every item she touches and feel the emotions of people who touched it before she did.  Gwen doesn't really want to be at the Academy though, she doesn't believe in the myths and legends that she is taught and isn't quite sure what to make of the fact that everyone else seems to think they're true.  When she discovers the body of another student she becomes determined to find out who was behind the murder, along the way she will also discover just why she was sent to Mythos Academy in the first place.

In a market flooded with vampires and werewolves Touch of Frost stands out for it's use of mythology - Gods & Goddesses, Valkyries, Amazons Spartans, Romans & even Vikings all have their part to play (not a vamp or were in sight!).  The world building is strong but not overwhelming and I'm looking forward to finding out more as the series progresses.  The story moves along at a good pace and I loved the action and fight scenes.

Gwen is a great character, a self-confessed geek who loves comics and doesn't care about fashion she struggles to fit in at a school where everyone else seems perfect.  Gwen comes across as very independent but deep down she is incredible lonely, she is still struggling to cope with her mum's death and doesn't have anyone at school to turn to.  I loved the fact that she has a strong relationship with her grandmother though and she does find others she can rely on as the story progresses.  Gwen's gift is as much of a curse as it is a blessing, she has seen some terrible things because of it but she copes amazingly well and is determined to use her gift to do something positive.  There were a couple of times that I felt Gwen was acting a bit young for her age (which I think is about 16/17?) but that may just be the fact that I'm getting old lol and it didn't stop my enjoyment of the story.  Gwen is the kind of character that may be shy but she won't let anyone walk all over her and I appreciate someone who can stand up for herself.

The other stand out character for me was Daphne, when we first meet her she is one of the school mean girls and I really didn't like her.  She changes a lot throughout the book though and I came to love her by the end, she has such a snarky sense of humor and I really enjoyed scenes with her in them.  It was nice to see her friendship with Gwen develop and I felt that they were good for each other.  Potential love interest Logan is a character I'm looking forward to seeing more of, he is a Spartan and the school bad boy but he is also very protective and has the whole hero thing going for him.  He is definitely hiding something though so I'm curious to find out more about that in future books.

Overall Touch of Frost is a great start to a new series, it is the first book I've read by Jennifer Estep but I've been wanting to read her adult series (Elemental Assassins) for a while now and am definitely planning on picking it up soon.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Gwen in the next book, Kiss of Frost, which luckily is out in November so I don't have too long to wait!

Source: I was given a copy of this book at AADPhilly in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
Between Dreams and Reality
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