Review: Midnight Frost

MIDNIGHT FROST
Mythos Academy #5
Jennifer Estep
Paranormal Young Adult
400 pages
Kensington Teen
Available July 30th
Source: ARC from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Here we go again …

Just when it seems life at Mythos Academy can’t get any more dangerous, the Reapers of Chaos manage to prove me wrong. It was just a typical night at the Library of Antiquities — until a Reaper tried to poison me. The good news is I’m still alive and kicking. The bad news is the Reaper poisoned someone else instead.

As Nike’s Champion, everyone expects me to lead the charge against the Reapers, even though I’m still hurting over what happened with Spartan warrior Logan Quinn. I’ve got to get my hands on the antidote fast — otherwise, an innocent person will die. But the only known cure is hidden in some creepy ruins — and the Reapers are sure to be waiting for me there …

MY THOUGHTS
As action-packed and engaging as we’ve come to expect from Ms. Estep, Midnight Frost is another fantastic addition to the Mythos Academy series, providing us with a complete story arc within the book itself while simultaneously furthering the larger arc of the battle against Loki. One of the highlights of Ms. Estep’s writing, and this series in particular, is that each installment brings something new to the table – an emotional revelation, a significant physical battle, or even better, a desirable combination of the two – to keep everything moving forward, and we’re never left feeling as though we’re simply biding our time during the build up of something larger to come down the line.

Gwen is hurting at the beginning of this fifth installment, Logan’s absence and the echoes of their battle haunting her dreams instantly snapping our bond to her back in place even after months apart, and our hearts easily take up the beat of the painful tune led by Gwen’s own. While she’s certainly upset that Logan left and finds her mind wandering to him often, she’s not lost without him, instead she continues on as she always has when life has dealt her a punishing blow (of which there have been many), his absence felt and mourned but not obsessed over. She has a group of loyal friends and a job to do being Nike’s champion, and she never once lets her broken heart redefine and reshape the girl she was before Logan left.

Because Gwen is such a strong young woman in her own right, our time with her is not spent simply waiting for Logan to reenter the picture as is sometimes the case when a main couple is separated, rather we are with her one hundred percent, as involved in her newest predicament as ever. When Logan does finally make an appearance, the way Gwen handles the situation has us attempting to high-five the book as though she might feel our pleasure and admiration through the pages. She lets him know in no uncertain terms how his leaving affected her, and forces him to acknowledge that he's not the only one scarred by Loki’s intimate violation. Though Gwen is angry, and rightfully so, she’s not so angry that she doesn’t recognize Logan’s pain and trample over it in favor of expressing her own, instead she’s able to put herself in his shoes and not add to the guilt and shame he’s already carrying.

Overall, Midnight Frost satisfies on every level as have all the books that came before it, and the Mythos Academy series continues to be one that encourages the procrastination of work and the forgoing of sleep in favor of reading.

Rating: 4/5
 

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This book was sent to me by the author free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.