In Kara Barbieri’s Goblin King, the stunning sequel in the Permafrost series which began with White Stag, Janneke must find how far she’s willing to go to save her world from destruction–even if it means sacrificing everything she’s fought for. The Hunt is over but the War has just begun. Against all odds, Janneke has survived the Hunt for the Stag–but all good things come with a cost. Lydian … Stag–but all good things come with a cost. Lydian might be dead, but he took the Stag with him. Janneke now holds the mantle, while Soren, now her equal in every way, has become the new Erlking. Janneke’s powers as the new Stag has brought along haunting visions of a world thrown into chaos and the ghost of Lydian taunts her with the riddles he spoke of when he was alive.
When Janneke discovers the truth of Lydian and his madness, she’s forced to see her tormentor in a different light for the first time. The world they know is dying and Lydian may have been the only person with the key to saving it.
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Janneke and Soren are both dealing with her new status as The Stag. Being part human I think is really giving her fits with the change. The story was a bit slow at first but picked up midway. The story has a lot of mythology to it and did get confusing at times. As the book goes on Janneke discovers more about being The Stag. We also learn more about the others including Rose. This was not a fast read, it is one to take your time and lose yourself in the voyage.
‘Goblin King; A Permafrost Novel’ by Kara Barbieri is the follow-up to ‘White Stag,’ a story that had intrigued me from the get-go.
Janneke is our main character. A human girl who was a thrall, one of the slaves of the previous Erlking, that has become the new Stag.. a magical, liminal creature.. meant to maintain the balance of their world. With the previous Erlking defeated, if not quite dead.. her partner Soren rules the kingdom. The two are meant to connect with each other through the mantle of the Stag, making them a natural team as well as a romantic couple.
Unfortunately, all is not well. Lydian, the previous Erlking, isn’t really gone. In fact, he’s lingering in Janneke’s mind and driving her a little nuts. Not unusual I suppose, since he was a madman himself.
In attempting to deal with his presence, however, Janneke discovers some truly disturbing truths about his madness and the actions he paid for with his life. While she can’t forgive him for the ways he chose to go about things, she begins to at least understand his intentions. Their world is in jeopardy and in his own twisted ways, he was trying to protect it.
If I’m being entirely honest, between the cover and the synopsis for both books.. the story came across as something dark and ethereal. I never got to reading the series debut, but I’m good about picking up partway into a series, adapting quickly to the story, and going from there. So, it certainly wasn’t confusion that kept me from connecting with this one.
I’ve said it before and I have to say it again, in hindsight.. I’ve discovered this author is from Wattpad and if I’d known that before I decided to read the book, I wouldn’t have done so at all. It’s not that I have anything against Wattpad writers in general, but rather that every Wattpad author I’ve read has been a huge disappointment. They’re consistently underdeveloped as writers and in this case at least, the shoe fits.
This story could have been fantastic. The elements are interesting, from the Stag which is pretty much just the ‘Spirit of the Forest’ from Princess Mononoke, if less purely benevolent.. to the Goblin patriarchy, there’s a lot to work with here. The problem it runs into is lack of real writing skill. Plot points are relatively few and far between, as pages and pages pass by filled with fluff you don’t need or care to read. Dialogue is bland and unimpassioned, characters are cartoonish stereotypes, and the language overall is just severely lacking.
While the basic ‘structure’ of a novel is there.. and I do mean the very basic.. minimum expectations, it reads like someone with 6th grade vocabulary and complexity wrote the book.. and it failed to invest me on any level. Sadly, I will be avoiding this author in the future.
(More reviews like this at Betwixt The Sheets.)
(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
Good fantasy story that has an involving storyline and well done characters. The story flows well and has enough suspense to keep you interested.
Norse mythology meets a darker, psychological tale and is packed with tons of action in this exciting read.
After surviving the Hunt and receiving the Stag’s powers, Janneke is having trouble sliding into her new role as The Stag. No matter how she tries, she can’t even begin to touch upon the powers she received. And it’s frustrating. Especially since the evil she defeated, Lydian has joined the nightmare visions in her head and speaks to her constantly. Now, she must take on the next stage of her life and live up to the position of The Stag, which means doing everything in her power to stop the end of the world…the very end she’s supposedly going to cause.
I enjoyed the first book in this series quite a bit, and I’ll admit, after reading it in 2019 (a year ago), it took me a bit to figure out where everything had left off when I dove into this book. This is by no means a stand-alone, and I would have appreciated a little backstory to help trigger my brain. But that’s neither here nor there. This story starts not only where the last one left off, but introduces an entirely new stage in the heroine, Janneke’s, life. She’s gotten past the first horrible experiences of book one, is with her heart’s desire, the Erlking, and now, has to take a leading role and save everything and everyone. It really feels like a next step, and that I definitely appreciate.
This tale is more psychological in nature than the first. Janneke is battling with tons of inner problems—her powers, nightmares, doubts, and Lydian. I’d say that makes this one a little slower paced, but that’s not quite true since she does meet battle after battle and monster after monster in gruesome and deadly situations. Still, there isn’t as much progress plot wise in this novel, which did make it fall a little flatter than book one. But don’t underestimate the monster end because the author does pull all stops and lets those action scenes thrive. So, kudos on that end.
I did love the world building. It’s so rich and wonderful, packed with fantasy and draws in. There’s darkness, details and wonders, which make it so easy to get lost in the pages. The characters are also intriguing and many carry quite a bit of depth. Obviously Janneke gets a ton of insight thanks to all of the head time and Lydian shines in this book. Even if he’s pure evil, he gains a special place and makes him so wonderful and enjoyable to dislike (at the same time.) I was pretty disappointed with the Erlking. This is Janneke’s heart-throb and yet, he’s so…dull. I honestly wondered why she was with him since he offers little personality or much of anything. It gets so bad that I almost started hoping Lydian would slide into the hero position simply because he’s definitely more interesting…unfortunately, too evil though. And old. Going from a nephew to an uncle would be strange.
There’s a ton of Norse mythology and this comes in a landslide as the book gets going. Either readers will love this or feel bogged down. For me, it was interesting and grabbing, however.
While there are a lot of good things in this book (and I’d still recommend it after book one), it’d didn’t quite grab me as much as the first in the series. I received a complimentary copy through Netgalley.
Ya’ll, White Stag has a sequel, and it’s just as engrossing as it’s predecessor.
Now, to be honest, I did have some things I wish had been better in White Stag (world building & some of the dialogue) but I found Goblin King (Permafrost #2) to be even stronger.
The hunt for the white stag is over and Soren is the new Erlking. With her world falling apart, Janneke must now balance her powers, the voice of Lydian in her head, and her role as the Stag against a chance to save it all. But how can she put her trauma behind her when she has to set out on a new mission? She’ll have to journey to Hel to free Lydian—yes, Lydian—and then to Ragnarock.
In Goblin King Janneke is dealing with a lot of trauma and this girl just keeps going. She’s a fierce, solid character and I just can’t help but adore her. The entire book has a dark, angry, exhausted tone, which can make it hard to be in that world, but is also a perfect fit for the storyline.
Goblin King incorporates a blend of Norse and fae mythology which, when combined with an epic adventure and intense action make for a decent literary escape.
Oh, and there’s more to this adventure…stay tuned for book 3.
Goblin King is available 11/16/2020
*I received a copy of Goblin King from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
When Kara Barbieri burst onto the scene in 2019 with their debut novel White Stag I was enraptured. You can check out my review of that novel here (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863517-white-stag?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=LgevtEHDfu&rank=1) but suffice to say that I loved it. The story. The new lore. The romance. So I was equally excited for the sequel to arrive.
In Goblin King we catch up to Janneke one month after the events of White Stag. It’s quite difficult not to give spoilers for that book, as the events of Goblin King rely on it heavily. Go back and read it first.
Janneka and Soren are adjusting to their roles as *spoiler* and *spoiler* surrounded by old friends and new. This was one thing I did not like about the book: the new characters seemed to be thrust into the plot from nowhere, with only a month to build the seemingly-deep connections they have to our main characters. I wanted more backstory.
To me, this book falls into typical second-novel-in-a-series rut. It seems to function as a device for getting everyone into their places for Act 3, and does not stand well on its own. The main plot is about everyone trying to help Janneke use her new powers and prevent the literal end of the world(s). On that note, I also felt like I was drinking Norse mythology from a fire hose trying to keep up with all of the new terrible beings that exist in the world. With only a few mentions of these creatures in the first book, I was not expecting them to feature so heavily.
Unfortunately, I thought this was a lackluster addition to what started as a stunning series. Poor character development, too much lore and a weak plot. 2 stars. Let’s hope the author does better on the next one.