Review: Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep

Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep is the third book in the Mythos Academy series. I enjoyed the beginning of this series as quick, easy reads- I even Waiting on Wednesday-ed this book! But sadly the series seems to have lost its pizzazz for me by book three.

I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me—again.

Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects—and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me?

It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me—and I’m in for the fight of my life (GoodReads).

Originality: 3. I find the potpourri of myths somewhat unimaginative, like everything but the kitchen sink was combined rather than the creation of a fresh take on a particular myth. The mix feels one-dimensional, and mixing Norse and Green and Roman and Amazonian lore doesn't do it for me.

Absurdity: 7. How can a paranormal boarding school group of teens out to save the world NOT be absurd?

Level of Paranormal Romance: 3. Boilerplate.  Of course they can't be together because of Gwen's magical ability to read people's past and emotions. Yet they will fight to the death for their love. To be fair, I like Logan, aka the Spartan Warrior, but this romance is nothing special.

Level of Harry Potter-ness: 3. Subtly is not part of this plot. I guessed every plot twist. Am I an incredibly astute reader or....... Ultimately Dark Frost reminds me of a middle grade reading level, a la Percy Jackson.

PS: I would absolutely want to be a Valkyrie with pink sparks shooting from my fingers. One of those is in this book, so an extra point for cool BBF. I MIGHT read the next book in the series, but I am not going to go out of my way to find it.