Title: Dark Frost
Author: Jennifer Estep
Genre: Young Adult/Urban Fantasy
Series: Mythos Academy #3
Publisher: Kensington
Number of Pages: 336
Source: Author
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)
Once you step into the world of Mythos Academy, there is no leaving it. It has lots of action, a kick ass heroine, hero you can't get enough of, and secondary characters you wish you were best friends with. Each of the characters in this series is endearing because not only are they tough as nails, but they all have this sensitive side that shows when you least expect it. Underneath it all, they are trying to deal with their magical abilities growing each day while fighting the bad guys. Each has their own set of problems that they are overcoming, and everything is not as perfect as it may appear to be.
The reapers, the bad guys who are out to take over the world are back and are still trying to kill Gwen. One would think that I would be tired by now of the reapers trying to kill Gwen, but I'm not. I love the mystery behind them and watching Gwen grow as a person as she continues to deal with her mom's death and her pschometry magic. In this book she learns more about her mom, tries to stop the reapers from winning and is still trying to figure out what is going on between her and Logan. I love the ups and downs of their relationship. Both are trying to figure out how they fit into each others lives while dealing with issues of their past. Daphne, Gwen's best friend is featured in this book much more then the last one. She has a lot going on and isn't afraid to tell Gwen that she isn't the only one dealing with magical power problems. Their friendship has growing pains, but whose doesn't? The couple of complaints I have about this series are minimal. One is that Gwen does too much on her own at times. While it was nice to see her friends more active in this book, it would be nice to have her have more one on one interaction with them. Another is that while I love being reminded that Logan is a Spartan, and Daphne is a Valkyrie I found myself after reading the book forgetting their real names and just referring to them as their nicknames. All in all though, this series is a fun, escapist read and a guilty pleasure.
Dark Frost is the third book in this series, and like most third books it's a bridge between the upcoming novels. What separates it from other third books is that this is not just a "filler book." There are events that happen open up a whole new world of trouble for Gwen and her friends and Jennifer Estep continues to impress me with her world building and ability to write heroines that are strong, loyal, independent, yet not afraid to take a chance on love.
