I was so excited to get accepted on the Blog Tour for this amazing fantasy debut, and it did not disappoint! Be sure to scroll down to view the full tour schedule, links to buy this awesome book and the chance to enter a giveaway to get your hands on a copy, open international.
Synopsis:
Burn brightly. Love fiercely. For all else is dust.
Every child of Glasnith learns the last words of Aillira, the god-gifted mortal whose doomed love affair sparked a war of gods and men, and Lira of clan Stone knows the story better than most. As a descendant of Aillira and god-gifted in her own right, she has the power to read people’s souls, to see someone’s true essence with only a touch of her hand.
When a golden-haired warrior washes up on the shores of her homeland–one of the fearful marauders from the land of the Frozen Sun–Lira helps the wounded man instead of turning him in. After reading his soul, she realizes Reyker is different than his brethren who attack the coasts of Glasnith. He confides in her that he’s been cursed with what his people call battle-madness, forced to fight for the warlord known as the Dragon, a powerful tyrant determined to reignite the ancient war that Aillira started.
As Lira and Reyker form a bond forbidden by both their clans, the wrath of the Dragon falls upon them and all of Glasnith, and Lira finds herself facing the same tragic fate as her ancestor. The battle for Lira’s life, for Reyker’s soul, and for their peoples’ freedom has only just begun.
Jill Criswell is a writer of Young Adult Historical Fantasy. She was born and raised in the swamps of northeastern Florida. She earned degrees in English and Psychology and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida. Her greatest passion, besides reading and writing, is traveling the world; she’s visited fifty countries across six continents, falling in love with places like Iceland, Namibia, and Cambodia.
She works as a university English teacher and lives in South Carolina, near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her husband and daughter (who is named after a volcano in Iceland).
AUTHOR LINKS
Website: https://jillcriswell.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18483321.Jill_Criswell
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JillCriswell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJillCriswell/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjillcriswell/
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Review!
Whew this book was a wild ride! So many twists and turns it made me slightly dizzy, and with a steamy romance to boot.
Lira was a fun character to read, knowledgeable beyond her years due to the weight of her God gifted power, being able to read peoples souls. Her father uses her gift to tell the true motives of his people, something that Lira is not overly comfortable with. She is stubborn, strong-headed and loyal to a fault, especially to her family and her fathers people. It takes a man she thought was the enemy to open her eyes to the truth behind her countries history, making her realise that not everyone is who they seem… including those she trusts the most.
The world building in this book was truly beautiful, we travel with Lira across Glasnith and learn about the Land of the Frozen Sun through her ability to read peoples souls. The descriptions dragged you into the story, making you feel the swell of the boat and the rush of riding a horse right along side Lira.
One of the things that made this book truly enjoyable for me was its fresh magic system. Wondrously unique and intriguing, we first get introduced to it through Lira’s ability to read peoples souls, whether they have good intentions or bad. We learn that the Gods gift one daughter per clan, per generation with an ability such as causing pain, or making mirages to protect the clans. I enjoyed the whole “female power” side of it, that it is realistically the women of Glasnith who can protect or bring down the country.
The book is very fast paced, pretty much action from the go. And though this can be a good thing, there were parts of the book that jumped to something completely irrelevant to the chapter before, which made the read slightly jumpy for me. I also felt that the romance was pretty dramatically on/off throughout the first half of the book. I am all for a bit of enemies/friends/lovers but this seemed to take it to the extreme at parts and made me less inclined to care about the outcome.
This book is a 3.5/5 for me. The world building and fresh magic system made for a really interesting read, however, I just felt it was slightly jumpy to the point where I had to re-read part of the chapter before to get my bearings again. That being said, the book ended on a humongous cliff-hanger so I will definitely be picking the next book up because I need to know what happens! I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoyed Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young.
GIVEAWAY
Prize: Win (1) of (3) BEASTS OF THE FROZEN SUN bundles: a signed copy of the book and some author swag (a bookmark, pendant, and magnet) [INT]
Start Date: August 14th, 2019
End Date: August 28th, 2019
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86393/?
BOOK LINKS
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/42118210-beasts-of-the-frozen-sun
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2yb874b
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beasts-of-the-frozen-sun-jill-criswell/1130074830
Bookdepository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Beasts-Frozen-Sun-Jill-Criswell/9781982556273?ref=grid-view&qid=1564130858695&sr=1-3
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/beasts-of-the-frozen-sun Google Books: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Beasts_of_the_Frozen_Sun.html?id=ZmCADwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
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Becky's Book Blog 
I am really glad you enjoyed the book. What you mentioned about it jumping around ended up being too much for me. I did think turn magic system was unique too. But the structure was too much to get passed. I am really glad you were able to get through it enough to enjoy it.
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Yea I think I powered through because I was on this tour and wanted to be able to review the whole book. It definitely picked up towards the end, there were just some parts I thought the author was hinting at something and I had no idea what was happening 🙈
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That is one part of blog tours that I havent wrapped my mind around. That always worries me…
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Sounds pretty interesting and I like how it has a strong female character and a love story to boot. Fast pace is definitely appealing at first but sometimes without slowing down to tranquilize the story and provide more details can make it confusing.
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Yea. There were definitely parts of it that I enjoyed, but the pacing really threw me and that’s one of the main reasons I only gave it 3.5 stars.
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