Touch Of Frost (Mythos Academy #1)
By: Jennifer Estep
Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN-13: 9780758266927
My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.
But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why —especially since I should have been the one who died. . .
Review
Gwen Frost is descended from a long line of gypsy women, but she never believed in creatures and people of mythology being real. When her Mom dies in a horrible accident, she is sent to Mythos Academy by her Grandma because she needs 'training.' Gym class is really weapons training and her classmates are the descendants of Amazons, Valkyries, Spartans and other races that the world thinks have been long extinguished. A long time ago there was a war among the Gods and Loki tried to take over the world. The Bowl of Tears, an ancient artifact that he used has been stolen from the school library. Then Gwen finds the body of mean girl Jasmine, murdered brutally and decides that she needs to find the killer if no one else will. Especially since Gwen might be the person who dies next. Can Gwen figure out who the enemy is in time? And is her heritage more complicated than she was originally told? Plus, how is a girl supposed to make any friends in a place where everyone can be lethal? This book reminded me a lot of the premise of the Percy Jackson series and C.C. Hunter's Shadow Falls series. Mythological kids sent to camp/boarding school to fight evil, learn about their powers and come to terms with a great destiny. My only complaint about the follow-through of the mythology plot is that sometimes it feels like an afterthought in lieu of the average high school drama. Gwen is an interesting heroine who has the requisite tortured past, but has a wonderfully snarky sense of humor to accompany it. Her Grandma was priceless and truly and awesome old lady. I loved Gwen's sense of intrepid adventure - it was like what might have happened if Veronica Mars was a psychic gypsy. Daphne was a great example of character development, starting out as a complete, one-dimensional mean girl and becoming someone who would be a great friend to have. Logan felt a little to cardboard to be an interesting romantic hero and that disappointed me. I wasn't expecting the ending fully but it wasn't too shocking either. This book was a good start to what seems like an interesting addition to YA mythologically inclined fiction. I recommend it for fans of urban fantasy and mythology of all sorts.
VERDICT: 4/5 Stars
*No
money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in
stores and online.*
Yay. Glad to hear you liked this one. It was a recent buy of mine! :)
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