Beasts of the Frozen Sun

~Check out all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!~ “He is everything you fear, and worse. He is also everything you hope, and more.”I was just halfway through Beasts of the Frozen Sun, and I already loved it so much I ordered a hardback copy. I'm both excited and furious that it's the first in a trilogy, because it means I'll get to spend two more books following Lira and Reyker's stories but also that I have to wait AN ENTIRE TWO YEARS to find out how it all ends! How has this story not gotten more press? Why is it not more popular?!?But apparently I will have to. :'(I've discovered I really love this little sub-genre of fantasy, historical fantasy. The setting of this book reminded me somewhat of [b:Sky in the Deep 34726469 Sky in the Deep Adrienne Young https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1508350209l/34726469.SY75.jpg 55907957] (which was awesome as well), but it goes much more in depth, not just in the geography but in the mythology and spiritual beliefs of the world. It's set in a very British Isles sort of locale, and the Dragonmen are obviously meant to be patterned off the Vikings – all this is pretty obvious even if you hadn't read the author's lovely page about the real world locations she patterned the book settings off.As is fitting for the ancient British isles...there is a lot the modern reader might find disturbing in this book. There is violence, bloodshed, abuse, torture, near-rape, and horrible, vindictive and abusive gods. It does somewhat gloss over what I think would have actually happened in those times, probably to make it more suitable for a YA audience. But it's just barely done and doesn't really take away from the story.Lira and Reyker are one of the few YA fantasy pairings I could actually get behind. It's not insta-love, and it's not perfect, but they respect each other and they compliment each other and yet they never seem to catch a break! I was rooting for them so hard by the end.5/5 stars for Beasts of the Frozen Sun. I absolutely cannot WAIT for the second book! Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram