“The Taker” by Alma Katsu (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Alma Katus Website

Order “The Taker” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)

Read An Excerpt HERE (PDF)

Watch Videos HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Alma Katsu has a BA in Writing from Brandeis University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Program. The Taker is her debut novel.

PLOT SUMMARY: On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her . . . despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. And as she begins to tell her story, a story of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke finds himself utterly captivated.

Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town's founder, Lanny will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley.

Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is an unforgettable tale about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, and how each of us is responsible for finding our own path to redemption...

FORMAT/INFO: The Taker is 448 pages long divided over four Parts and fifty chapters. Narration switches between Luke Findley’s third-person POV set in the present day, and Lanore McIlvrae’s first-person story which is set in the past and comprises most of the novel. From chapter nineteen through the end of chapter twenty-four, the book features a third-person narrative from Adair. The Taker is largely self-contained, coming to a satisfying conclusion that wraps up the novel’s major plotlines, but two sequels have been contracted. September 6, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The Taker via Gallery. The UK edition (see below) was published on April 14, 2011 via Century / Random House UK.

ANALYSIS: Alma Katsu’s The Taker immediately appealed to me because of its description, which compared the debut novel to Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and Justin Cronin’s The Passage. After just one chapter though, I was ready to give up on the book.

The Taker opens in the present day with Dr. Luke Findley—a divorced father of two girls—asked to examine a young woman accused of murder. This woman, Lanore McIlvrae, reveals her secret to Luke in hopes of convincing the doctor to help her escape. Intrigued by the woman, Luke agrees to hear her story, thus establishing the novel’s central premise. As far as opening chapters go, The Taker’s is not very compelling. Luke is a dull, unsympathetic character; his third-person narrative is dry and awkward; and Lanore’s ‘secret’ is hardly a surprise since it is already revealed in the cover blurb. Because of these factors, The Taker completely failed to capture my interest. However, I decided to press on a little further and was rewarded for my perseverance.

After the opening chapter, The Taker switches to a first-person narrative as Lanore begins relating her extraordinary tale to Luke. This tale commences in the year 1809, introducing readers to Jonathan St. Andrew—Lanore’s one true love and the man she is accused of killing. From here, The Taker continues switching between Lanore’s first-person story set in the past, and Luke’s third-person narrative which occurs in the present day as the two of them try to escape from the law. Thankfully, despite the parallel storylines, the novel is mainly comprised of Lanore’s tale. Compared to Luke’s third-person narration, Lanore’s narrative is much more compelling. In fact, it almost seemed like two different people had written the book. Where the third-person narrative is dry and awkward, the chapters told in the first-person are elegant, accessible, and strikingly heartfelt:

“You might ask if I loved Jonathan for his beauty, and I would answer: that is a pointless question, for his great, uncommon beauty was an irreducible part of the whole. It gave him his quiet confidence—which some might have called aloof arrogance—and his easy, disarming way with the fairer sex. And if his beauty drew my eye from the first, I’ll not apologize for it, nor will I apologize for my desire to claim Jonathan for my own. To behold such beauty is to wish to possess it; it’s desire that drives every collector. And I was hardly alone. Nearly every person who came to know Jonathan tried to possess him. This was his curse, and the curse of every person who loved him. But it was like being in love with the sun: brilliant and intoxicating to be near, but impossible to keep to oneself. It was hopeless to love him and yet it was hopeless not to.”

Once I got past the novel’s opening chapter, The Taker became hard to put down. Lanore’s powerful love for Jonathan and the relationship that develops between them; Jonathan’s sexual escapades; the authentic portrayal of Puritan life with all of its propriety, religious beliefs and restrictions against women; and the heartbreaking events surrounding Lanore’s fall from grace . . . it’s very compelling stuff. Unfortunately, after Lanore was exiled to Boston in the year 1817, I became bored with the novel and almost gave up on The Taker a second time. Part of what attracted me to The Taker in the first place was the novel’s claim to be part “supernatural page-turner”. Yet, with over a third of the novel finished, where were all of the supernatural elements? After taking a break to read a different book, I decided to give The Taker one more chance. Once again, I was rewarded.

Shortly after the 150-page mark, Lanore undergoes her ‘change’ at the hands of Adair, a mysterious European noble she fell in with upon her arrival in Boston. Following this event, readers are graced with Adair’s story, which is nearly sixty pages long and narrated in the third-person. Taking place in the 1300s (A.D.) in Hungarian/Romanian territory, Adair’s tale is a fascinating one, chronicling the former peasant’s years as an apprentice to Ivor cel Rau, a physic/alchemist of noble Romanian birth. This includes the rape and abuse suffered at the physic’s hands, uncovering Ivor cel Rau’s dark secrets, and executing a devious plan to free Adair from the physic’s grasp.

At the story’s conclusion, Lanore’s narrative takes over with Lanore adjusting to her new abilities and her new life in Boston as a member of Adair’s court. A life quite different from her days as a Puritan, full of luxury, decadence and seduction, which reminded me a little bit of Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel novels. From here, the action shifts back to St. Andrew where Lanore tries to convince Jonathan to become like ‘her’, and then back to Boston where the endgame between Lanore and Adair plays out. Completing Lanore’s tale are the recent events between her and Jonathan, which directly lead to Lanore’s current predicament with Luke. The outcome between Lanore and Jonathan—and between Luke and Lanore—is never in question, but reaching these outcomes is a fascinating journey all the same.

Even though The Taker can be a bit predictable at times, the novel boasts a couple of very nice surprises, especially regarding the book’s supernatural elements. Because of comparisons to such novels as Interview with the Vampire, The Passage and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, a reader might assume there are vampires in The Taker. I know I did. That’s not the case however. Adair, Lanore, and the others may possess abilities similar to vampirism, but the differences are unique enough to be refreshing:

“We sleep and wake, eat and drink, go through our day like any other human being. The only difference is that another person might ponder, from time to time, which day will be his last. But you and I, our days will never end. We go on, bearing witness to everything around us.”

Negatively, I already mentioned the problems I had with the opening chapter and the supernatural elements taking too long before making their presence felt. In addition to these drawbacks, I also had issues with the shallow characterization of anyone not named Lanore, Jonathan or Adair; failing to flesh out the unique bond that Adair maintains with those of his court; and 160 years of Lanore’s life reduced to a few paragraphs. Fortunately, Alma Katsu is contracted for at least two sequels to The Taker, so it’s very possible that these issues with Lanore’s history and unexplained abilities will get resolved, although I’m not quite sure how the sequels will work without Jonathan in them.

CONCLUSION: Starting out, I had a difficult time with Alma Katsu’s The Taker, nearly giving up on the book at two separate occasions. Fortunately, once I got past the opening chapter and the supernatural elements kicked in, The Taker became nearly impossible to put down. It’s easy to see why. Take away the novel’s negative issues and what is left? How about a beautifully written, heartfelt narrative; compelling, unforgettable characters; and a mesmerizing blend of history, romance, and the supernatural. In the end, even with its flaws, The Taker is a captivating novel and one of the better debuts of the year...

PRESS RELEASE: M. R. Mathias announces “Cold Hearted Son of a Witch” and “The Confliction” in The Dragoneers Saga!

Fantasy author M. R. Mathias has announced that Cold Hearted Son of a Witch, the long-awaited second volume in the Saga of the Dragoneers, will be released on September 15, 2011, with the eBook version available sometime in early September.

The Dragoneers Saga begins with The First Dragoneer, a 43-page novella, available FREE almost everywhere online.

The Saga continues with The Royal Dragoneers, a full-length novel of the saga that was deemed a Top Indie Release of 2010 by Fantasy Book Critic (Review HERE), and was featured in the first ever Publishers Weekly — “Indie Showcase.”

Now in Cold Hearted Son of a Witch, Zahrellion, Rikky and their dragons embark on a quest to find the special mushrooms Mysterian needs to save Prince Richard from Gravelbone’s poison. Meanwhile, Jenka and his loveable dragon, Jade, escort the King's Rangers back to Kingsmen's Keep. When Jenka and the half-elvish mute, Lemmy, find a map at the Temple of Dou, they follow it and find more trouble than they bargained for. Ultimately, the five Dragoneers come together as they are forced to stand and face a terrible threat that is only just revealing itself...

Fans of M. R. Mathias will no doubt find Cold Hearted Son of a Witch full of grim and pleasant surprises, but the best surprise of all is that The Confliction—The Dragoneers Saga Book III—will be released Christmas 2011.

Praise for The Dragoneers Saga:

“Mathias is a master at characterization. The dragons are magnificent in the story. The Royal Dragoneers is book one in the The Dragoneers Saga. The plot is action is fast, furious and never ending. The plot is intricately woven with twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing. The story has a mythical quality. Fans of fantasy will not want to miss this one.”

“The author draws you into his fantastical vortex from the first chapter and you are compelled to read on whether you want to or not. The characters are believable and engaging. It's obvious to me he either researches a lot or is very knowledgeable in archery, hunting and just plain survival. I left feeling I learned a thing or two. I highly recommend this pre-cursor to The Royal Dragoneers.”

“Mathias is an absolute pleasure to read. Unique storyline, fascinating characters and a fast paced novel that practically reads itself. The Royal Dragoneers easily lived up to the promise shown in the prequel. Lovers of fantasy everywhere this is a fresh, new talent with plenty of truly original ideas. Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to this.”

Three Novels on the 2011 Booker Longlist, Alison Pick, Julian Barnes, Patrick McGuiness (by Liviu Suciu)

Every year The Man Booker Longlist is one the most anticipated selection of books for me since I tend to find on it novels I would otherwise scarcely hear about. Of the past two longlists, I have reviewed here some nine books encompassing a lot of range in style and content with big time favorites like my 2009 all around top novels The Children's Book by AS Byatt and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel as well as another top 25 novel of that year, Sarah Hall's How to Paint a Dead Man or last year's favorites Room by Emma Donoghue, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell and Trespass by Rose Tremain.



This year's list has also a bunch of interesting books and I will present here a discussion of three of them, two superb novels and one that turned out to be a disaster from my perspective as witness and participant in the events the book purports to describe; sadly the author is utterly clueless about them, writing instead about an imaginary land in an imaginary time - and that would have been fine as sff but not as what is advertised.



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When Czechoslovakia relinquishes the Sudetenland to Hitler, the powerful influence of Nazi propaganda sweeps through towns and villages like a sinister vanguard of the Reich's advancing army. A fiercely patriotic secular Jew, Pavel Bauer is helpless to prevent his world from unraveling as first his government, then his business partners, then his neighbors turn their back on his affluent, once-beloved family. Only the Bauers' adoring governess, Marta, sticks by Pavel, his wife, Anneliese, and their little son, Pepik, bound by her deep affection for her employers and friends. But when Marta learns of their impending betrayal at the hands of her lover, Ernst, Pavel's best friend, she is paralyzed by her own fear of discovery—even as the endangered family for whom she cares so deeply struggles with the most difficult decision of their lives.



Interwoven with a present-day narrative that gradually reveals the fate of the Bauer family during and after the war, Far to Go is a riveting family epic, love story, and psychological drama.



Far to Go is a novel that is very well written and has all that I expected from it - lyrical prose and emotional content grounded in excellent research punctuated with quotes from the lives of many of the people involved in the tragedy of Europe in the late 1930's and a short note regarding their ultimate fate.



A story of Jewish people and gentiles, of relationships straining or blossoming under the extreme stress of the period, of a time of madness at which we sometimes look back and wonder "how could it happen?", though of course always the unstated "can it happen again?" lurks in the back of the mind.



The storyline is well described in the blurb, though it has its share of unexpected twists and turns, but the novel stands out for its style first and foremost - the voice of the present day narrator and the third person tense and dramatic events of the late 1930's.



The book flowed so well that I could put it down when started and I found it well deserving of its Booker long-listing; if there was a niggle that stopped me from truly being blown away by Far to Go, it was its similarity in theme and even somewhat in structure with 2009's The Glass Room by Simon Mawer - another Booker long-listed and later shortlisted novel - though Far to Go is very tightly written while The Glass Room scattered a lot in its last third taking away somewhat from its power.



Of course the novels differ a lot too - style, characters and their destiny etc, but the atmosphere, period, place, etc are the same and since both are pitch perfect there as well as being superbly researched they bring the same feeling to the reader to a large extent.



I will close with a quote from Far to Go (A+/A++), quote that is part of the "witness testimony" that starts each of the five parts of the novel and adds so much to its power:



"19 January 1939



Dear Pavel and Anneliese, I am sorry to have been out of contact for so long. All is well. Business continues apace. I trust you enjoy your books as usual. The one before The Castle is excellent. Please give my love to Alžběta if you see her. And to the little girls.



Best regards, Max



(FILE UNDER: Stein, Max. Died Auschwitz, 1943)"



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Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life.



Now Tony is in middle age. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove



The Sense of an Ending is a gem of a novel; short at 150 odd pages but condensed and one that needs at least one reread considering the last two pages - or after 50 pages when you think you get a sense of what the book is about and where it goes, you can jump at the end, read those last two pages and then get back and continue reading.



The blurb gives you an idea what the book is about but does not convey its richness as well its twisted and very compelling narrative.



All about Tony Webster - the average middle class Englishman in a way - his first girlfriend Veronica and his genius level school friend Adrian Finn whose destiny catches up unexpectedly with Tony some 40 years late but still in a very intriguing and poignant way.



And of course the novel is about much more - the human condition if you want a short description - but for me the narrative voice and the "unexpectedness" of what truly has happened made 'The Sense of an Ending" (A++) a big favorite and a top 25 novel of the year.



To intrigue you, here is a crucial part of the novel, though of course neither Tony nor us have an idea what it means until those end pages. From Adrian Finn's diary:



5.4 The question of accumulation. If life is a wager, what form does the bet take? At the racetrack, an accumulator is a bet which rolls on profits from the success of one horse to engross the stake on the next one.



5.5 So a) To what extent might human relationships be expressed in a mathematical or logical formula? And b) If so, what signs might be placed between the integers? Plus and minus, self-evidently; sometimes multiplication, and yes, division. But these signs are limited. Thus an entirely failed relationship might be expressed in terms of both loss/minus and division/reduction, showing a total of zero; whereas an entirely successful one can be represented by both addition and multiplication. But what of most relationships? Do they not require to be expressed in notations which are logically improbable and mathematically insoluble?



5.6 Thus how might you express an accumulation containing the integers b, a1, a2, s, v?



b=s - v */+ a1

a2 + v + a1*s = b



5.7 Or is that the wrong way to put the question and express the accumulation? Is the application of logic to the human condition in and of itself self-defeating? What becomes of a chain of argument when the links are made of different metals, each with a separate frangibility?



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The socialist state is in crisis, the shops are empty and old Bucharest vanishes daily under the onslaught of Ceaucescu's demolition gangs. Paranoia is pervasive and secret service men lurk in the shadows. In The Last 100 Days, Patrick McGuinness creates an absorbing sense of time and place as the city struggles to survive this intense moment in history. He evokes a world of extremity and ravaged beauty from the viewpoint of an outsider uncomfortably, and often dangerously, close to the eye of the storm as the regime of 1980s Romania crumbles to a bloody end.



The Last 100 Days is the kind of novel I always dread it will turn this way but have to read since it's one of the few written by western authors about Romania. I have no idea how the author did his research but the country and period he described is just wrong - maybe he researched Stalin's Russia of the 30's since the 1989 Romania he describes here reads that way and it was not like that - as I lived through those times as a college student and they are still seared in my memory even after 22 years, I found the travesty of this novel funny in the North Korean movie way on occasion - namely so bad to be funny in an absurd way.



Before getting the book I checked the sample - excited, the period that most likely was the most important in my life as from it sprung all the possibilities of the future - novel, longlisted for the Booker - and the writing style - a first person narration - was compelling enough but the factual mistakes started accruing at an alarmingly fast rate - the description of the Romanian car Dacia (wrong), the Bucharest blackouts, the food lines (they were much more prosaic - and again both not so bad and worse depending on occasion - than the author described and while here I could understand a little the exaggeration as literary license, it still jarred badly since it presaged the ridiculousness of what followed).



Then the university professors as janitors - so ridiculous, that may have happened in the 50's but in the 80's things were different - I would say subtler though they were sometimes cruder too.



Wrong naming all over the place that is again so sloppy (Capsia instead of Capsa or at worst Capsha if you want to transliterate the sh, Capsia just sounds ridiculous, Cilea I am not sure what it stands for but it is no Romanian name - maybe Clea was intended which kind of fits the heroine as one of those ridiculous pretend names affected by people like her, though even that sounds a little wrong - or maybe Cleo from Cleopatra, another sort of unusual fancier name but still around...).



And I could continue on page after page how the author got everything wrong factually and in spirit; the oppression was as mentioned much subtler and on occasion much cruder than the Stalinist menace, the party leaders and the secret policemen gave no fig about anything except their power and seats, communism meant obedience to the First Family and nothing else, Marxism, Leninism and the like were given at best lip-treatment though they generally were marginalized in favor of Ceausescu's Thought which was the only essential ideology combining National Greatness with slogans about Power to the People, the Soviet Union was regarded as an enemy pretty officially and all traces of Stalin had been eradicated long ago...



In late 1989 everyone expected the regime to collapse (there was a movie adaption of a classic 19th century work November the Last Ball - movie banned pretty fast for its allusion to the November Party Congress which turned out to be the last ball so to speak, that encapsulated the atmosphere) though of course nobody knew how it will happen since like with the avalanche, it still takes the little stone to start it...



The book simply does not get it and it's a pity the author did not choose something he understood better since literary speaking it is reasonably compelling to the end but it is about an imaginary country not the real 1989 Romania as advertised; sadly...



Overall "The Last Hundred Days" (F) should go under the heading alternate/imaginary history not historical fiction.

"The Rift Walker" by Clay and Susan Griffith (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Clay and Susan Griffith Website

Order "The Rift Walker" HERE



INTRODUCTION: The Vampire Empire series by Susan and Clay Griffith that debuted with The Greyfriar last year, is a steampunk alt-history in which vampires - homo nosferatus, a parasitic cousin species having powerful physical attributes and living in clans in zones of moderate temperature - banded together and attacked the Northern Hemisphere states in 1870, almost destroying the western civilization.



The survivors retreated south and mixed with the locals creating the Empire of Equatoria -India, S.Africa, parts of Africa, Egypt, the Gulf - with the capital at Alexandria, the American Republic with the capital at Panama City, the Japanese Empire with the capital in Singapore and other smaller states, while free city-states in Southern Europe eke a meager existence, and the vampires have their own states in England, France, Germany, North America, etc.



Fast forward some 100+ years later and an union between Adele, the heir of Equatoria and Senator Clark the hero of the temporary reconquest of St. Louis presages an alliance that plans to start the reconquest of the North with better guns and better ships.



And the story in The Greyfriar starts when on a show the flag mission to Marseilles, Adele's party is attacked by the British vampire clans led by Cesare, the younger son of the doddering king Dimitry, infamous for his "human-cleansing" of Ireland and she is ultimately kidnapped despite the best efforts of the mysterious cloaked resistance fighter Greyfriar.



Cesare's older brother and supposed British heir due to the very tradition bound rules of the long lived vampires, Lord Gareth lives alone in Scotland treating his "humans" much better than the usual vampires since while a hero of the great vampire uprising of 1870, he got sick of the massacres afterward. And of course Lord Gareth who tries to learn about human culture, including learning to write is fascinated with Adele and so the first installment goes in a book that pulled me in and despite all the expected cliches, secret identities and the like,turned out to be big time fun.



OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: I had high expectations for The Rift Walker but I still was surprised how it turned out to be a major step-up in the series. Once I opened it, I could not put it down until I finished it since I just needed to see what happens, while enjoying every moment of it. The novel is end-to-end adventure with everything you want - duels, battles, treachery, intrigue, revelations, not to speak of romance and magic.



Despite being a middle book in a trilogy, The Rift Walker expands its universe considerably with a trip into the African interior as well as an apparition of vampire clans from across Europe and North America, advances the plotline with major twists and turns, reversal of fortunes and unexpected revelations, while ending at a clear stopping point that promises another entertaining tale to follow.



While in the series debut, I thought that Adele and Greyfriar shared the lead well, The Rift Walker is Adele's novel from the beginning to the end, though Greyfriar has his moments too, the most dramatic being his unexpected appearance at a crucial moment, sending everything upside down and letting the pieces fly so to speak.



While there were lots of cool moments before - from Greyfriar meting justice to wayward vampires and their human tools, to Adele going incognito to see the Alexandrian plays about "her adventure with Greyfriar" and having to fight stalkers and evade the ardor of Senator Clark, her intended, who wants his war and the crown of course, rather than the princess herself - once Greyfriar sends everything spinning, the novel just goes full throttle and rockets, though all in a very entertaining, never over the top way. And the princess truly steals the show, though I want you to discover how - the title gives a hint - since Adele's character growth is one of the major highlights of the novel.



Of the secondary characters, Cesare, Flay and Senator Clark have superb scenes, though the whole cast is very entertaining. Just to give one little tidbit - the appropriately named Cesare, has considerably deeper plans than we got to see in The Greyfriar. So for example he started using the human fascination with "vampires as the undead", to create his undead army, namely humans that believe in the myth, so they valiantly fight for the vampires and generally do their bidding, while asking to be "transformed in vampires" by giving willingly their blood, so when they die they return as vampires. Nonsense of course as Cesare knows perfectly well and something that won't work for ever since the dead stay dead so to speak, but very useful for now.



The human "magical cabal" of Adele's teacher the mysterious Mamoru and his associates also intensify their actions and we start seeing why the princess could be the key to everything, though of course there is this little thing of Adele's romance with Greyfriar and her natural reluctance to become the "vampire exterminator" the cabal wants.



The Rift Walker (A++ and top 25 book of 2011 for me) is the most pure fun novel I've read this year, a romp - though with its darker moments too - where each page brings something new and the action is non-stop. Forget that it has vampires if you dislike the trope as I heartily do, just enjoy the steampunk setting, the great characters and the wild ride from Alexandria to the mountains of Eastern Africa and then back to Egypt.

“First Frost” by Jennifer Estep w/Bonus Q&A (Reviewed & Interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Jennifer Estep Website

Order “First Frost” HERE

Read An Excerpt HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jennifer Estep has a Bachelor’s degree in English & Journalism, and a Master's in Professional Communications. Her bibliography includes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, the Mythos Academy YA urban fantasy series, and the Bigtime paranormal romance series. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and other writing groups.

ABOUT FIRST FROST: I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift. It’s called psychometry—that's a fancy way of saying that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people’s memories off almost everything I touch, even guys.

My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy—to the point of obsession sometimes. I want to know everything about everyone around me. But even I don't want to know the secrets my friend Paige is hiding or the terrible loss that will send me to a new school—Mythos Academy—where the teachers aren't preparing us for the SATs, but to battle Reapers of Chaos. Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these warrior whiz kids. The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same...

FORMAT/INFO: First Frost is a prequel short story, available as an e-exclusive. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via the protagonist Gwen Frost. It is self-contained, but leads into the Mythos Academy series. First Frost was released on July 1, 2011.

ANALYSIS: Having read and enjoyed Touch of Frost, the opening volume in Jennifer Estep’s new YA series, I was very much interested in the prequel short story since its events are alluded to in the first Mythos Academy novel.

First Frost occurs a few weeks before Touch of Frost, introducing readers to Gwen Frost, her gift of psychometry, and the events that led to Gwen’s admission into the Mythos Academy, where kids between the age of sixteen and twenty-one are trained in various arts (magical, martial, etc.) to become defenders of humanity against the Reapers of Chaos who are trying to free their master Loki.

Since First Frost is referenced to in Touch of Frost, the prequel short story is not required reading, but it does explain a crucial part of Gwen Frost’s background. Plus, First Frost is fun to read, leads directly into Touch of Frost, and provides readers with a taste of what to expect in the Mythos Academy series...

NOTE: I will be reviewing Touch of Frost in the forthcoming weeks. In the meantime, included below is a short Q&A with Jennifer Estep which talks more the Mythos Academy series, its mythological roots, the future of the series and more...

BONUS INTERVIEW — Q&A with Jennifer Estep:

Q: Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions Jennifer! Let’s begin. After writing a paranormal romance series and a dark urban fantasy revenge saga, why did you decide to write a YA series next?

Jennifer: Thanks for taking the time to interview me. I appreciate it.

I just had an idea for a story that I thought would work better as a YA book than as an adult book. Plus, YA is one genre that everyone seems to be reading these days—teens, adults, parents, teachers, etc.—and that everyone gets excited about. There are so many great YA books and authors out there, and I wanted to add my story to the mix. Plus, you always want to grow and stretch yourself as a writer, and I thought writing a YA book would be a way to flex my creative muscles. So far, it’s been a fun challenge.

Q: Could you tell us about the inspiration(s) behind the creation of the Mythos Academy series and the world within it?

Jennifer: I’ve always loved mythology and the idea of all these gods, goddesses, heroes, monsters, and more battling it out. I remember watching the old Clash of the Titans when we would have movie days at school, and over the years, I’ve read and watch a lot of mythology-based stories, everything from The Iliad and The Odyssey to Xena: Warrior Princess and the movie 300.

One day, I just thought it would be cool to write my own mythology story with my own characters, myths, magic, and more, and put my own spin on things. That was the beginning of Touch of Frost and the rest of the Mythos Academy series.

Q: Can you tell us more about the protagonist Gwen Frost and why she is written in the first person?

Jennifer: I thought it would be interesting to write a story about a Gypsy girl who’s shipped off to a new school and is faced with all these things that she doesn’t really believe in, like gods, goddesses, Reapers of Chaos (my bad guys), and mythological monsters. Gwen is definitely skeptical about all the magic mumbo jumbo, as she calls it, that goes on at Mythos Academy, but she quickly realizes that monsters and Reapers of Chaos do exist—and that she’s been gifted with magic that can help stop them.

All of my books so far are first person. It’s just the narrative voice that I like the best and the one that really lets me get inside my heroine’s head.

Q: While Gwen is obviously the star of the show, I felt you did a very good job with the supporting cast—Daphne, Carson etc. Which supporting character has surprised you the most and who should readers pay attention to in future volumes?

Jennifer: Thanks. I appreciate that. I have my core group of four characters—Gwen; Daphne Cruz, a Valkyrie; Carson Callahan, a band geek and Celt; and Logan Quinn, a deadly Spartan warrior. The relationships between them will be a big part of the books.

Also, I think folks will like Vic a lot. Vic appears in the latter part of Touch of Frost, and he’s a really bloodthirsty character who wants to kill Reapers of Chaos more than anything else. Plus, he’s got attitudes and opinions to spare. Vic was just a really fun character for me to write.

Q: There’s a lot of mythology in the Mythos Academy. How did you decide which mythology to use in your series?

Jennifer: I’m using a lot of Greek and Norse mythology since that’s what I’m most familiar with. I picked the gods, goddesses, warriors, monsters, and more that I thought were interesting—the ones that I thought I could put my own spin on and that would fit in well with the overall story that I wanted to tell about Gwen—and how she’s stronger and more of a warrior than she ever thought she could be.

Q: Earlier you mentioned the Reapers of Chaos who are the ‘bad guys’ of the series. Their chief is Loki, who was recently portrayed by Tom Hiddeston in the movie Thor. What did you think of Hiddleston’s performance and how does your interpretation of Loki differ/compare to the movie version?

Jennifer: I thought Hiddleston did a good job portraying Loki. He was very sly and sneaky and definitely had that conniving, trickster air about him. He was very convincing—everything he said was perfectly reasonable even though you knew that he was only out to help himself. Hiddleston’s Loki is the kind of character who will lure you in and make you think that he’s on your side—right before he stabs you in the back. I’m looking forward to seeing Hiddleston as Loki again next year in The Avengers movie.

Readers don’t get to see Loki in First Frost or Touch of Frost, since he’s locked away in his mythological prison. But I would say that my Loki is definitely much more in-your-face, hardcore evil. You know he’s the bad guy from the very beginning, and he’s not shy about wanting my heroine Gwen dead—and wanting his Reapers of Chaos to do the job for him.

Q: What did you think of the other Norse mythology portrayed in the Thor movie? How does it compare to your own interpretation in the Mythos Academy series?

Jennifer: I thought it was definitely more of a comic book-type movie than a mythology movie, but it was supposed to be that way. I enjoyed seeing the writers’ and filmmakers’ take on Asgard, Thor’s hammer, and things like that. I thought it was an entertaining movie.

Most of the action in my books takes place on the campus of Mythos Academy, which is located in the fictional town of Cypress Mountain, North Carolina, supposedly not too far away from Asheville. So it’s definitely more of a private school setting as opposed to this grand, magical city that you see in the movie Thor. But I hope that folks enjoy my take on things.

Q: Regarding the Mythos Academy series, how many volumes are planned and what’s the release schedule look like?

Jennifer: Right now, I’m under contract for three books—Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, and Dark Frost. There is also a prequel e-story to the series called First Frost. I’m hoping to write five or maybe even seven books in the series. That will let me finish out the main story arc with Gwen and her friends battling Loki and his Reapers of Chaos.

First Frost is available now along with Touch of Frost. Kiss of Frost, the second book in the series, will be out on Nov. 29, and Dark Frost will be released in 2012. So the books will be out fairly close together.

Q: Will you be releasing any more short stories like First Frost?

Jennifer: I hope to write at least one short story to go along with each one of the Mythos Academy books, but it depends on my writing schedule and the time that I have available. I’m going to try my best, though.

Q: Lastly, can you tell us a bit about Touch of Frost (book 1) and Kiss of Frost (book 2) and what readers can expect?

Jennifer: Of course. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psy­chom­e­try, or the abil­ity to know an object’s his­tory just by touch­ing it. After a seri­ous freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Acad­emy, a school for the descen­dants of ancient war­riors like Spar­tans, Valkyries, Ama­zons, and more.

In Touch of Frost, Gwen is getting used to going to a new school and trying to figure out how she fits in with the other warrior whiz kids, as she calls them. Gwen doesn’t think that she belongs at Mythos Academy, but when a girl is murdered in the Library of Antiquities, Gwen decides to use her psychometry magic to figure out who killed the girl and why. She gets into a lot of trouble along the way. Basically, Touch of Frost features myths, magic, monsters, and mean girls.

In Kiss of Frost, Gwen deals with the fallout of what happened in the first book (which I won’t spoil here), and the various ways that her relationships with the other characters grow and change—especially with Logan, the love interest. Also in Kiss of Frost, Gwen realizes that a Reaper of Chaos is trying to kill her, and that if she doesn’t figure out who it is, the Reaper just might succeed...

Happy reading, everyone! ;-)