Slaying the Frost King

Candace Robinson, Elle Beaumont

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The mortals of Vinti, a village near to Frost King Morozko’s palace, have forgone their annual animal sacrifice. The sacrifice that keeps his dead mother’s Changeling demons at bay. Now, they must pay with another kind of sacrifice – that of a mortal maiden. But when Morozko has a vision of a mortal girl wielding magic and screaming his name in fear, he knows that the fate of his kingdom of Frosteria is about to change, forever. When he heads to the village to select the sacrifice, his gaze lands upon Eirah, the mortal from his vision. Making a snap decision, he selects her to go with him to his palace – where he plans to draw her magic out of her before he slits her throat to keep his land safe. But, the best laid plans are no match for the power of lust; nor the power of his visions. And he soon realises that it’s not Eirah’s death that will keep his kingdom safe from the Changelings, but her survival.

Slaying the Frost King is the fourth book I’ve read in the Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers series; and unfortunately, it’s also not my favourite. I don’t know if it’s because it’s written by two authors, or because of other reasons; but the writing and the story didn’t flow quite right. Aspects of the writing felt disjointed, with the story stuttering along and seeming to miss out specificities. It was a shame, especially as the beginning of the story was almost impeccable, with strong descriptions and even stronger characters; but by the fourth chapter, it just seemed to fizzle into something a little less coherent.

As with the other books in the series, there are strong themes of sex in this novel; but again, the scenes were a little bit off; if not somewhat cringey. At one point, Eriah’s friend Saren shouts/gasps with apparent horror/glee, ‘he took your flower?’ I think the last time I heard someone’s virginity being referred to as ‘flower’ was Monica in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. The variety of descriptive words used for Morozko’s reproductive organ and for Eriah’s vagina were in parts equally imaginative, repetitive and cringeworthy. At one point, I considered playing a drinking game each time ‘length’, ‘folds’, ‘arousal’ and ‘her sex’ was used, but instead decided to plough on (no pun intended) as I just wanted to try to finish this novel with some semblance of a clear head.

That said, Slaying the Frost King isn’t the worst book I’ve read, not by a long, long shot. It’s not even in the top ten of worst books about sex. There is some beautiful writing at the beginning of the story, building a landscape of frozen mountains and snowy villages incredibly vividly. I just wish that the initial standard was maintained throughout, and that the loose threads of the story had been knitted together much more coherently.

S. A

Slaying the Frost King is book three of the Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers series, and is available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited.

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