Review: Midnight Frost by Jennifer Estep

Midnight Frost (Mythos Academy #5)

By Jennifer Estep

Release Date: July 30, 2013

Publisher: Kensington Teen

Paperback, 400 pages
Source: Netgalley

Here we go again …

Just when it seems life at Mythos Academy can’t get any more dangerous, the Reapers of Chaos manage to prove me wrong. It was just a typical night at the Library of Antiquities — until a Reaper tried to poison me. The good news is I’m still alive and kicking. The bad news is the Reaper poisoned someone else instead.

As Nike’s Champion, everyone expects me to lead the charge against the Reapers, even though I’m still hurting over what happened with Spartan warrior Logan Quinn. I’ve got to get my hands on the antidote fast — otherwise, an innocent person will die. But the only known cure is hidden in some creepy ruins — and the Reapers are sure to be waiting for me there … --Goodreads

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3.5 Stars

Review:

If there was one song that Midnight Frost could be compared to, it have to be that classic marching band song "Pomp and Circumstance". It's a fantastic arrangement that is enjoyable to hear, but is overplayed and used too often at graduations. Similarly, Midnight Frost is an exciting continuation of the Mythos Academy series, but is also disappointment with its surprisingly clichéd plot and pathetic caricatures of once spectacular characters.

We begin the fifth installment of the Mythos Academy series with Gwen and the academy affected by the betrayal of several characters and the attack from the Reapers. Gwen is still suffering from her fight against Logan and Logan's inner battle against Loki. When Nickamedes is poisoned by the Reapers who intended to poison Gwen, Gwen and the gang race against time to find the antidote. Despite knowing that it is a Reaper trap, Gwen can't back down and takes on this daunting task that comes with even more secrets revealed.

Honestly, Midnight Frost is a solid read. The action moments are great, the emotional moments are bittersweet, and the story isn't terrible. However, there is nothing that really sets the story apart from any other fantasy or paranormal book out there. Every possible stereotype out there is being used in this installment, such as the New Moon Edward-less plot device and the helping animals for help in the future plot device. This caused the book to be less melodramatic and heart-pumping. This series is amazing for having some plot twists that I never saw coming, but Midnight Frost was so predictable and bland.

When compared to the rest of the series, this book also had some pitfalls when it came to continuing to flesh out the characters. Gwen is all mopey over Logan's departure from Mythos Academy, which is completely understandable but still kind of annoying. We don't see the real Gwen appear until the book is almost over. 

Although it does make more sense according to the conventional rules of book writing to have a noble idiot character (character who abandons lover for some dumb reason) come back in the end. It is much easier to sort things out that way. If you haven't figured out, it's because Logan doesn't come around until the end. Annoyingly, his reappearance is supposedly all dramatic, but it's really lame. Haven't we already seen this kind of stuff before?

Other than the disappointing plot and characters, Mythos Academy is a decent sequel to Crimson Frost. It was enjoyable and I flipped through the pages (or tapped my Kindle really quickly) extremely fast. Still, there was that voice in my head going "BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!" throughout the book. Hopefully the next book in the series will be able to surpass Midnight Frost and the rest of Mythos Academy series.