Frost (Stork Trilogy)

This seriously can’t be the end to this series/world/whatever. Seriously. I enjoyed it way too much. With “Frost”, Delsol proves that “Stork” wasn’t just a one-off success, but a sustainable (ironic term here, but let’s continue anyway) world that could probably produce quite a few books to come.

So we pick up with Kat and Jack and the rest of the crazy “Stork” world, and things aren’t exactly going to plan after a rather tragic accident scares our happy couple into a dark spot where before everything was so bright. Delsol expertly used all of the scary natural disasters that have happened within the past year to her advantage in this book, and it all fit. Considering we’re using Norse mythology, the feeling that show more with all of these natural disasters really is just a warm-up for Ragnarok is a very feasible thought after reading this book.

We also have more usual YA-genre stuff in here (jealous girlfriend, homewrecking girl-woman) but Delsol blew all of that out of the water with bringing in magical reality into it. It made it all not only just tolerable but fascinating, and I literally could not put down this book once I got started. The worse things got, the more I wanted to read – and that’s not like me at all. But with the way the author linked everything and tied up all of the loose ends (well, except for the whodunnit question about the old Stork Society meeting location, but I’m hoping that will be addressed in a possible third book) that might have been dangling for readers from the first book. And how. Kat’s not just the child of one mythology but two, and with Jack’s ancestry it brings together a wonderful conclusion in a world that’s close to but not our own.

Seriously, guys. If you’re into magical reality YA lit like me, after reading this you’ll figure out that Delsol is the real deal, and she needs to be welcomed into this part of the genre. It’s not just urban-type fantasy lit, it’s definite magical reality that she’s brought us all into with the “Stork” world. She’s incredibly talented with bringing together seemingly unrelated events within her own story. I just can’t find anything to pick at here; excellent sensory language, no cliches, no hanging plotlines and plenty of showing over telling. It really is that good, and it’s made my “best of 2011 – sequels” list for the year.

So here’s hoping for a third “Stork”-related book (I’ll also take a novella, if a third book isn’t possible). I need more of this world, stat. So go read the first one, and come October, check out “Frost”. Winter’s coming early, but this story will keep you nice and toasty as you run after Kat in her quest to return Jack to our world.

(posted to librarything, goodreads, shelfari, and witchoftheatregoing.wordpress.com) show less

Frost is the much awaited sequel to Stork. The novel is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. The main focus of attention in this novel is Jack, Katla's boyfriend. This may be slightly disappointing to readers who were expecting further development of Katla. Jack has a fierce desire to understand and control his own magical ability. Jack and Katla are slowly beginning to have a deeper relationship when Brigid arrives on the scene. Brigid comes to Minnesota due to a gift from Jack to Katla gone awry. Brigid draws Jack's attention away from Katla; not long after Brigid's arrival, Jack disappears. Katla must go on a mission to find him. The novel continues in much the same way-Katla trying to find Jack.

For readers of show more Stork who were expecting a deeper development of Katla's ability and a better explanation of the Stork society...this book is a bit of a letdown. The novel literally focuses on her finding Jack, there is only one instance where she guides a soul in the entire novel. There is more attention given to the love triangle between Brigid, Jack, and Katla than there is to the ancient historical Story society that was the first novel's plot. However, the author's way of drawing the reader into the book and holding his/her attention and the seamless, flowing sequence of events are still present. The author does not neglect Katla's character development-she is portrayed as a slightly more mature, humorous young woman. The reader will find him/herself laughing at Katla's thoughts and statements during the novel. Brigid is a new character and the perfect character to hate in this novel. She is haughty and self-assured with an undertone of evil. The author does a good job at giving a teen's point of view (Katla's) during the novel-not the easiest thing to do when you're not a teenager anymore and another demonstration of the author's skill.

This novel splits off into smaller sub-plots. Again, some readers may enjoy this new quality to this series while some may dislike it. Katla's mother, newly pregnant, deals with the stress of preparing for another child, Katla's class puts on a musical of The Snow Queen- the author's bid for irony in the novel. Katla's friends aren't getting along and Katla isn't quite sure if she has time to deal with everything. Jack veers away from Katla and their relationship. The Stork society isn't addressed all that much. Katla takes off to find Jack, but at the same time has to deal with a few things that leave her having nightmares. All of these different sub-plots are a little grating at first, they don't appear to fit cohesively into the novel at first. However, the ending is satisfying and many of these events fall into place.

This book is recommended for young adults/teens that enjoy escaping to a world where magic is possible when reading.

3 1/2 Stars show less

After the drama of finding out that she’s a Stork, a member of an ancient and mystical order of women, and that her boyfriend, Jack, is a descendent of the Winter People able to control the weather, Katla Leblanc is delighted when all signs point to a busy and peaceful Christmas. That is, until the snowstorm Jack summons as a gift to Katla turns into the storm of the century, attracting Brigid, a gorgeous scientist who, in turn, attracts Jack. Between the school play, a bedridden, pregnant mother’s to-do lists, and keeping an eye on her aging grandfather, Katla doesn’t have time to question Brigid’s motives or deal with Jack’s increasingly cold behavior. But Katla’s suspicions mount when Jack joins Brigid on a research show more expedition to Greenland, and when the two of them go missing, it becomes clear that Katla is the only one who can save her beloved Jack from the Snow Queen who holds him prisoner. Adventure, romance, and myth combine in this winter escapade for teens who like a bit of fire with their ice. (Synopsis provided by goodreads)

I was looking forward to this book as I enjoyed book one a lot. I found this book to be good, but also there was a sliver of disappointment to it. I wanted to know a lot more about Katla and her abilities, but this book focuses more on Jack and the love triangle. I will still read book 3 and I hope to learn more.

I found the character development to be good and I loved the realationship between Katla and Jack. We do still learn new things in this book and I do believe this book is going to be very important in the whole series.

The writing is still stellar and the dialog is beautiful. I would still recommend this book to everyone and if you haven't read Stork, what are you waiting for you need to pick it up and read it!

Publisher: Candlewick (October 11, 2011)
Author: Wendy Delsol
Cover Art: Simply beautiful.
Overall rating: **** out of 5 stars
Obtained: Sent from Candlewick press for review. show less

The Scoop:

Katla Leblanc is a stork--she delivers unborn souls to their rightful womb. Her boyfriend Jack Snjosson is, in the most general of terms, Jack Frost. But we learned all that in the first book of the series, Stork. Katla is still a stork (and second in command) and still head over heels for Jack. Katla and Jack are spending their first Christmas together and it isn't as white as Katla would have expected in Minnesota. As his present to her Jack creates a light snowfall that they take a horse-drawn sleight ride through. During the course of the sleigh ride the light snowfall somehow becomes and all out blizzard. Jack and Katla struggle to make it home and eventually they do. Other families caught out in the storm didn't have show more such happy endings--a young boy died when the family car he was riding in went off the road.

Jack and Katla felt guilt from this and that was made worse when a weather scientist from Iceland came to explore the global warming "phenomenon" (or lack of global warming in this case) that Jack's blizzard became known as. The arrival of the scientist, Brigid, coincides with the arriveal of Katlas's father to start his new wind turbine factory, her mother planning her wedding while pregnant and the attact on the stork group which resulted in a serious injury to their leader and put Kat in charge. While she is dealing with all of these problems we cam add to them that it appears that Brigid has some sort of mysterious pull over anybody she comes in contact with (except Katla) but more so with Jack than anybody else and Kat's afi (grandfather) is suffering from a very intense case of homesickness for Iceland. Somehow or another (at least until we find out more about what is driving Brigid) high school senior, Jack, gets an internship to accompany Brigid to the weather outpost in Iceland and Kat is coerced into tagging along with her afi to his hometown in Iceland. Where she learns she is also descended from selkies (angels cast out from heaven that can inhabit both land and sea). And this is where Kat must ultimately figure out the mystery of Brigid and her odd hold over Jack.

My Thoughts:

I'll have to admit, this was the very first book I read as an e-book and it took some getting used to. I also don't have an e-reader (yet! Update: I have since acquired a NookColor and am looking forward to many hours of e-reading) so I had to make do with a netbook. It wasn't my favorite way of reading but I liked the first book in the series so much that I persevered because I wanted to find out what happened to Kat and Jack.

So, maybe you can tell by now from the books that I've put up on review that I love a good story that revolves around a myth or fairy tale or some sort of folklore (and the several previous times I've mentioned this fact). And this one covers the bases in that sense. I think Kat is a fun and vibrant main character--she has a unique fashion sense--and even though she keeps getting hit with all this mystical aspects from her family and friends she takes it in, processes some solutions and charges right on to what needs to be done in order to save those that need saving--her mother, her boyfriend, her homesick afi, or even the mother who lost her little boy in the freak storm Jack created. Kat allows herself to be talked into auditioning for the school musical even though she'd much rather focus solely on the set and costume designs, she travels with her grandfather to Iceland in a last minute decision to attend the Selkie festival held in his hometown and she doesn't complain when her mother is on pregnancy bedrest and she is delegated to gopher and chef.

My one detraction, and I don't know if it was reading it in e-book format or the writing style itself, but at points it seemed that the chapters ended abruptly and then went jarringly into another portion of Kat's life. It was a little off-putting at times but wasn't anything too overwrought that made me stop reading the story all together. Sometimes I just had to go back and make sure I didn't scroll too fast.

One of the highlights for me was the way that the author had so many pop culture comparisons and similies for Kat to describe how she was reacting to certain things.

"He was so gloomy it was material, gathering at his feet in a cloud of gray matter like Pig-Pen, Charlie Brown's sidekick."

There were many more like this--most of them amusing and clever. I remember they were also scattered in the first book and I am glad the author carried them into this one. There were quite a few but they weren't overwhelming and they felt like they belonged, for the most part.

As you can probably tell the folklore/fairy tale aspect totally won me over, and the fun character of Kat was a bonus, so I'm really looking forward to the continuation of this series if that's what happens. show less

After the drama of finding out that she’s a Stork, a member of an ancient and mystical order of women, and that her boyfriend, Jack, is a descendent of the Winter People able to control the weather, Katla Leblanc is delighted when all signs point to a busy and peaceful Christmas. That is, until the snowstorm Jack summons as a gift to Katla turns into the storm of the century, attracting Brigid, a gorgeous scientist who, in turn, attracts Jack. Between the school play, a bedridden, pregnant mother’s to-do lists, and keeping an eye on her aging grandfather, Katla doesn’t have time to question Brigid’s motives or deal with Jack’s increasingly cold behavior. But Katla’s suspicions mount when Jack joins Brigid on a research show more expedition to Greenland, and when the two of them go missing, it becomes clear that Katla is the only one who can save her beloved Jack from the Snow Queen who holds him prisoner. Adventure, romance, and myth combine in this winter escapade for teens who like a bit of fire with their ice. show less

Stork was such a cool book. Katla, the main character, was a spunky girl who was struggling in a fish out of water situation after moving from stylish California to cold Minnesota. The book was a really fun read and I loved the Norse mythology, not something that find a lot of in YA. Additionally, the romance between Kat and Jack is so sweet!

Frost is an equally fun read. Portions of the story - the main storyline featuring Jack, Kat and Brigid - is based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen and had wonderful fairytale-like quality to it. The story takes place in Minnesota, Iceland and Greenland and I love Ms. Delsol’s vivid descriptions of Icelandic folklore. Frost has a lot more going on than Stork did and at times, I show more wondered how the author was going to pull all the sub-plots together, but she does so very nicely in the end.

I love Kat’s voice. Even though she still a bit snarky, she is also more mature in this book. As with many second books in a series, Jack and Kat’s relationship is tested and we don’t get to see them together as much as I would like. I also wanted more of the Stork Society and I hope we will see more of the Storks in the next book in the series. I’m really hoping there will be another book because while Frost does not end with a cliffhanger, it does a great job of setting up some storylines that I hoping will get resolved in the next book.

Frost has a very satisfying ending and I recommend this series to anyone looking for something fun and different from the usual YA offerings of vamps, faeries, wolves and the ever increasing amount of Greek demigods we have been seeing lately.

Content: Kissing and violence. show less

Reviewed by Andrea for TeensReadToo.com

Jack and Kat are finally enjoying having a normal relationship. Until Kat's wish of a white Christmas comes true, thanks to Jack's weather-altering abilities. This change in climate attracts a beautiful environmental researcher.

Brigid puts together a team that consists of Jack and Kat's soon-to-be stepfather (and the dad of her soon-to-be new half-sister), Stanley. Boys are infatuated with Brigid. But Kat's not convinced. She knows something is wrong. Jack becomes distant, and when the group takes a trip to Greenland, disaster strikes and he and Brigid end up missing. Kat must find a way to get to Jack and save the world from a freezing disaster.

I really enjoyed reading STORK and its sequel, FROST. show more Once again, I just loved Kat's humor. There were so many times I found myself laughing out loud at things she said or thought. A lot of them were totally sarcastic things that I would think or say.

I liked that the book was based off of The Snow Queen story. And I liked the irony of Kat being in the school production of that same tale. But it bothered me how she was in the play, yet didn't connect what was happening in her life to the show she was putting on. It was so obvious to me!

And I still liked Jack and Kat's relationship. It seemed so sweet and like a true first love. But I didn't feel that it was over the top. Just how I like it.

FROST is the second book in a trilogy, and I can't wait for the third book! show less