Against all odds, Janneke has survived the Hunt for the Stag--but all good things come with a cost. Lydian might be dead, but he took the Stag with him. Janneke now holds the mantle, while Soren, now her equal in every way, has become the new Erlking. Janneke's powers as the new Stag has brought along haunting visions of a world thrown into chaos and the ghost of Lydian taunts her with the riddles he spoke of when he was alive.
Plot
This book takes place shortly after the events of White Stag. The characters have mostly recovered from the events of the prequel and have moved on with their lives. Because of this, the book starts fairly slow. While White Stag immediately threw the reader into Janneke’s inner turmoil and external conflicts, this book has a slower build with less obvious, immediate action. Given how action-packed the first book was, having the sequel be so slow and quiet was a bit of a let down.
Characters
All of the major characters who survived the previous book appear in the sequel. Additionally, the author introduces some new characters that were either mentioned in the previous book or didn’t appear at all. The existing characters were still well developed and intriguing, but I felt the new characters fell flat. They definitely added to the plot, but were missing the extra layer from the first book.
Setting
While the previous book touched on Norse mythology, this book really dives into it in depth. I enjoyed the way the author wove real-world myths in with her fantastical world. I also appreciated that the reader was able to see more of the world in this book than the previous, as the previous book was more plot focused. The sequel paints the world in a new light, however, that at times doesn’t seem continuous with the White Stag.
My Recommendation
While I absolutely loved White Stag and devoured the story, Goblin King didn’t grab me in the same way. It was still a fun read and I was able to read through it fairly quickly, for being a larger book, but my expectations were high based on the first book in the series. However, if you enjoy Norse mythology, I definitely would recommend this book as it does a great job touching on real-world stories.
