Spartan Frost

By Jennifer Estep

A Spartan warrior-in-training decides to leave school—and the girl he loves—in this fantasy novella by the New York Times bestselling author.

I'm Logan Quinn, the deadliest Spartan warrior at Mythos Academy. At least I was—until the day I almost killed Gwen Frost.

Professor Metis and Nickamedes say that I'm fine, that Loki and the Reapers don't have a hold on me anymore, but I can't risk it. I can't risk hurting Gwen again. So I'm leaving Mythos and going somewhere far, far away.

I know Gwen wonders what's happening to me, whether I'm safe. I can't tell her, but this is my story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kensington Books
• Release date: Jul 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780758294777

Jennifer Estep

Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author who prowls the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.Jennifer is the author of the Section 47, Galactic Bonds, Elemental Assassin, Crown of Shards, Gargoyle Queen, and other fantasy series. She has written more than forty books, along with numerous novellas and stories.In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys hanging out with friends and family, doing yoga, and reading fantasy and romance books. She also watches way too much TV and loves all things related to superheroes.For more information on Jennifer and her books, visit her website at or follow her online on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Amazon, BookBub, and Goodreads. You can also sign up for her newsletter: https://www.jenniferestep.com/contact-jennifer/newsletter/Happy reading, everyone! ?

Book preview

reading!

Chapter 1

I was going to kill her.

I wanted to kill her—more than anything else.

Logan. Stop! It’s me! Gwen!

Gwen Frost said those words to me over and over again. Cajoling. Begging. Pleading. She shoved her wavy brown hair back off her face, then stretched out her hand as if she could stop me just by touching me.

I frowned and paused the vicious attack I’d been about to unleash on her. Maybe she could, given her psychometry magic, the strange power she had that let her learn about people and objects simply by touching them. Maybe all it would take to free me from this horrible, pounding agony in my head was a mere brush of her cool fingers against mine.

An angry snarl rose in the back of my throat, and my fingers tightened around the hilt of my sword, my hand wrapped so hard around the metal that it felt like a spike digging into my palm. Well, I wasn’t going to find out. I didn’t want to find out. All I wanted to do was kill her.

Gwen’s lips pulled up into a soft smile, as if my not immediately attacking her was some sign that her silly, stupid, tearful pleas were actually working. I made myself smile back at her, although I could feel how terribly twisted my face was, as though I was wearing a rubber mask stretched tight over my own skin.

Gwen crept a little closer to me . . . and then a little closer still . . .

Her sneakers squeaked, and the wooden floor of the stage creaked as she kept easing toward me one small, careful step at a time. For a moment, I stared past her, looking at the rows of padded seats that ringed the stage and wondering why the auditorium was empty. There had been plenty of people in here earlier. My dad. My uncle Nickamedes. Coach Ajax. Oliver. Kenzie. Carson. Daphne. Professor Metis. Students who were members of the Mythos Academy band. I remembered seeing all those people and more.

My eyes swept over the seats once again, but they were just as empty as before. For some reason, everyone else had vanished, leaving me alone with her.

Logan, Gwen said, so much love, so much sympathy, so much hope in that one soft whisper.

My gaze snapped back to her. She gave me another tentative smile, then stretched her hand out toward me again—

I swung my sword at her, trying to take her head off with one blow.

Gwen jerked back at the last second, the blade barely missing slicing into her neck and shoulders. The hopeful smile slipped off her face, and sadness sparked in her violet eyes.

For a moment, I almost felt what she did. I almost felt her disappointment. I almost felt her deep, aching sadness. I almost felt how wrong this was. But the emotions seemed like smoky whispers that I couldn’t quite hear, and the more I concentrated on them, the softer and more indistinct they became until they faded away altogether.

Then, the thing inside me rose up once more, clawing its way to the surface of my mind, ripping and tearing and shredding through all my fight, all my resistance, all my attempts to stop it.

No, not it, not a thing—Loki.

The evil Norse god of chaos. The powerful being whose soul was invading my own body. Corrupting my own soul and eating away at everything I was. Replacing every single thing that was me with all of the foul things that were him.

That was the last coherent thought I had before the rage took over.

Rage that this . . . this girl was still alive, despite all of my many, many attempts to kill her, to kill her mother and grandmother, to wipe all of her ancestors off the face of the earth. But no matter what I did, no matter what I ordered my Reapers to do, no matter how I schemed and plotted and manipulated, the Frost family always managed to survive. She always managed to survive, along with that stupid goddess she served—Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. My nemesis.

The rage rose up in me again, boiling and bubbling like lava in my chest. Everything in my field of vision slowly took on an angry red tint, as though a bloody fog

Reviews for Spartan Frost

[bookishthings · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finally!!!!! We get a glimpse inside Logan's head. This is after events that take place in Crimson Frost. If you haven't read that, then don't read this one.

Poor Logan is messed up after what he did. Even though everyone tells him the attack wasn't his fault, he feels like it is. he also seems to become a little closer to his dad. Which is a good thing. He is allowed to go on a assignment with his dad when they find a Reaper hideout.

It is great getting a peak into Logan's thoughts, but the cliffhanger in this novella is brutal! I mean seriously!!!!! Sorry this is so short, but this novella is very spoilery.

[jeneaw-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my favorite series, and being able to read Logan story was great, He is one the warriors at the Mythos Academy. Logan is a spartan. They are strong, fierce and deadly.

At the end of the fourth installment, Crimson Frost, Logan has left Mythos and only a few know where he has went. This is after he almost kills Gwen, while he was possessed my Loki. He loves Gwen and can’t take a chance that he might try and harm her again. He has left and is staying at his family home up north with his father. Seeing things through Logan’s eyes was enlightening. I will say that this isn’t about Logan’s and Gwen’s relationship, and that was okay with me. I enjoyed getting know him a little more, and it gave more depth to his character. While his interactions with his father were strained, and with all the happened up to this point, it is easy to see why. It also doesn’t help that Logan has so much guilt and anger pent up inside about what he did to Gwen. I guess he thought that running from the problems was a good idea, but he does figure out that they don’t go away. There is some action that explodes toward the ending, and it set up for Midnight Frost. Yes, it is a cliffhanger but it was definitely okay with me.

This is a novella that needs to be read before reading Midnight Frost, but if you are a fan of Logan’s I would certainly recommend it. He is an amazing character, and still remains one of my favorite in the series.

[emmyson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked the focus on Logan here. I've been quite curious about what goes on in his mind, as he sometimes seems something of an enigma. Fleshing him out a bit was a smart move on Estep's part. Nice seque between books.

[darkfaerietales_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.Quick & Dirty: An enjoyable point of view into a Spartan’s life and current turmoil.Opening Sentence: I was going to kill her.The Review:To be honest, I am not usually a fan of novellas. But Jennifer Estep’s Spartan Frost was really enjoyable. After the crushing ending of Crimson Frost, I enjoyed the glimpse into the few days of Logan’s life. Fair warning, if you have not read Crimson Frost (Book 4), or any of the other books, I would stop reading to avoid any spoilers. Normally, I would try to write this spoiler free, but the nature of the story somewhat prevents it.Logan Quinn is a Spartan at Mythos Academy. Beyond that, he is a Spartan that the Reapers have chosen to merge Loki’s soul with. At the end of Crimson Frost, he was taken under control, to do what he never thought he could do – kill Gwen Frost. Spartan Frost retells the last few moments of Crimson Frost, and then proceeds almost immediately after those gut-wrenching events. Logan has removed himself from Gwen, his friends, and the rest of Mythos Academy. He sets out to train and to get a new outlook on his priorities. But if Logan thinks he can run away from the Reapers, he has to think again.Even though I only get a glimpse of Logan’s perspective, I feel like it was a good addition to the series. I was able to understand Logan and who he is, much more than what I already see. From the rest of the books, I have this idea of him and what I interpret as Estep’s intentions, but reading Spartan Frost has brought this other side of him that I normally would not see.Estep kept the same familiar tone in Spartan Frost as she had in the previous books. This novella was really a nice extension of the stories. I appreciated the continuation of the world that I have grown to love. The content was well balanced and did its job well. Estep gave all the attributes of a regular story (action scene, meaningful ah-hah! moment, and a conclusion) but within the nice comfort of these pages.I enjoyed Spartan Frost, and I think you will also.Notable Scene:More anger raged through me, burning away the last echoes of Loki’s laughter and everything else but my desire to hurt every Reaper in the entire ski resort.“Logan?” Dad asked again.“Come on,” I said, my voice even harsher than before. “Let’s keep moving.”I shouldered my way past him, Inari, and Sergei and started forward once more.“Logan, wait—“ Dad called out in a soft voice.But it was too late.Because three Reapers stepped out of the room right in front of me.FTC Advisory: Kensington Teen provided me with a copy of Spartan Frost. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[hrose2931 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I was kind of hoping that a story featuring Logan, from Logan's point of view would, you know, feature HIS FACE!!! No such luck though. But this is a nice little peek at where Logan's mind is after he almost killed Gwen and why he doesn't want to go back. It also shows the relationship between him and his father. I liked seeing this other side of Logan. And this definitely has something to do with the next book in the series, Midnight Frost. Overall it was interesting and a nice little tide over until Midnight Frost released.

[alwaysyaatheart · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Jennifer Estep's Mythos Academy Series. Spartan Frost is a short novella which is actually told from Logan's point of view. Logan Quinn is the Spartan hottie who is Gwen, the main character's boyfriend. The story begins immediately after the events that occurred in Crimson Frost. Distraught, ashamed, guilty, and angry at himself, Loki, his stepmother and the reapers, Logan can't face Gwen or his friends, so he has left with his father. In Spartan Frost we get a glimpse inside Logan's head and get his perspective on the things that happen, how he is feeling now, and what how he plans to go forward. Of course, they are always reapers to battle. As this novella ends, story begins to unfold and lead into the next installment, Midnight Frost. Spartan Frost is quick read that lives up to the expectations fans of Jennifer Estep have come to expect from this series. I am looking forward to diving into Midnight Frost and seeing where she takes the story from here.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a Novella from the Mythos Academy world told from Logan’s POV, it takes place in between books 4 and 5. I got a copy of this novella to review through Netgalley(dot)com; thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for providing a copy for me to give an honest review of. This is kind of a take it or leave it novella; it adds a bit to the series but you aren’t missing much if you skip it either. This review does contain spoilers for previous book in the series, so you have been warned. You definitely do want to read the books prior to this one before reading this novella; it is not a stand alone kind of novella.Logan almost killed Gwen while he was possessed by Loki and now he is trying to recover. He’s returned to his family home with his father and is trying to work out and refocus on what is important to him. Along the way he is drawn to some action against the Reapers with his father.This book doesn’t really give us any insight into Logan’s thoughts about Gwen, which I was kind of hoping for. The part of Logan that this novella does fill out is Logan’s relationship with his father. So we do get to learn a bit about Logan’s past and how he interacts with his father. This was kind of nice and gave a little more depth to Logan as a character.Gwen is mentioned a few times in passing but she is mostly absent from the story. Logan is staying away from his friends because he fears hurting them, like he did when he was possessed by Loki.Overall this is pretty short little novella that gives us some additional background about Logan but definitely isn’t significant to the main story. If you are a huge fan of the series and want to know more about what Logan and his dad did when Logan left Mythos Academy then go ahead and give it a read. It’s a decent story just nothing all that profound. I am not sure it’s worth $1.59 to read and you definitely won’t be lost in Book 5 if you skip this little tale about Logan.

[rabidreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reviewed by: Rabid ReadsIt’s rare enough when I get to experience a story from a male character’s POV but it’s an even more unusual occurrence in Young Adult so when Spartan Frost and I crossed paths there was only one possible outcome. This novella needed to be read. After inhaling the first chapter, I was happy that I’d just finished Crimson Frost because the beginning of this short could have been a scene in the previous installment’s final battle. After revisiting the all important fight between Gwen and Logan albeit, from a different perspective, this novella goes on to address many of the Spartan’s issues in a short amount of time which makes Spartan Frost a brief, yet very important addition to Jennifer Estep Mythos Academy series.Logan’s feeling pretty darned low in this novella and I liked that Estep gave him the chance to lick his wounds and deal with the fallout of Crimson Frost on his own time. Unfortunately for the Spartan, hitting rock bottom was a necessary evil on his road to recovery. I was relieved to see Linus step up to the plate in his son’s time of need and I loved that he made the first move towards mending their relationship. I wasn’t a fan of him in CF but maybe there’s hope for their broken family yet! And of course, no story about a Spartan would be complete without a little blood and gore; also, what better way to get back on the horse than buried knee deep in Reaper blood? It seemed to do the trick and the ending leaves readers with a nice segue to Midnight Frost.I always enjoy Jennifer Estep’s writing and Spartan Frost was no different; plus, as Logan would say: “hey, bacon makes everything better.”

[payday1999-430350 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is Logan's POV and it shows his struggles with coming to terms with what happened in Book 4. I like it and it's a good start before you start reading book 5 in the series.