Slaying the Frost King: Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers
Written by Candace Robinson and Elle Beaumont
Romance and erotica are not genres I gravitate towards. Both have their place, and both can be supremely written, resulting in a wonderful story; some of which I’ve reviewed for this site. If I’m going to make a point of reading a book that is marketed around those traits, it’s because it offers something other than those traits to pique my interest. I made a point of reading Slaying the Frost King. While there’s no promise of it moving beyond the enemies to lovers trope or offering something different, the authors—Candace Robinson and Elle Beaumont—grabbed my attention. I first discovered Beaumont’s writing with the fantastic story, “Gossamer & Thorns,” my favourite story in the wonderful Beyond the Cogs anthology (click here for my review). I first discovered Robinson’s writing in the Emporium of Superstition anthology (featuring another great tale by Beaumont), with the entertaining “Mirror, Mirror” (click here for my review, too).
While both authors write entertaining stories that can defy the reader’s expectations, Slaying the Frost King isn’t one of them. Depending on your appreciation of romance and erotica stories, and what you look for these stories to include, this may be disappointing, or it may come as a great relief. The book’s subtitle—Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers—denoting the series, tells the reader everything they need to know. The story features enemies to lovers, with one of them being a fantastical “other.”
At 306 pages in paperback and hardcover (or an estimated 280 pages) on Kindle, Slaying the Frost King is a quick read, something that is far more digestible than most books of its size. Despite how quickly it reads, this novel feels a little too long for the story it has to tell. It tells its tale in the morally dubious, Stockholm Syndrome-esque vein of Beauty and the Beast—but with a lot more spice than Disney would ever allow—as the titular Frost King, Morozko, takes Eirah as his prisoner—as king of the frost realm known as Frosteria, he requires an annual sacrifice. Given the subtitle, it’s no spoiler to say that an attraction builds between the pair, and passion soon blossoms. While the plot is light, it includes some fun turns, but these feel like they are filling space as the story moves to its inevitable conclusion.
It may be a cliché to say that readers don’t read romance and erotica for the plot, but the book’s light plot primarily serves to get the characters together and explain why they’re enemies, before they fall for—and into—each other. It serves this purpose well, while the meat of Slaying the Frost King revolves around its romance and erotica. The romance aspect builds well enough, although I can’t see how these characters would connect in ways outside of their attraction to one another. However, a large part of these books revolves around the fantasy inherent in its erotic moments, and it dials the spice up a notch or three. The love scenes peppered throughout the novel all work well, conveying the characters’ passion. They leave little to the imagination, while not being so explicit to take things too far.
If you ever keep scrolling after my reviews, you will see that I include my favourite (spoiler-free) quote from the book. I’m a little hesitant to include my favourite this time—I pushed past my reticence, naturally—as it’s the book’s opening paragraph. This isn’t to say that Slaying the Frost King peaked way too soon, and the rest of the writing isn’t a letdown. But the opening of the book so perfectly encapsulates the style of writing, which reads almost as a YA fairy tale (but, please, don’t pass this book on to younger readers; it’s decidedly adults only) and showing the sense of humour the authors bring to the book. While the name “Frosteria” is on the nose, it fits the tone of the prose and the charm that it brings.
Less successful, however, is the dialogue. Once again, it strikes a tone akin to a fairy tale for younger readers, with both Eirah and Morozko sounding like they stepped out of a classic fable. Their dialogue sounds completely different to one another. But with Eirah sounding human and Morozko sounding like a monstrous villain, the two voices don’t gel, which makes it more difficult to suspend disbelief. Eirah’s dialogue also sounds more natural than Morozko’s, which took me out of the story at various points.
The dialogue isn’t the only area where Eirah is more compelling than Morozko. Although Slaying the Frost King alternates between points of view with each chapter, giving equal space to both characters, Eirah feels like a more fully formed character. She’s entertaining to follow and fun to read. Morozko is less developed, with the book focusing on him being a mythological being, rather than developing his character in any meaningful way.
As mentioned earlier, Slaying the Frost King is part of the Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers series. It’s the third in the series, with at least two more books due for release this year. However, the book stands perfectly alone, with the other books in the series focusing on different romantic entanglements. Each book (so far, at least) is written by a different author, so if you’re looking for fantastical enemies to lovers romance and erotica, there’s a variety for readers to pick and choose what appeals to them. Complicating the series connections, however—and not mentioned on the cover, or on its Amazon listing—is that it fits within Robinson and Beaumont’s Demons of Frosteria series. Slaying the Frost King is perfectly contained, and those books feature different protagonists. Without having read those books, I can’t say whether there’s any connective tissue between the stories.
Having remarked that people don’t read romance and erotica for the plot, writing about a thousand words discussing Slaying the Frost King in such detail feels a little absurd. While it has a light plot and Morozko doesn’t have much depth, Slaying the Frost King does exactly what you would expect it to while entertaining with its prose. Depending on how much you enjoy its tropes, your mileage will vary.
Favourite Passage
Snow fell onto the cobblestones of the castle’s courtyard, painting the picture of serenity—or at least it would have—had it not been for the writhing body beneath Morozko’s boot.
Slaying the Frost King: Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers, Chapter 1
Slaying the Frost King: Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers was provided by BookSirens for the purpose of an honest review.
Slaying the Frost King will be available in paperback and Kindle, exclusive to Amazon—including on Kindle Unlimited—from 8 June 2023.
You can follow Candace Robinson online, via:
You can follow Elle Beaumont online, via:
Note: I do not post scores on reviews on this website, but do post them on my Amazon and Goodreads reviews:
- Amazon – Review to be added upon the book’s release
- Goodreads
Please find a link below; please note I do not collect any proceeds from the sale.
Slaying the Frost King (Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers)
wastanley.com 