Hoarfrost

Whyborne & Griffin, Book 6

By: Jordan L. Hawk

Narrated by: Julian G. Simmons

Sorcerer Percival Endicott Whyborne and his husband, Griffin Flaherty, have enjoyed an unprecedented stretch of peace and quiet. Unfortunately the calm is shattered by the arrival of a package from Griffin's brother, Jack, who has uncovered a strange artifact while digging for gold in Alaska. The discovery of a previously unknown civilization could revive the career of their friend, Dr. Christine Putnam, or it might kill them all if the hints of dark sorcery surrounding the find are true.

With Christine and her fiancé, Iskander, Whyborne and Griffin must journey to the farthest reaches of the arctic to stop an ancient evil from claiming the life of Griffin's brother. But in the rough mining camp of Hoarfrost, secrets fly as thickly as the snow, and Whyborne isn't the only sorcerer drawn by the rumors of magic. Amidst a wilderness of ice and stone, Griffin must either face his greatest fear or lose everyone he loves.

©2015 Jordan L. Hawk (P)2015 Jordan L. Hawk

Very solid continuation of a great series.

Hoarfrost mostly is business as usual, but in a good way.
It spins on the threads of plot delivered before, it adds some new, it gives more hints and explores further...
If you liked the previous books, you will also like this, I would say.

I can really only lay my finger on three things I did feel could have been better (or more to my liking) but none of it is really something missing, it is actually more what I would like for the next ones.

1. No direct appearance of Whyborne senior, I always liked how the father son relationship was worked since it always managed to subtly show that it was more complicated than just the usual "terrible father".
2. Griffin mostly on the receiving end.I just think that he makes the better dominant partner all in all, or it might be that it is that the dynamic in the first two books was more easy to relate to me personally as a gay man.
3. A bit less horror. Continuing the trend of book five in particular, it is more conciliatory towards the "eldritch horrors", which is not bad, but I do hope we get something really alien and scary again.

Other than that, it had good new characters and a very nice building of suspense, since it kept me guessing to what exactly was going on, making it both logical and vague enough to make the guessing fun.

It also elaborated more on magic in a sensible way, I especially liked that it managed to give Whyborne a difficult opponent while still staying true to characterizing him as especially powerful, that was something I really liked since it is easy to mess that up.

I hope we will hear a lot more from Whyborne and Griffin in the future as well!

The narrator also kept up his good work, I do really hope I may hear him in other books too, I like his style and voice for gay fiction and supernatural stories both.

Always An Enjoyable Experience

As usual this has been a truly enjoyable experience; from the story to the narration.
Jumping from Griffin to Whyborne was at first tricky to keep up with but it was worth the effort to get a glimpse into each of their thoughts.
Looking forward to the next one.

Loving every minute!

Once again Jordan L Hawk and Julian Simmons have brought the world of Whyborne & Griffin alive. The love story woven in through the mayhem is one of the one of such sweetness and hope. It's such a fun and brilliant ride every time I listen to these stories.

Wonderful addition to a wonderful series

I love this story so much! The development of both Griffin and Wyborne's characters has been especially great in the past two volumes of the series. Both men have deepened so much, as has their love for each other. I also love the fact that Christine has found a love of her own, as she's a truly delightful character and I can't see how anyone could fail to adore her. (Once they get used to her, of course!)

I love that Griffin has found peace with the "monsters" that have been haunting his nightmares and have caused him such terror and heartache. It's a credit to Jordan L. Hawk's talent and depth as a writer that the so-called monsters turn out to have their own side of the story, and are really not monsters at all, once you get to know them. Just like so many other prejudices we hold against our fellow humans. I fell in love with the Umbri and their underground kingdom (queendom?) and hope we'll see more of them in future books.

Thank you, Jordan L. Hawk, for an amazing series of books. You have found yourself a fan. :)

Favorite of the series

The themes of scholar, magic, antiquity, chosen family, deep love, and fantastical adventure are all push my “color me fascinated “ button. Jordan Hawk is a very good author and I have many of her novels in my Audible and Kindle library. The Widdershin series is 7-8 years old I think, and it’s been interesting to read her stories and recognizing her growing talent. The first in the series was good but this last one is really really good! There’s one more to listen to in the Audible store, and several betweener novellas that can only be read in ebook. I’ll be finishing all the Widdershin books available before the end of 2023.
I was almost ready to give up the series with book 5 b/c I found Percival’s ego issues tedious. His response was to either blame His lover for “not understanding “, reject his own personal self worth, or to finally come to his senses about everything and act accordingly.
In Hoarfrost, Whyborn was generally confident; he didn’t wallow in self doubt excessively or blame Griffin for lack of understanding.
Julian Simmons narration has greatly improved over the series as well. He has developed voices for recurring characters and is good to listen to.

More please

I have left this series since the beginning. Each new book is fascinating end wonderful. The characters come alive . My favorite character is Christine. such an array of emotions this is a must read book.

Just great!

Again, the latest adventures of Whyborne, Griffin and Christine starts with a letter. This letter is sent by Griffin’s long lost brother Jack and he’s asking them for help with a discovery in the remote parts of the freezing Alaska. To prevent unleashing unknown horrors the two pairs; Whyborne and Griffin and Christine and her recently acquired fiancé Iskander, set off to, Alaska to save Jack and all inhabitants of Hoarfrost.

Once more family is in the heart of the story. This time it’s Griffin’s family. And a brother he hasn’t seen since they were separated as children. Obviously emotions run high, and they aren’t all from the reunion, or that Griffin and Whyborne need to hide their relationship from Jack, but because Griffin is once more faced with the monsters from the past. This time they might just be here to stay.

I love the world Hawk has created and I’m in awe of their imagination and ability to keep the magic up from one book to the other, but keeping it on a level that don’t go “overboard”. So often with this kind of series I’ve noticed that the dangers and threats gets bigger and bigger (at which point I start to lose interest). That never happens with this series, and I love it so much more with every book.

I’d like a moment to talk about Christine. Yes I want to talk about the woman in m/m fiction. She’s been there, prominently, from the beginning, smack dab in the middle of trouble. She’s frank, brash, takes no prisoners and she’s pure awesome. It’s rare (for me at least) to find decently portrayed females in m/m fictions. Ones that aren’t there just to cause trouble and drama, or being the villain of the story. I rarely find them as true best friends, having a huge part of the story, not taking over it though. Hat off to Hawk for this, I’m for one is grateful.

I loved that Hoarfrost was told from both Whyborne and Griffin’s POV. It’s something that I’ve missed in the previous books. Julian G. Simmons has very clear and distinct voices for them both so it was always easy to know who’s “head” you were in at any given moment. To that point, Simmons have many distinct voices for the different characters, human and not. The non-human ones are a bit more interesting as he pushes the limits just a little bit – and brilliantly so I might add.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

Interesting in Many Ways

I say interesting because this book went into a lot of conversations that are hard to delve into. A slow start that led into prob my favorite of the books thus far. I, being a gay man, enjoyed the emphasis that was placed on the main couples bond. This book, while still dabbling in the physical lust of it all, was able to coherently show a companionship that really felt honest and vulnerable.

The story felt so much more complete then the others, knowing exactly where it wanted to go and why. The past few books felt like they were just trying to provide something and just move on to the next book, not really delving deep into the morals of actions or character development. While each book brought a new hurdle, it never went further than that. This one was able to dig into the past hardships and actually stay with them.

Griffin especially was built so much more. I have always seen him as a blank piece of wood with little other then a dark backstory being his only character trait. However, giving him chapters as a main narrator voice allowed me to understand his motives and concerns so much clearer. This aspect is what probably made this book for me. Providing proof and a reason for caring about what he cares about rather then just being told so and never seeing it. This book was very good about the showing and not telling.

While this does have flaws in places and a ton of slow moments where the reader is already way ahead of the characters (often forcing me to pull the “Get On With It” line), it is none the less a fantastic read that went more in depth on answering, rather then providing more reasons to ask why.

Love this series

Love these books and the narrator does them so well. Great characters each with a unique voice which is very impressive. the inflections along with excellent dialogue brings them to life in a fabulous world.

Awesome Tale! A wonderful adventure and love story!

This was perhaps the best book in the series yet. It wasn't filled with sex for sex sake. The story had more substance than all it's predecessors. LOVE it really is an amazing thing in all its forms! Someone please teach this narrator how to say "anemone" and "crevice". I nearly pulled out my hair listening to him butcher the words. Great book!