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

Made me cry * Spoilers

Never thought I’d be crying over a gelatinous blob with wings but here we are… I cried so hard when the baby queen reached out for her mother just started bawling… what do you mean she’ll never whisper to her own babies, but her mother loves her anyway despite her deformity I just couldn’t handle. Hawk how could you do this????

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.

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.

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.