Giants of the Frost

By: Kim Wilkins

Narrated by: Edwina Wren

Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

An epic saga of love, fate and betrayal.

Victoria has chosen career over love, but starts to question this decision when she finds herself working at a remote weather research station on a tiny island off the coast of Norway.

In this world of midnight sunshine, the Old Gods still watch the affairs of humanity - one of them has become fixated on Victoria, certain that she is the reincarnation of a woman he fell in love with over a thousand years before. It was a love affair which threatened the very existence of Asgard.

Dangerous love and desire are soon running out of control, as the spectacularly supernatural obliterates Victoria's refuge in scientific rationalism.

©2004 Kim Wilkins; (P)2007 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd.

Critic Reviews

"A page-turning supernatural romance/dark fantasy novel with lashings of brooding Norse mythology." (The Age)
"Beautifully rendered....Quite possibly her finest work yet." (The Courier Mail)

Bad ending

The story is well told, if a bit long, but the main problem that I had with this book is that the ending (without disclosing details) is abrupt and unsatisfactory.
I came away very displeased with it.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Epic Tale With A Modern Twist

I really loved this book, more than I expected to. The author blended epic story telling of the old gods seamlessly with a modern twist. The way she characterized the Norse Gods and explained their existence, and their place in our mortal world, was very well done. Their characters take what we know of the gods, Odin the All Father and Loki the Trickster and the rest of the gang and turn their archetypes on their heads, making them fallible and almost human in their desires and weaknesses. This type of story is a classic in itself, a love story based on past life experience, and Wilkins brings everything we enjoy about the genre and adds her own elements besides. Despite the subject matter, I didn't feel it was cliché.

The narrator was quite enjoyable as well. Not only is her posh british accent melodic, her Norwegian accents aren't bad either. She does a very good job of assigning a different voice to every character, I was impressed by her range.

All in all, well worth the credit.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Wish I could find more stories like this one!

At first, I hated the main character therefore I wasent enjoying this book so much but It really became good. The writer captures the personalities of the old norse gods perfectly and weaves a tale involving their mythology and our world. Edwina Wren reads this with perfect emotion and pace. She has a brilliant norwegian accent. If you like Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs or even Neil Gaiman or if you enjoy romance novels you'll want to hear this one. I do not like romance novels and I still loved it. Now my only problem is finding another book like this one!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I loved this story

The narrator Edwina Wren was supernatural herself in the reading of this book.I just loved all 477 minutes of this lovely story. If you like romance/fantasy this would be a great audiobook to listen to over and over and over again. I did!!!!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

AMAZING!

I picked this up on a whim and was so surprised at how great it was. The story and characters are fabulous. The writer has a wonderful, literary turn of phrase and captures the essence of the worlds very well. The narrator is incredibly good and keeps you completely engaged. A must for your library!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

light entertainment

I took a chance on this one - fearing it would turn out to be unbearably soppy and clich?d - but I don't regret the credit I spent on it. I enjoyed the story, the mix of the modern and the ancient, of technology and mythology, of the love and the suspense elements. In terms of the story my criticism is the fact that the great love, to me, was just not believable. But that didn't ruin it for me. Much more annoying was the narrator: the voices she gave to the characters (mainly the male characters) did not do it for me at all, and throughout the book I found myself imagining how much more interesting and likable the cast of this story would be were it not for the narration.
This title was enjoyable enough, but I'm sure that reading this book rather than listening to it would be doing yourself a favour.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Enjoyed it

I enjoyed reading this book first and listening to it later. Some of the "magic and romance" of this novel is harder to visualize through the reading. I think that is due to the length and slow parts more then the reader through. This book is not for someone looking for a bodice ripper or the perfect ending. I enjoy how it mixes enough of reality to make it believable and that life doesn't always turn out as we want it to be. "Autumn Castle" by the same author is better, but this book was still enjoyable.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Norse myth and Now

This was a very good book. there are a couple times it seems to drag a bit but then it always picks up. The story is good another Modern day person runs into things old and beyond there understanding. If you enjoy that sort of fantacy this really should be read.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Intelligently written, but too glum

Any additional comments?

At first I was pleasantly surprised by this book, it is very intelligently written and I liked learning about the norse mythology aspect. I was also happy it wasn't a romance novel. It is slow paced and glum, which isn't the problem as there are several book series like that that I enjoy (like game of thrones), unfortunately it just didn't incorporate any humor or enough action to counter the glumness and listening to this book just made me feel very heavy. I thought the narrator was very good.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

An all-time favorite, possibly Kim's best

This is my 4th reading of this book and my 2nd audio listen. Need i say more? It is a magical story and for those who love Norse mythology, an even greater delight. And Edwina Wren's narration is flawless.

Well.......

Worth a listen but make up your own mind by the end of the book, not a bad story just not to my taste.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fabulous!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a fantastic tale of love and fate, with very believable characters brought to life by the narrator who uses many different voices and accents. I found this book whilst searching for more from this narrator, having heard other books of hers and in doing so discovered an author who I shall definitely keep an eye on.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mesmerising

If you could sum up Giants of the Frost in three words, what would they be?

Enchanting and thoroughly addictive

Who was your favorite character and why?

yes, made me want to explore folklore of Scandinavia

Have you listened to any of Edwina Wren’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Yes, travels through past and present and through different realms of reality

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Narrator made the book

Any additional comments?

Fantastic listen

Loved it!

I really enjoyed this story and the haunting narration. I chose this book randomly as part of a BOGOF but will definitely be looking for more from the same author and narrator.

The past and the present come together.

The slow build up was a problem but so pleased I stuck with it. The Nordic names were a bit confusing, however the change from past to present was so well done. Narration was great and there was a satifactory end to the story.

Fantastic

Totally enthralling from start to finish. I loved the almost haunting accents produced by the narrator. All in all, I really enjoyed this book

Surprisingly Brilliant

I don't usually like fantasy, but this had some themes that I thought might be interesting. For the first few chapters it seemed like it would be hard work., but then it got interesting., and then addictive, and by the end I was stopping up half the night to find out what happened next. The narrator deserves an award, doing all the weird and varied voices so convincingly. It's not perfect, but I'm surprised to say it's the best book I've listened to in quite a while.

unfulfilling

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

undecided

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Shorter... it was unnecessarily drawn out in places, far too meandering.

And **SPOILER ALERT*** I found the ending miserable, depressing & unsatisfying, it ruined it for me.

What does Edwina Wren bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Great accent & characterisation

If this book were a film would you go see it?

maybe, I think knowing the ending in advance would make the story more enjoyable in this case. I've never read a fantasy with such a miserable ending before & it grated against what I was expecting & I actually felt quite cross! I read fantasy to escape the **** in my own life, I don't need stories to depress me further. But if I knew what I was getting into then it's different. I think it would make an excellent adaptation, particularly with the renewed interested in Norse mythology of late.

Great narration good story, terrible ending

If you could sum up Giants of the Frost in three words, what would they be?

Enjoyable, untimely disappointing....

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the story and the narration was excellent but it ended as if the author lost interest at the last minute, very disappointing.
But if you can forgive a rubbish ending then its worth a listen. Shripy was awesome and he will stay with me forever

Got to know all the characters , it was ace.

Got to know all the character's. Was a really good book. Hard to put down 😱