Wattpad Works Wonders: White Stag Book Review

"We're all monsters to someone or something by some definition. It's the context of the situation that matters." White Stag by Kara Barbieri

I feel like we have all heard of Wattpad in some context or another. It's a site similar to Archive of Our Own, or FanFiction.net. Wattpad is a self-publishing site that millions of people use every day, from reading and posting fan-fiction, to poetry, to AUs, to even their own original works. And in the past couple years, Wattpad authors have been getting some serious buzz from traditional publishers. 

A popular Wattpad-original is Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board by Zoe Aarsen, which was adapted into a Hulu original series and then traditionally published under the new name Light As A Feather. Another well-known book that got its start on the website is After by Anna Todd. Originally a Harry Styles fan-fiction, After was recently adapted into a movie that (unfortunately) did pretty well in the Box-Office. 

And now we have a new Wattpad-original reigning supreme. White Stag by Kara Barbieri is the first in a new series inspired by Germanic and Scandinavian Mythology. The book follows our main protagonist Janneke, a girl enslaved by the goblin race after her village and everyone in it was burned to the ground. Blessed with long life in order to keep up with her goblin masters, a hundred years has passed in her servitude, and now she must help her Goblin-Lord Soren claim the throne of the Erlking. In order to do that, Soren must capture and kill the immortal White Stag, the symbol of the Goblin King's status. However, as the Hunt begins, Janneke ends up getting herself caught up in more than she ever bargained for. 

This was one of my most highly-anticipated releases of 2019. As far as I know, it's only available as an e-book at the moment, but most libraries do stock it as it's traditionally published (I'm kind of salty that libraries don't stock Indie-books, because hello some of the best books out there are self-published). 

*EDIT: The book is available in a physical format, on both Barnes&Noble.com and Amazon

Reading this book, I felt super conflicted. There were parts I really enjoyed and then there were parts that I really didn't, so my star rating kept bouncing up and down with every chapter I flipped through. In the end, I think I'm going to give this book a solid 3 stars. It was a sure 2-star read for me for about half the book, but then things got interesting. I'm going to talk about these in depth later on, but let's just say I wasn't about to end my read of it early. 

The book starts out with one of my favorite old-Germanic poems, "Der Erlkönig" by Johann Wolfgang von Geothe. If you don't know it, I highly suggest you look it up and read it, because it's one of the most haunting poems I have ever read. And the song (music by Franz Schubert) even more so! In fact, I'm going to link the song down below. It's one of those poems that sticks with you after you read it, and you never forget the time when you heard it for the first time. 

Then the book jumps right into Janneke's life being Soren's slave, essentially. We learn that the goblin race steals humans from our world constantly, because goblins are not able to create anything unless it is meant for war or violence. So they need humans to make them clothes, jewelry, homes and furniture. The goblins live in another world bordering our own, known as the Permafrost. Janneke was originally owned by Soren's uncle, Lydian, but after an incident that led to Janneke stabbing an iron nail into his leg (iron is extremely poisonous to the Folk, like goblins and fairies), Lydian cast her aside into Soren's services, hoping his nephew would dispose of her. Goblins are inherently violent creatures; to kill is quite literally in their blood. They are constantly fighting amongst themselves, hoping for the opportunity to be the next king of their race, which is only chosen once the White Stag has been slaughtered and reborn, this time in servitude to the very same goblin that killed it. 

Janneke is disgusted with the goblin race. They murdered her family, her entire village, burned it to the ground, and then forced her into enslavement. But she can't help but feel a sort of thrill when she kills a goblin. After a hundred years living in the Permafrost, Janneke is slowly becoming more and more like the very things she despises. 

Okay, let's talk spoilers. If you haven't yet read White Stag, I suggest you stop reading this now, and come back after you've finished the book.

It was clear to me from the get go that Barbieri did her research. The application of mythology is damn-near flawless. And I don't use that term lightly, especially when it comes to my area of expertise. I mean, I'm literally going to college for mythology. I like to think I know enough about it to have some sort of relevant opinion when it comes to applying it to literature. I particularly loved the way she blended Germanic and Norse mythos together. In case you didn't know, the Permafrost and most of the creatures and gods in this book are Nordic. But the goblins, specifically the use of the term "Erlking" is Germanic. The closest the Norse people had to a goblin myth were the Svartelves, and those make their own appearance in the book. 

It was also clear to me from the beginning that this was meant to be romance between Janneke and Soren. Not my favorite thing in the world. I have to admit, I'm warming up to romance in books this year, but I really cannot stand the "Beauty and the Beast" romance. You know the one I'm talking about; where one character (usually the female) is the other one's prisoner/slave/indentured servant, and throughout the story they learn of a softer side of their captor and eventually fall in love with them, and then it's revealed that their captor has been in love with them this entire time, but didn't think about stopping the cruel abuse and neglect they administered. It's not quite Stockholm Syndrome, but it's pretty damn close. And it bothers me. Oh ho ho, does it bother me. In fact, I tend to refuse to read a lot of books if I learn that this is the kind of romance that the main couple is in. 

So when Janneke and Soren ended up together, I was a little miffed to be completely honest. I understand the reasoning Janneke went through and how her conclusion led to Soren, but I personally think the book would've been just as impacting had Soren and Janneke put aside the master/servant relationship and became equals instead, standing on the same ground. And in a way, they do at the end. When Janneke becomes the new stag, the new symbol of the Erlking's power, she takes her rightful place in the world. I suppose that this was always her destiny, especially after the revelation that she was born on the border of the Permafrost and the human world, but I didn't see it happening until it actually did. But looking back on the book, it was so obvious that this was how it would end. What with Janneke's dreams about the stag and her feeling so connected to the Permafrost despite being human, it's only logical that she was to take it's place. 

I'm a little concerned with the future, however. With the stag, once the Erlking's power dwindled beyond repair the Stag would run away from him, announcing to the goblin race that its power was up for grabs. Then this massive Hunt would ensue, where the Stag would be pursued throughout the Permafrost until the strongest goblin managed to kill it. After it was killed, the Stag would then be reborn and be subjugated to the new Erlking, their power becoming one, until the Erlking aged beyond recognition and the whole thing would start all over. Now that Janneke is the Stag, how exactly is that going to work? Are the goblins going to hunt her once Soren dies, in a thousand years? Or, is she going to just choose who is next in line, since she can talk and, ya know, convey her thoughts? 

I don't know. 

It took about half of the book for me to get really into it. Specifically, what turned the tide for me was the lindworm scene. I thought that was brilliant. Dragons are fricken' cool, no matter where you put them in a story. If a book has dragons in it, I'm going to pick it up. That's kind of an unspoken rule for me. I love dragons. That was also the scene where it became clear that the stakes were being raised to near impossible heights. After all, Soren nearly dies from lindworm poison. However, it was also this scene that made me roll my eyes a little bit. The first half of the book was all about preparing for the Hunt, getting ready to kill other goblins that would be in the way of the path of the Stag. But after the lindworm, the book suddenly became about all of these mini quests. All leading to the goal of the Stag, but it read a little odd to me. How were our main characters able to complete all of these mini quests, resting and recuperating for days at a time, when there was the entire goblin race out in the Permafrost, determined to slaughter anything that crosses their path, because they would be blocked from the Stag? It just didn't make that much sense to me, is all.

One thing I really appreciated was the archery knowledge in this book. As an archer myself, I've often found myself getting annoyed with books that depict archery poorly. But White Stag was almost meticulous with paying attention to Janneke's bow and arrows. After every battle she would walk along the field, picking up arrows and cleaning them before putting them back in her quiver, since she obviously didn't have an unlimited supply. Also, at the end of the book when she is holding arrows in her bow hand as well, instead of having to reach behind her after every shot to grab a new one. It's an old Viking technique, and one I loved seeing in the story. Not very many people think about that extra little tidbit. Archery takes time to prepare, so any seconds you can shave off are a blessing in the midst of a battle. 

Before I go I want to talk about one last thing; the epilogue. Obviously this is the first book in a series, so it needed that setup for a second book. But I'm thinking that this is just going to be a duology, because holy damn that epilogue. Throughout the book, Lydian would ask Janneke a question: "What happens when the serpent stops eating its tail?" Now, if you're unfamiliar with Norse mythology, this is a reference to Jormungand (or more traditionally, Jormungandr), the world serpent. A child of Loki, Jormungand is a massive snake with an insatiable appetite, only appeased once the Asgardian gods manage to stuff its tail into its mouth and imprison it at the bottom of the ocean. It is said that the Serpent encircles the entire world, keeping it together only by keeping its tail in its mouth. According to legend, when Jormungand releases its tail and clambers onto land, Ragnarok will begin. The answer to Lydian's riddle is, essentially, the beginning of the end. 

And the epilogue is the beginning of the end. 

Overall, even though some parts of this book bothered me, I did have a fun time reading it. And I most certainly will be reading the sequel. 

Until next time!