Honestly, I haven't been reading much in this demographic recently, but my younger sis-in-law was staying with us and brought the Kanin Chronicles with her. She was super hyped and told me I should read them, so I tried my hand at the first one and was a little unimpressed. 
 The taste that was left in my mouth wasn't bad, just stale like I had read the book before. No, I haven't read a book really similar in plot, but the writing style, the characters, the romance... All too familiar and unexciting. All in all, I felt that not much new was brought to the plate with this YA fantasty. 
 First, we have a bunch of trolls that are divided into tribes. The main character is half Kanin and half Skojare, making her a hated half-breed. The bigotry fuels her passion to prove herself by overworking and being a general jerk when it comes to anything or anyone personal that might get in the way of her career. Literally nothing is more important to her than work, making her a jerk to her parents, her best friend, and the dude who likes her. though I can get the last one because work relationships just aren't a good idea. 
 .... She (I can't even remember her name. That can't be a good sign.) is supposed to be bad-ass, super cool, super talented, but it all comes across a little forced making her a fairly standard protagonist. 
 Oh, Bryn! That's her name! There's another unbelievable aspect. She hates the man that tries to kill her father, right? Like, absolutely, completely hates and dreams about killing him. That kind of hate doesn't get turned around in one moment during a fight because the man you hate softened towards you and showed some remorse for his actions. I mean, really! That's not hate, Bryn. Either you never hated him in the first place, or you wouldn't immediately join his side in your head. I, personally, am sympathetic to Konstantin and find him interesting, but Bryn's reasons for doubting herself and not killing him made no sense whatsoever. 
 The plot itself was interesting enough, but there were things that just didn't make sense. Like why they hadn't been found out for kidnapping teens and stealing their trust funds. I mean, I get it's set in Canada, but I'm pretty sure we'd notice and there would be a huge reaction from the families and police. 
 Speaking of Canada... Must we always be shown live in a frozen wasteland? It's not always winter here. (Okay, yeah, it is always winter and you're right, we never have Christmas, but still... You don't have to illustrate it like that in every book and movie.) 
 Finally, all YA first books are incomplete without an ending that solves no answers, but opens up more questions. Thanks. Because of that I had to skim the ending of the next two books to find out what happened. (What? I didn't want to devote lots of time to reading them. Life is too short!) 
 All in all, sort of interesting, but lackluster writing, pretty obvious plot twists, standard protagonist who's actions don't really make sense.