Title: Frostblood (Frostblood Saga #1)
Author: Elly Blake
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy | Magic | Romance
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 10, 2017
Format: ARC
Source: BEA
Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a fireblood who must hide her powers of heat and flame from the cruel frostblood ruling class that wants to destroy all that are left of her kind. So when her mother is killed for protecting her and rebel frostbloods demand her help to kill their rampaging king, she agrees. But Ruby's powers are unpredictable, and she's not sure she's willing to let the rebels and an infuriating (yet irresistible) young man called Arcus use her as their weapon.
All she wants is revenge, but before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to take part in the king's tournaments that pit fireblood prisoners against frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her and from the icy young man she has come to love (goodreads).
Frostblood didn't live up to the expectations I had.
Plot: To be honest, I had trouble getting into Frostblood from the first chapter. The action started super early and I had a hard time orienting myself. I understand that other readers may not have the same issue with pacing, but for me, it was too much too fast. While there seemed to be a lot happening, I didn't feel as though anything was really occurring. Maybe it's because most of the action took place in an abbey where the characters only talked about their plans. The second part was more interesting by far, but as a novel, it felt all over the place.
Characters: Ruby is tough as nails and doesn't take anything from anyone. Regardless of her strength and sass (two traits I usually live for), it was hard for me to like Ruby. It could have been because her emotional wall made it impossible to understand her actions and thought process. On the flipside, I loved reading about Arcus, her counterpart in every way. His backstory was complex and he had vulnerabilities that I could relate to.
Worldbuilding: Frostblood is basically Avatar the Last Airbender with more mythology. I liked that these powers of fire and ice had a history related to the gods of the land and it was more complicated than just Frost versus Fire. Most of the history was not so digestible, it was explained to the reader through stories or other lengthy explanations. In short, the dreaded info dump.
Short N Sweet: Frostblood had plenty of promise but never felt like a cohesive novel.
Labels: 2 stars, book review, elly blake, frostblood, little brown for young readers, review
