Details:
Title: Frostblood
Author: Elly Blake
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Summary:
In a world ruled by a ruthless frost king, Firebloods grow rarer and rarer every day, making Ruby Otrera’s gift extra special. She’s spent her entire life trying to learn how to conceal her powers, but after she is discovered by the king’s men who murder her mother in front of her, Ruby finds herself rotting in prison, waiting for the executioner to take her.
Rescued by two mysterious Frostbloods, Ruby finds herself thrust into a world where her powers are the key in a rebel plan to overthrow the king and bring the world together again. They train her on how to properly use her powers, and she grows stronger. However, before they deem Ruby ready for her mission, she is once again captured by the king’s men, and forced to compete in the King’s tournament, where she must fight to the death to survive. It’s now up to her alone to destroy the evil man who took everything from her and her people.
My Review:
I had Frostblood sitting on my self for quite a while with no real urge to read it, but for some reason I was drawn to it about a week ago, and I was unable to put it down once I picked it up.
I enjoyed Frostblood and found the story compelling, although a bit cliché. It shares several common elements with books like The Red Queen, Throne of Glass, etc., but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The struggle between two different ‘races,’ the frostbloods and the firebloods in this case, is a bit played out in YA, but I thought that Blake did a fantastic job in providing a history to show what caused animosity between the two groups. I actually believe this helped redeem the story overall. Though the book is rather cliche, there is no denying it is well written and that the cliches such as prophecies and tournaments to become the king’s champion did add something to the story rather than just be there to be there; they helped advance the story towards the climax rather than act as the climax itself. The story itself is very fast paced and easy to follow; the first few chapters had me completely sucked in, and I actually managed to finish Frostblood in one sitting. Even though I found parts of the novel to be very predictable, Blake includes a multitude of plots twists I did not see coming–especially at the end, and if I had any less self control I would have thrown my book across the room. Despite feeling like I’ve already read this book at times, I overall enjoyed the plot and am excited to pick up the next in the series.
As previously stated, I believe Blake giving a detailed history of Tempesia and its people helps redeem the story from being too cliche. She does a fantastic job in describing the land, the people, and how the country has changed throughout history. One particular thing I enjoyed was when Ruby and Arcus compared the frostblood and fireblood histories of how the war between the two began. It gave an introspective view on how the people view each other which helps the reader understand how deeply the hatred between the two runs. We are also given tales of a frostblood king and a fireblood queen, which shows that despite the hatred, the two can work together and bring peace to the nation. Overall, I believe Blake’s addition of the histories of Tempesia added a certain quality to Frostblood which most YA fantasies lack.
Without a doubt, the characters are the driving forces of this novel. Ruby, the fierce protagonist, Arcus, the brooding rebel with a secret, Brother Thistle, the kind monk offering her aid and asylum, and King Rasmus, the despicable villain. Admittedly, the characters do follow certain YA tropes, but less so than the story. I found myself truly enjoying Ruby and her spitfire personality. She is not afraid to speak her mind, and finds herself in a dark place after her mother’s murder. She always has a witty comeback, and allows her emotions to run wild. Ruby’s love interest, Arcus, is almost her opposite. Arcus is a brooding frostblood who’s afraid to open up to anyone. While I liked their characters separately, I felt like there relationship followed the trope of hate to love (I found their relationship closely mirrored Aelin and Rowan from Throne of Glass), as well as a little bit of insta-love. Things are made very interesting between the two by Rasmus though after Ruby is taken by the king’s men. Rasmus is the epitome of evil; he lives for chaos and does not care who gets hurt along the way. I found most–if not all–scenes with him very interesting and to be some of my favorites. I think that Blake does a fantastic job with characterization throughout Frostblood despite following some common tropes.
In conclusion, I give Frostblood by Elly Blake three and a half out of five stars for being a fun, although somewhat cliche, YA fantasy read. I recommend this to anyone just starting to read YA, or any hardcore YA fans who won’t mind that it shares some common themes with other mainstream YA books.
If you would like to purchase Frostblood
Book Depository
Barnes and Nobles
Amazon
-CG
Advertisements Share this:
