Book Review - Frostblood (Frostblood Saga, #1)

About The Book:

  Title: Frostblood (Frostblood Saga, #1)

  Author: Elly Blake 
  Pub. Date: January 10th, 2017 
  Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 
  Pages: 376

  Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance 

  Rate: 3/5 stars 

Synopsis :

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete 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. 

Review:

"Affairs between fire and frost rarely end well." 

At first glance, this looks eerily similar to any YA fantasy that you may have read in the past few years. And the reality is, the first half of the book is very much like your cookie-cutter YA fantasy. You have a love triangle, you have rebellion, and you have your character who is different yet very very important to the entire kingdom. Your outcast is Ruby, a teenage girl who is similar to other YA heroines except she has the power to wield fire. Ruby lives in a kingdom that is ruled by frost, so when the kingdom raids her village looking for firebloods, her mother is killed and she is taken to prison. There she is broken out by rebel frostbloods, wanting her help at destroying the throne.

A big gripe that I have with this book is that I feel like the description totally ruins the climax of this story. She doesn't get captured until close to the middle of the book, and you already know it's coming based on the description. As I was reading I kept wondering "when is this going to happen". I think that if that was omitted from the description I would have been enjoying the present in the story rather than expecting something to happen. For me the beginning was boring, because I kept waiting for her to get captured and fight in this tournament. I feel like the tournament could have been a great part of the book, but it was hastily described and it felt like it was passed over carelessly.

I must admit, there were a few shocking turns in this book that I did not see coming. The farther the book progressed, the more this book seemed to hold its own in the fantasy world. It was becoming more and more unique by the page, and I really liked that. The romance Ruby finds herself in is swoonworthy. Arcus developed from your common brooding male protagonist into a distinctive persona. I think I'll continue with this series because of how much better it got towards the end. This book is obviously for fans of books like Red Queen and the Throne of Glass Series because it embodies them so much. Have you read Frostblood yet? What are your thoughts?!

- Jocelyn