Reviews by Teens

Review by Fariha, with "thanks a ton to HBG Canada for providing me with an ARC! All quotes are from the ARC and are subject to change."

Rating: 2/5 stars
Release Date: January 10, 2017

Frostblood by Elly Blake was one of the 2017 releases I was eagerly waiting to get in my hands because it’s a High Fantasy novel by a Canadian author that involves powers of frost and fire, a deadly tournament and a thirst for revenge. What more could a girl want? Possibly for the book to be actually good, whoops.

As excited as I was, the very first chapters disappointed me. I hadn’t realized that the book was in first person, which is my least favourite of the POVs (2nd person might be slightly uncomfortable but it’s interesting) and I find 1st person to usually be very un-atmospheric in fantasy. I also wasn’t a fan of the writing style, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t unique or memorable. The events that were occurring seemed abrupt but not engaging. I felt my hopes for the book crashing around me as I read the first couple pages. Also, the beginning of the book required empathy, or at least sympathy, to make any impact from the readers but there was nothing that made the reader empathetic. Oh, look, something terrible that happens in literally every other book happened! I care so much!

I didn’t care for any of the characters. Ruby’s situation did not incite interest or curiosity from me and I didn’t really root for her. There is only one situation in the entire book when my heart reached out to her. (She was accused of crimes other Firebloods did and is told she is just as bad simply because she is a Fireblood. As a Muslim in the western world right now, I could relate and that was the one time I felt anything for the main character in a 350+ page book). Some of the side characters were also pretty inconsistent or bland. They might evolve in the next book(s?) but they were often not very well-developed and sometimes unnecessary. I feel like a couple side characters could have been merged and so we would have had a couple well rounded side characters rather than a plethora, all of whom were all flat.

“You don’t know the effect your words have on me, Lady Firebrand. It took years to build up this ice. You will melt it and then I will be broken.”

The romance was also quite boring for me. I didn’t care because it was nothing new or unique. The love interest, Arcus, is quite the typical YA fantasy romantic interest with secrets (that I guessed in the first two chapters of meeting him) and an oh, so tragic past and he brought nothing new to the table and I didn’t care for him or for their love, if it can be called that.
Everything was predictable. The book tried to foreshadow and make things seem intense, which I can appreciate, but it just failed to successfully do so. As mentioned earlier, I guessed so many “secrets” and plot points very early on in the book. I also skimmed paragraphs in “intense” scenes sometimes because it was just so boring and the words didn’t make me want to absorb them.

The book tried at times to develop Ruby as dark and greedy for revenge. It, however, fell very flat for me and the attempt seemed like child’s play because I recently finished the Young Elites trilogy and the dark greediness is done much, much better there than the half-hearted afterthought here.

“What is the truth, Arcus?” I asked quietly. “You’re full of secrets, and I would like to know one or two.”

There were so many tropes. Who has read about the girl who is so special in a world that hates her and wrongs her and she is saved by some sort of group who has a mission where she is needed and so she aids the group and seeks revenge against the empire and finds a hot guy who is (spoiler spoiler spoiler)? If so, skip this book. If not, read The Young Elites (the two are very similar but TYE is better) or Mistborn instead. Frostblood has every possible cliché and trope compacted into one.

As a huge high fantasy fan, I didn’t enjoy this book because it was nothing new and I won’t be continuing the series. However, if you’re just looking to get into high fantasy that doesn’t have intense or intricate world building and doesn’t throw you into total high-fantasy-new-world mode, you may enjoy this.

Place a hold on Frostblood, by Elly Blake.