Title: Frostblood
Author: Elly Blake
Series: Book #1 in the Frostblood Saga
Publication Date: January 10th 2017
Synopsis: "Enter a world where fire and ice are mortal enemies...
Ruby is a Fireblood. In a land ruled by frost, her very existence is a crime. She's spent her whole life in hiding.
Until the day Frostblood soldiers raide her village and kill her mother. The day she swears to avenge her people.
She must travel deep into the heart of the enemy, to the court of the Frost King, with only the mysterious warrior Arcus - a Frostblood rebel - by her side. But with alliances between flame and ice strictly forbidden, is Arcus friend or foe?
Ruby will only have one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who took everything from her. But she has no idea just how hot her fire will burn..."
My thoughts: When this turned up on my doorstep, I was honestly a little wary. I have decided to be a bit stricter about my ratings for books, and I still remember Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard relatively well and wasn't sure if Frostblood would differ from that very much. But when I picked it up I just kind of fell into it - it was exactly what I needed at the time, and I found myself looking at the relationship between Ruby and Arcus closely and trying to figure out what was happening.
Occasionally I found the discourse a little stilted, I felt like a few common things that are often in YA were coming through here, but because I was really in the mood for YA I didn't mind so much. Ruby's character is as feisty as her fire-blood, and you watch her attempting to rein in her temper as the book goes on, as she tries to make more informed decisions instead of rushing into things.
The world was interesting, but not fleshed out enough for my liking. I would have liked more descriptions of the fireblood and frostblood animals that occasionally appeared, and the small mention of the god- and goddess-like beings that created firebloods and frostbloods made me want to know more. Perhaps Blake plans on expanding on this in the next book.
Ultimately this book was quite a fun romp, and I am interested to read the next one. There was nothing here that blew me away, but it was a great first book in a series, and I will be looking to see if Blake improves on the next one.
[I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!]
A favourite line from the book: "You speak as if I'm as heavy as an ox." I said. "Last week I was a bundle of sticks."
"You're still too thin."
"Perhaps if I gain some weight, you won't call me a stick anymore."
"You may hope to one day be a branch."
You would like this book if: You enjoyed Red Queen; you like a bit of YA fantasy with fire and frost facing off.
Tea to drink while reading this book: Perhaps Arctic Fire from T2?
Rating: 6.5/10
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