Review: Frostblood (Frostblood Saga #1) by Elly Blake

Frostblood
(Frostblood Saga #1)

by Elly Blake

January 10, 2017
384 pages

Goodreads  Indigo

Goodreads Summary:

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.

Fast-paced and compelling, Frostblood is the first in a page-turning new young adult three-book series about a world where flame and ice are mortal enemies—but together create a power that could change everything.

Review

As the book synopsis suggests Frostblood is a fast-paced, page-turning story. I opened up the book and just read until I finished in no time at all. It's an enjoyable story though at times I found parts of it to be not as memorable as other fantasy reads.

Ruby is a resilient girl. Having gone through the horrors of witnessing her mother's death, withering away in a filthy prison cell, surviving gruesome training lessons, resisting seductions and enduring tortures and taunts, each step made her stronger. Everything led up to that crucial moment. I'm so proud of how she handled the darkness.

Arcus and Ruby have this intense and impulsive hate-to-love relationship. He was harsh to her and she was rude to him. I liked it but I felt it lacked a little bit of development. I had hoped for more interactions between the two. Then again the way they ran hot and cold with each other until things boiled to a shivering climax really worked.

The most fascinating part of the story for me was the origin of the Frostbloods and the Firebloods. It's an interesting and a very thorough concept. I love Ms. Blake's creativity. The storytelling bit allowed me to better understand the gods' histories. I was able to mentally map out their reach and connect them to the present.

There's a brilliant plot twist. I should've suspected it but the fact that the surprise remained hidden all the way till the reveal made me love this book more. It's not a complete shocker but it made sense of a lot of things. With this reveal I eagerly await how things will change for the characters.

Frostblood is a very complete story. The plot doesn't drag and the ending doesn't leave you hanging yet you know there will be more. This book leaves you happily waiting for more. That's exactly how I felt when I closed up Frostblood. It's the best feeling when it comes to reading a book.

*I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinion are my own and not affected in any way.