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A review by sdloomer
Frostblood by Elly Blake
2.0
--1.75/5 stars--
I really wanted to like this. Really. Really really. And I did. But it just wasn't enough.
Let me start by saying that the concept was intriguing. I've wanted to read a YA book about something to do with wielding the four classical elements (huge Avatar nerd incoming) and when I read the blurb for this, I immediately thought, "Yes. This is what I've been waiting for." But unfortunately, I was left hanging.
For one, the plot meanders around way too much, and some scenes seem like afterthoughts, or just seem to stick out strangely. Nothing really clamps down until the last fourth of the book, where we finally get an overall motive for the entire trilogy, but until then, the characters just seem to dance prettily around each other, waiting for something to happen.
Second, Ruby and Arcus. I didn't exactly like either of them: Ruby is a little too malleable--her attitude toward Arcus, Brother Thistle, the Frost King, the other women of the novel, everyone, seems a little too nonchalant, especially considering the pain most of them have put her through. She just didn't seem there, kind of like a wisp of cloud being blown one way or the other. And Arcus was just a rock. I understand he has his past, but he was just so one-dimensional that he could have been cut from the story and it still would have held.
And finally, although I feel that the story has potential in its sequels, there just needs to be more. More feeling, more conflict, more difficult choices, more moral questioning, more complexity. This almost feels like a heavily edited third or fourth draft of a novel: where's the meat of the story? Where's all the headiness that comes with the burden of wielding Frost and Fire?
I'm not sure I'll be reading the next book, as I wasn't completely impressed with this series starter, but if Ms. Blake can up her game in her sophomore book, I'll give it a chance.
I really wanted to like this. Really. Really really. And I did. But it just wasn't enough.
Let me start by saying that the concept was intriguing. I've wanted to read a YA book about something to do with wielding the four classical elements (huge Avatar nerd incoming) and when I read the blurb for this, I immediately thought, "Yes. This is what I've been waiting for." But unfortunately, I was left hanging.
For one, the plot meanders around way too much, and some scenes seem like afterthoughts, or just seem to stick out strangely. Nothing really clamps down until the last fourth of the book, where we finally get an overall motive for the entire trilogy, but until then, the characters just seem to dance prettily around each other, waiting for something to happen.
Second, Ruby and Arcus. I didn't exactly like either of them: Ruby is a little too malleable--her attitude toward Arcus, Brother Thistle, the Frost King, the other women of the novel, everyone, seems a little too nonchalant, especially considering the pain most of them have put her through. She just didn't seem there, kind of like a wisp of cloud being blown one way or the other. And Arcus was just a rock. I understand he has his past, but he was just so one-dimensional that he could have been cut from the story and it still would have held.
And finally, although I feel that the story has potential in its sequels, there just needs to be more. More feeling, more conflict, more difficult choices, more moral questioning, more complexity. This almost feels like a heavily edited third or fourth draft of a novel: where's the meat of the story? Where's all the headiness that comes with the burden of wielding Frost and Fire?
I'm not sure I'll be reading the next book, as I wasn't completely impressed with this series starter, but if Ms. Blake can up her game in her sophomore book, I'll give it a chance.