[Review] Frostblood – Elly Blake

Frostblood
Elly Blake

Rating: 3.5/5

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.

I’ve mentioned it before, but my weakness is characters overthrowing the governing power. I’ve also been reading a ton of YA fantasy lately so naturally Frostblood has been on my radar for a while now.

Since moving to England I get 10x more excited whenever Canada is mentioned anywhere, and with author Elly Blake being Canadian, I got extra eager to read it.

Overall, Frostblood was an enjoyable read and a solid addition to the YA fantasy genre. While some parts were predictable, I spent a great couple evenings doing nothing but turning the pages, engrossed in Ruby’s story. The pacing didn’t slow down throughout so you can fly through it quickly – it’s the perfect book for a Saturday afternoon binge read!

The first 100 pages were jam packed with information and events, but the writing was solid so following along wasn’t difficult or confusing.

However, a lot of YA fantasy cliches appeared throughout:

• Guardian dies leaving main character all alone
• Brooding YA Hero who clashes with main character
• Wise man
• Trains to use powers
• Prophecy
• Chosen one
• Arena battle

I am 100% fine with cliches as long as they are done well, and I do feel in Frostblood they were good additions to the story. Apart from one: the Arcus/Ruby romance story line. I know some readers live for the ships, but I’d rather have no romance at all than a seemingly forced romance. Their romance subplot felt strained and compulsory rather than natural and genuine.  After the halfway point in the book, I would skimmed those scenes until the main plot came back.

I originally received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for a review, but I just couldn’t resist picking up a copy when I went back to Canada in January. So my review is of the finished Canadian copy rather than the eARC.

It’s out now! (Book Depository / Amazon US / Amazon Canada / Amazon UK)

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