Frostblood by Elly Blake

Frostblood (Frostblood Saga, #1)

by Elly Blake

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.

Reviewed by alisoninbookland on

3 of 5 stars

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In many ways this was a fairly typical YA fantasy novel: world is divided into 2 parts, heroine possesses 'bad' power, power leads to loved ones death, heroine works on learning to control said power, heroine might be the one of prophecy/legend said to destroy evil power, lather, rinse, and repeat. It's a little formulaic but I happen to enjoy that particular formula.

While there were some predictable elements to the story, Blake throws in some very interesting elements. There were great twists as well. Basically, Blake was able to take a story where you know most of the elements and change it up just enough to make you want to read more! I didn't want to walk away from the story. Even though there weren't many women in the story, it was really refreshing to see Ruby have (somewhat) healthy relationships with other women. There was no cattiness just to be catty. There was support in ways that it could be given.

Why only 3*? I liked it just fine. It was engaging enough but nothing to make me really love the story 100%. Here's hoping Fireblood ups the stakes and makes things really interesting.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 September, 2018: Finished reading
  • 5 September, 2018: Reviewed