Frostblood

Frostblood
by Elly Blake

From the publisher:
"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."

Well let's just say that I was reading 3 other books when I started this one, but this is the one I raced through and finished without even looking at the others. One of the things I love most about this book is the author's amazing world building. I could see everything in my mind - it was like watching a movie in my head. The language is beautiful, there is a kind of lilting flow to it like poetry or music. I really like the main character, Ruby. She is strong and weak, loving and hate-filled, determined and unsure. She is very human and flawed, which makes the reader very empathetic towards her. 
The powers were very cool! The mythology behind them all was very well-explained. Are there correlations that can be made between this book and books like Red Queen or Snow Like Ashes? Certainly. But that doesn't mean that all of those books aren't awesome. This story is uniquely its own and I really enjoyed it. I also really loved that although it is obvious there is much left to accomplish, there was a resolution to the main story line. It reminded me of Harry Potter. We had resolution at the end of the books, but we always knew Voldemort was still out there ready to pounce. The ending was incredibly intense but satisfying. I read an ARC (courtesy of Netgalley), the book doesn't actually come out until January 17th, 2017, but I will definitely be buying it for my middle school library. I'm extremely interested, and worried, to see what comes next for this protagonist. 

Areas of concern:
*Maybe 2 uses of the d-word.
*A lot of violence - some of it pretty grisly. The main character is fighting for her life and her very soul.
*There is talk of her passion making her power stronger, and there is an instance where she loses herself and does some things she regrets.

Suggested Ages: 

None available from publishers at this time.  I will be buying it for my school.