Elements collide to form a twisted world of chaos in Elly Blake’s FROSTBLOOD!

In Elly Blake‘s Frostblood, there’s an epic war happening between frost and fire, allegedly fated by the gods and fueled by the two elements’ inherent ability to destroy one another. But these days, frost is the dominating force.

Ruby might be the last living Fireblood in the kingdom. The Frost King has sought out and destroyed every single one he could find. Soon, they find Ruby too, killing her mother in the process. All seems lost until two mysterious strangers offer her a chance to escape under one condition: She has to help them destroy the Frost King.

Ruby is more than willing to oblige, but while secretly living among the rebellious monks who are sworn to the Frost King, she soon finds that her task is more difficult than expected. It certainly doesn’t help that one of her trainers, a frostblood refugee by the name of Arcus, is a total pain in the butt. Dark and complicated, Arcus mastered his powers a long time ago and desperately needs Ruby to master hers. But the girl isn’t very well-practiced and too full of fire to make her powers work predictably. The banter between the two is some of the best parts of the book and it’s easy to feel their tug-of-war connection. You root for them from the outset, even when they’re not rooting for each other.

Their plan to stop the king is quickly complicated and Ruby finds herself fighting for her life, both in brutal battles and in the eyes of Fireblood foes who play games of power with her as a pawn. It will take more than control of her fiery skills to overthrow the Frost King and the dark powers that feed his strength.

Ruby is a character you’ll cheer for. She’s feisty, impatient, and not always the most reliable narrator, but the girl’s got spirit. There were moments of frustration with the character, but you know she’s a survivor with a bone to pick. There’s little left to her life than the idea of sweet, sweet revenge and oh, you want to see her get it! If you’re not adverse to a little stubbornness and brooding, you’ll also love Arcus. The chemistry between the two is super fun to watch. We also loved Ruby’s other trainer, Brother Thistle, who was much more of a seasoned warrior passing on his skills. We don’t want to give too much away, but things get really interesting with later characters from the Frost court. We particularly liked Marella because she had plenty of spunk but you never really knew where her true allegiances lie.

However, there is a reason we didn’t rate Frostblood at a full 5 stars– While the characters are intriguing, the premise lends itself to a certain sense of deja vu: Girl who has been wronged by society, discovers her powers, and uses them to take down the government. Prophecies. Arena fights. Falling for someone you should consider “the enemy”. It’s all a bit formulaic and would probably would work better for someone who hasn’t read a ton of YA fantasy like we have. It’s not specifically derivative of any certain book, but there’s just a lot of common themes seen in the genre as a whole. Still, it’s a quick, well-written read and we saw tons of potential for awesome things to come, so we’re certainly not counting this one out yet.

RATING: 3.75 OUT OF 5 STARS

Frostblood is out now! You can order it via Amazon.

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.