Thursday, August 15, 2013

Frozen: Heart of Dread (2013)

Frozen: Heart of Dread. Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston. 2013. Penguin. 336 pages. [Source: Review copy]

I love Frozen for many reasons. I love it for the world-building. It is a fantasy novel with post-apocalyptic themes. So there are magical/fantastical elements to this dark dystopian society. I like how everything is not explained all at once, there is some mystery as well. It is a hard world to live in, survival doesn't come easy or without sacrifice. I love it for the characterization. All our characters--major and minor--have some issues, have some flaws. This makes things interesting! Nat, our heroine, is looking for a way to escape. It is not safe for her where she is, though she has made some friends in New Vegas, but her escape is just as dangerous, if not more so, than staying would be. She is, when she admits it, in search of the mythical Blue, a mysterious, legendary place unaffected by the new Ice Age. She hires one man, Ryan Wesson, and his crew to take her. From the start this is a difficult journey. I loved getting to know Ryan, and some of the crew as well. I liked some of the quirkiness to these characters. In a way, the characters were predictable, but in other ways, they were complex too. Nat and Ryan's relationship may be obvious, but, it wasn't rushed either. I definitely appreciated that it was just the one romance and there wasn't a hint of a love triangle!!! I liked the strangeness of some of the characters, and the magical elements of the story. I thought the storytelling was good. I liked the journey aspect, the dangers along the way, the chance to see the world--bleak and harsh and strange as it may be. I liked the different glimpses of society and community on land and at sea.

If you like dark fantasy OR dystopias OR post-apocalyptic fiction, then this one may be just right for you.

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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