Book Review: Fireblood by Elly Blake (spoiler-free review; spoilers for Frostblood)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for Fireblood by Elly Blake, the second book in the Frostblood Saga.

While the events of this book are going to largely be spoiler free, because this is a sequel, there will be spoilers for the events of Frostblood. If you haven't read this series and wish to, I wouldn't recommend reading this review.

Let's get into the review!

At the end of Frostblood, the Frost King is killed and we find out that Arcus is the Frost King's brother, which means he is the new Frost King. Ruby has destroyed the Frost throne. 

Inside that throne was the Minax, a dark spirit who can possess people and commonly possesses rulers, which is what it had done to the previous Frost King. The Minax attaches itself to Ruby, who is able to control it, but is still unable to completely block out its possessive tendencies. 

Ruby wishes to gain the knowledge to defeat the Minax (and learn about her past), but the only way to do that is to travel to Sudesia, the land of the Firebloods, a land Ruby (and many other people) thought didn't exist anymore. Against the wishes of her friends (and Arcus), she travels with another Fireblood named Kai to gain the trust of the Fireblood queen who doesn't trust easily. 

That is the basic plot for this one. Because I don't want to spoil the book, I'm not going to mention any more details.

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Once again, I really liked the characters. I understood Ruby's choices (which is rare when I read books), and I was rooting for her. I liked how she refused to let anyone stop her from wanting to save her kingdom and everyone she loves. 

I liked Arcus, and I still like him as a love interest. He did slightly get on my nerves, but I understood why he got upset with Ruby for what she did. I loved that Arcus wanted Ruby to be his lady of the court. I found it adorable and I was rooting for them. I definitely ship Arcus and Ruby.

As far as Kai goes, I couldn't fully get a read on the guy. I assumed there was going to be a love triangle (there always is in a series' second book), so I wasn't surprised when Kai flirted with her. I did like that it wasn't a game of tug of war between Kai, Arcus, and Ruby. It wasn't annoying. It got on my nerves so much because I like Arcus more, but Kai wasn't a bad character by any means.

I just thought that, much like Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games trilogy, he was too similar to Ruby. Their personalities are very similar to where I feel like the two of them would not last in a relationship long-term. I feel like they would try, but they just wouldn't be compatible. I feel like their relationship would be more one sided, as he seemed to like Ruby more than Ruby liked him.

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Overall, I loved this book as well. I liked Frostblood more, but there were a lot of good scenes in this book that I loved, and I just love these characters. I love Ruby and Arcus apart, and I love the two of them together. 

Much like the previous installment, this didn't take me that long to read. It took me about 3 days, which is very quick especially considering this book is over 400 pages long. 

This cover, similar in tone to the first, is also very pretty and fits the theme it's going for very well. I like the colors chosen and I think this complements the first book very well.

I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, exactly like my rating for the last one. I did enjoy Frostblood more, but this book had just enough for me to give it 5 stars. It was a fun, fantastical read that I had a difficult time putting down.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌