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🖌

Book Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (spoiler filled review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for City of Bones, the first book in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I read this last September. 

Let's get into the review!

Let's start with the most basic thing possible. What is City of Bones about?

City of Bones is a YA urban fantasy novel that came out in 2007. This series was incredibly popular when my sister was in high school in 2008-2012. It follows Clary Fray, a 15-year-old girl who draws and lives in New York City. This book is inspired by Judeo-Christian beliefs. One night, Clary goes to the Pandemonium club, an all-ages nightclub, with her best friend Simon Lewis. While there, she spots a blue-haired boy and black-haired girl who are being followed by two other boys, one of which seems to wielding a knife. 

Clary follows them (because that's smart). The blue-haired boy is killed and disappears immediately once he dies. This is Clary's introduction to the Shadowhunters, a group of people who are demon hunters that have 'magical tattoos' all over their skin called runes.

She later realizes that she is the daughter of a Shadowhunter, which makes her a Shadowhunter as well. Despite having very little training, she finds out she's able to create her own runes, which doesn't make her Mary Sue-ish at all. 

This world is separated by 'four' different races. Shadowhunters, mundanes (humans; also called mundies), Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and faeries; they're supposed to be half-human half-demon), and demons. The Shadowhunters seem to dislike mundanes and Downworlders, which is weird in a book that seems to be about anti-racism. 

There is a cliffhanger at the end of the book where it is revealed that Clary and Jace are siblings. I was spoiled for this series, so I was aware of this plot twist, as well as the later ones in City of Glass. I wasn't surprised about this plot twist, only because I had been aware of it. 

Naturally, Clary and Jace are horrified when they learn this, as they had felt romantic feelings for each other previously, and even kissed in the New York Institute greenhouse in chapter 17. They are horrified once they find out they are siblings, and you can tell the reader is supposed to be shocked as well.

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There are things in the plot that don't make sense to me. For one, why do Jace and Clary suddenly fall deeply in love within a few days, and two, Shadowhunter society doesn't make sense to me. Why do they think it's a good idea to train children their whole lives to fight demons? Do they even care what the children want? 

It seems like Jace doesn't like it, but it's never elaborated on. Why is Shadowhunter society so exclusive? Why are Shadowhunters banished and shunned by Shadowhunter society if they marry mundanes, when it's mentioned many times that they do what they do to protect the world and mundanes? 

Why are Shadowhunters allowed to marry warlocks and vampires (albeit frowned upon) who are infertile, but not allowed to marry mundanes who can have children with Shadowhunter blood? There are just some things I don't understand.

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As far as the characters go, they were okay. Clary is the cliche Mary Sue who, upon finding out her true lineage, realizes she can create her own runes despite never having Shadowhunter training in the past. Jace is the cliche bad boy, whose whole personality is being an arrogant jerk for no reason. Isabelle is the cliche femme fatale, who fights demons while in heels and leather, who happens to give Clary a makeover. There are quite a few others who are walking cliches, but these are the easiest.

This book is constantly compared to Harry Potter, and I partially understand why. I don't know if a lot of people would've noticed this though if it weren't for Cassandra Clare's past with Harry Potter fanfiction. At the same time however, Jace shares many similarities with Draco.

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The story in of itself was fine. I enjoyed it. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it wasn't the worst either. I rated it 3 out of 5 stars on my Goodreads, which, all things considered, is a fairly low rating for me, but it still isn't as low as it could be. To be honest, this book wasn't anything special. It had many things I had already seen before.

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

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: Frostblood by Elly Blake (spoiler-free review)

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

I read this book at the very beginning of last year (2020), and ended up binge reading all three books. 

Let's get into the review!

Frostblood follows Ruby Otrera, a seventeen-year-old girl who is a Fireblood. In this world, there are mainly two types of people. Frostbloods, people with blue blood who have the power to control ice and are the ruling royals, and Firebloods, people with red blood who have the power to control fire and are oppressed by the Frostbloods. This is basically a story about fire versus ice. 

The ruling Frostbloods' main goal is to eradicate Firebloods from the world by either executing or imprisoning them. Ruby has lived with her mother in a village, making sure to conceal her powers. THe two of them live in the village as healers.

One day, Ruby slips up. She uses her magic (which she has done before, albeit successfully still concealing it), and attracts the attention of Frostblood soldiers. Not long after, the soldiers raid her home. The soldiers kill her mother and imprison Ruby for simply being a Fireblood.

She is later rescued by two Frostbloods. A monk who lives at a monastery and another guy named Arcus. Arcus is cold and somewhat callous. He doesn't like Firebloods due to something that happened in his past. The two Frostbloods rescue Ruby because they want her to help them kill the Frostblood king. 

Before their plan can fully begin though, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the Frostblood king's tournaments which pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Ruby must find a way to win and overthrow the king, as well as deal with romantic feelings. 

That's what the general plot is. It's interesting, and it hooked me from the first page. The plot twist toward the end of the novel shocked me, as did many of the plot twists sprinkled throughout. I couldn't predict what was going to happen next. Just when I thought I could, it subverted all of my expectations.

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As far as the characters go, I liked all of them. Arcus and Ruby were my favorites, and I definitely shipped the two of them. The banter between them was amusing, and there were quite a few scenes where they acted cute with each other.

Ruby is on my list of favorite female characters for sure, which is a rarity for me, and Arcus is on my list of favorite male characters also (though I'm not surprised; I have more male characters I like than female ones). 

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A lot of people compare Frostblood to Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I understand it, however I don't. Yes, the covers are somewhat similar, and the stories have similarities as well, however there are a lot of books that follow a premise where a group of people with powers is being oppressed by another group with different powers. 

Even though they are similar in nature, I have so far enjoyed Frostblood more. While I haven't finished Red Queen, I had started reading it last year, and I was so bored. I'll probably go back and finish later, but I for sure like this series better, at least at this moment in time. I liked the characters more, the plot didn't drag, and the setting was intriguing. I just liked this one better.

I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. I saw it as an e-book at my library, read the synopsis, and found it intriguing. I also thought the cover looked pretty cool. So I picked it up. I didn't start this book with any expectations really. I was just expecting a YA Fantasy novel with a pretty simplistic plot and love interest. It was more than that, at least for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed Frostblood and gave it 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. It's an intriguing and fun YA Fantasy/Romance novel. It's one of my favorite books, and I'd definitely re-read it. It was a nice, quick read during a move-in to a new house.

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

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: Frostfire by Amanda Hocking (spoiler filled review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for Frostfire, the first book in the Kanin Chronicles by Amanda Hocking.

This series is a spin-off of the Trylle trilogy, which I just finished reviewing last week.

Let's get into the review!

As I mentioned in the introduction, the Kanin Chronicles is the spin-off of the Trylle trilogy. Instead of following a royal character, we follow 19-year-old Bryn Aven, a tracker from the Kanin tribe, another group of trolls. 

I checked this book out last March, intending to read it during quarantine. I read it in August of last year, which is fairly late compared to when I checked it out, but I was reading a lot of other things during the time before. 

Even though this is a spin-off, it could be read before the Trylle trilogy. I wouldn't read it out of order just because it would annoy me, but it could be, especially if you don't care much about the other series. 

If I remember correctly, Wendy from the previous series made a cameo in this book. It mainly spoils the events that occurred in Ascend I believe, as well as showing Loki as the person Wendy chose in the previous love triangle. 

If you aren't familiar with some of the characters, it might go over your head, but this is largely a separate story on its own that honestly doesn't have much to do with the Trylle, at least at this point in time. Obviously, since they are both troll tribes, they are mentioned, but since they aren't the focus, it isn't a large deal.

However, one of the main side characters is Ember Holmes, which, if you've read the Trylle trilogy, you'll recognize as Finn's little sister, so as far as the connecting of the two series, that's largely where it comes into play.

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Based on how the story is going so far, I'm going to assume that there is going to be a love triangle between Bryn, Ridley, and Konstantin. Personally, I'm on Ridley's side. I like him. Haven't seen a lot of Konstantin yet, but based on what I've seen, he's all right. He's not great. He's not bad. He's still kind of 'evil' at this point, so I don't know where this is going.

I'm hoping Bryn ends up with Ridley, because he genuinely seems to care about her, and I like his personality. He seems like a much better tracker than Finn (especially when it comes to emotions), and I can say I'm on his side more solidly than I was on the side of Wendy and Finn. Ridley seems more mature for his age. 

I liked Bryn. She was interesting and her actions made sense to me. I can't remember getting annoyed much (which is a definite plus). I also liked Ridley. He was an interesting character who cared about Bryn, which, in turn, made me care about him. 

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The plot is once again very simplistic, but it is distinctly different from the Trylle trilogy. Instead of following a troll princess as she tries to navigate her new life while saving the world, we have the story of a tracker who's goal is to become a member of the King's Guard in order to protect the royal family. In this story, her goal is set back as someone from her past is kidnapping changelings. 

We get to see into the life of a tracker, which I thought was very interesting. I like how Amanda Hocking decided to change up the perspective. Instead of focusing on a changeling from another tribe, we get to read about a tracker who, instead of falling in love with a prince/princess, falls in love with her boss, which is a separate forbidden love story from the one Wendy and Finn had in the Trylle trilogy.

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Another thing I really like about this book (and this series in general), is the cover. The Kanin live in a cold place, so it's only fitting that the cover would be covered in snow. The covers for this series are gorgeous. I had seen these books at my library as e-books, but they were never available because the licensing on them had expired, and I thought the covers were beautiful. I thought the covers for the Trylle trilogy were pretty, but these are even prettier.

I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I really liked the story and the characters. It seems like Amanda Hocking's writing has gotten better since the Trylle trilogy. It isn't the best writing I've read, but it's most definitely better than other writing I've come across.

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

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌