jujufruit007's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lazygal's review
3.0
A frozen world, with a possible safe place that includes magic. Magical creatures hunted by humans. Society run by military masters and little choice for movement. Yep. Been there, read that. Oh, and did I mention the alternating chapter narration? Despite that, I know there are many teens who will truly enjoy this trilogy.
gabs_myfullbookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
Read more of my reviews on My Full Bookshelf Reviews
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
When I first saw that this was a Read Now on Netgalley, I freaked. First off, it had the newly designed cover, which looks a lot like the movie Frozen. And honestly, who doesn't love that movie?? Secondly, this would be my first experience with Melissa de la Cruz; and while she is a popular author, I had heard a plethora of opinions about her Blue Bloods series, both good and bad, so I was nervous. While I can't speak on her Blue Bloods series, I can say this about Frozen; I liked it. It didn't start out that way, but I ended up being won over by the end of the book. In fact, I were to judge the end alone, this would definitely be a four star book; however I had a rocky beginning with the book, mainly due to small annoyances.
These small annoyances included, first and foremost,info dumps scattered in the plot. REALLY obvious info dumps; the most unforgivable being a paragraph about Wes' Marine sergeant origins. It flat out tells readers his past; there is no showing" whatsoever. When there was no more info to dump on readers, this complaint went out the door, but in the beginning it was rather vexing.
Secondly, textlish. I'll admit, this is one problem that never went away. I mean, a language made from texting...that cannot be made to not sound ridiculous. Especially when it is compared to "Egyptian Hieroglyphics" (which, by the way, we learn through an info dump.)
Another thing that I found annoying was Juliet. Or rather, the lack of much information about Juliet, and the fact that Wes gets over her in about two seconds. We get this quote from him in the book. Keep in mind, he really hasn't known the main character, Nat, for that long at all.
"...his memory of Jules--of her thick, brown, almost russet colored hair and smoke-gray eyes--had faded a little. All he could think about was Nat.
Bleh.
Aside from those complaints, this book ended up being quite entertaining. First, the plot is actually pretty unique...which, to be honest, I was not expecting because this seems, from the blurb, like it takes some of the more predictable dystopian and fantasy plots and mixes them together. But the authors managed to make them their own, and I can say that for the most part, the storyline was 'new', not rehashed. This is apparent especially at the end.
Not only is the plot unique, it is also incredibly addicting. Being a person who is either in love or in hate with fantasy plots, it's always kind of a gamble when I read a fantasy book. In this case, the storyline was great. It was fast paced and interesting, with unpredictable twists.
Also, I liked a lot of the characters. Wes and Nat were okay MCs; I'd seen their type before, so they weren't really the characters I gravitated towards. Actually, I liked the secondary characters, especially Shakes and Illiana. Shakes was kind, sweet, and loyal, and I felt awful for him once I heard what had happened to him in his childhood. Illiana was very mysterious and ethereal; even when the book gave me more information about her, there was still a mysterious quality to her.
Frozen was a unique story that I loved. However, it was by no means perfect, and the beginning was a bit of a struggle to get through, if I am being honest. However, it was worth it in the end. I will be looking forward to reading more of this series.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
When I first saw that this was a Read Now on Netgalley, I freaked. First off, it had the newly designed cover, which looks a lot like the movie Frozen. And honestly, who doesn't love that movie?? Secondly, this would be my first experience with Melissa de la Cruz; and while she is a popular author, I had heard a plethora of opinions about her Blue Bloods series, both good and bad, so I was nervous. While I can't speak on her Blue Bloods series, I can say this about Frozen; I liked it. It didn't start out that way, but I ended up being won over by the end of the book. In fact, I were to judge the end alone, this would definitely be a four star book; however I had a rocky beginning with the book, mainly due to small annoyances.
These small annoyances included, first and foremost,info dumps scattered in the plot. REALLY obvious info dumps; the most unforgivable being a paragraph about Wes' Marine sergeant origins. It flat out tells readers his past; there is no showing" whatsoever. When there was no more info to dump on readers, this complaint went out the door, but in the beginning it was rather vexing.
Secondly, textlish. I'll admit, this is one problem that never went away. I mean, a language made from texting...that cannot be made to not sound ridiculous. Especially when it is compared to "Egyptian Hieroglyphics" (which, by the way, we learn through an info dump.)
Another thing that I found annoying was Juliet. Or rather, the lack of much information about Juliet, and the fact that Wes gets over her in about two seconds. We get this quote from him in the book. Keep in mind, he really hasn't known the main character, Nat, for that long at all.
"...his memory of Jules--of her thick, brown, almost russet colored hair and smoke-gray eyes--had faded a little. All he could think about was Nat.
Bleh.
Aside from those complaints, this book ended up being quite entertaining. First, the plot is actually pretty unique...which, to be honest, I was not expecting because this seems, from the blurb, like it takes some of the more predictable dystopian and fantasy plots and mixes them together. But the authors managed to make them their own, and I can say that for the most part, the storyline was 'new', not rehashed. This is apparent especially at the end.
Not only is the plot unique, it is also incredibly addicting. Being a person who is either in love or in hate with fantasy plots, it's always kind of a gamble when I read a fantasy book. In this case, the storyline was great. It was fast paced and interesting, with unpredictable twists.
Also, I liked a lot of the characters. Wes and Nat were okay MCs; I'd seen their type before, so they weren't really the characters I gravitated towards. Actually, I liked the secondary characters, especially Shakes and Illiana. Shakes was kind, sweet, and loyal, and I felt awful for him once I heard what had happened to him in his childhood. Illiana was very mysterious and ethereal; even when the book gave me more information about her, there was still a mysterious quality to her.
Frozen was a unique story that I loved. However, it was by no means perfect, and the beginning was a bit of a struggle to get through, if I am being honest. However, it was worth it in the end. I will be looking forward to reading more of this series.
sexiilikeacow's review
3.0
2.5 this book was utter chaos. Some of the world was really thought out, some of it wasnt. The characters were okay, not entirely loveable, and frankly the character and world building fell a little short. This could've been a wonderful book but I felt like everything was kind of mishmosh...
siobhan27's review
3.0
I will honestly say that I have not read the Blue Bloods series, so Frozen was my first time being introduced to Melissa's style of writing. Frozen was an interesting book even without being read. The concept of having the city of Las Vegas coated in a large sheet of ice and snow with no end in sight was enough to made me interested. But add in the paranormal element of The Marked- A group of people that have mythical and magical powers and I was game. But sadly this story lacked something for me.
When I read a dystopian that is so different from the norm I want a world that is so real and well described that I can picture it in my mind. But sadly that did not happen here. I was thoroughly confused for most of the novel. There were so many elements that I kept confusing characters and races of people. It was almost like that wanted to cram so many different things into the book as possible, but I really wish they would have simplified the world in order for me to relate and become accustomed to it.
Nat, our main character was a great character because she had a secret that she wasn't ready to divulge, and she never really knew who she really was until the end of the book. But this book was told in dual perspectives, so we had Nat and then we has Wes. Now I loved Wes because he was so determined and honorable. He has such a difficult and tragic past that at times I preferred his story to Nat's. Their story was predictable to the least, their feelings for each other were evident from the very beginning and honestly I felt like i wanted more conflict than what I received. Having a story told in dual POVs can have its advantages, you get to know both characters and fell in love with each in different ways. But it can also go wrong. When I am reading dual POVs I want there to be structure of when each person speaks. But in Frozen it seemed to follow this at the beginning of the book, with every other chapter being a different person. But then everything seemed to meld together and I found myself becoming confused on who was speaking.
Although I though the concept was interesting and the characters were unique and well structured at times, the world building was not as strong as I thought it would be and I found myself confused at multiple points through the book wondering what was happening. Although this book was not for me, it will be loved by many. So pick it up and find out which side you land on!
When I read a dystopian that is so different from the norm I want a world that is so real and well described that I can picture it in my mind. But sadly that did not happen here. I was thoroughly confused for most of the novel. There were so many elements that I kept confusing characters and races of people. It was almost like that wanted to cram so many different things into the book as possible, but I really wish they would have simplified the world in order for me to relate and become accustomed to it.
Nat, our main character was a great character because she had a secret that she wasn't ready to divulge, and she never really knew who she really was until the end of the book. But this book was told in dual perspectives, so we had Nat and then we has Wes. Now I loved Wes because he was so determined and honorable. He has such a difficult and tragic past that at times I preferred his story to Nat's. Their story was predictable to the least, their feelings for each other were evident from the very beginning and honestly I felt like i wanted more conflict than what I received. Having a story told in dual POVs can have its advantages, you get to know both characters and fell in love with each in different ways. But it can also go wrong. When I am reading dual POVs I want there to be structure of when each person speaks. But in Frozen it seemed to follow this at the beginning of the book, with every other chapter being a different person. But then everything seemed to meld together and I found myself becoming confused on who was speaking.
Although I though the concept was interesting and the characters were unique and well structured at times, the world building was not as strong as I thought it would be and I found myself confused at multiple points through the book wondering what was happening. Although this book was not for me, it will be loved by many. So pick it up and find out which side you land on!
pickett22's review
This is a miss for me. I *think* I would have liked this if I had read it as a teenager? I like the premise, but the characters didn't grab me and the writing was a lot of "she said, rolling her eyes," and "he said, looking nervous." Just very surface level descriptions. Not my jam.
noregrets4life33's review
1.0
DNF.. (@ pg. 92)
Couldn't do it. The mixed reviews on this should have been heeded, and the fact that I absolutely hated the other books by de la Cruz.
The world was completely confusing, the characters flat, and words and grammar confounding. The whole thing, up to the 92 pages I made it in, was just too much and not enough at the same time.
I just don't get what the authors were going for... mages or something but in an ice age and with kids acting like adults??? HUH??? It never gelled, and I put this book down for like a week and had to force myself to pick it back up. I was going to skim the rest, but since it was a library book, why bother?
This is a poor book. There are much better out there. Don't let the unique premise suck you in, because it's so damn confusing you'll never get anywhere with it.
And yes, I rate my DNFs.. because I usually get far enough for some type of rating. At almost 1/3 of the way in, this shouldn't have been going downhill vs uphill.
Pass this.. please. Listen to me on this one, folks. :)
Couldn't do it. The mixed reviews on this should have been heeded, and the fact that I absolutely hated the other books by de la Cruz.
The world was completely confusing, the characters flat, and words and grammar confounding. The whole thing, up to the 92 pages I made it in, was just too much and not enough at the same time.
I just don't get what the authors were going for... mages or something but in an ice age and with kids acting like adults??? HUH??? It never gelled, and I put this book down for like a week and had to force myself to pick it back up. I was going to skim the rest, but since it was a library book, why bother?
This is a poor book. There are much better out there. Don't let the unique premise suck you in, because it's so damn confusing you'll never get anywhere with it.
And yes, I rate my DNFs.. because I usually get far enough for some type of rating. At almost 1/3 of the way in, this shouldn't have been going downhill vs uphill.
Pass this.. please. Listen to me on this one, folks. :)