A review by yellowbinge
Shattered Ice by Rebekka Strand

adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.0

Publishing date: 10.05.2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the ARC. My opinions are my own. 

The book as a meal: My coffe cup keeps cooling down my coffee, and when I fill it up again it gets immediately cold or too bitter
The book left me: Torn between continuing or not

Negatives: 
A little too much filler, could have been shorter and still held the story fine
Not enough show
Didn't grip me as much as I wanted it to

Positives: 
Would fit very well as a tv series
Solid start to a YA series
Main character has believable flaws

Features: 
Fluff (bless him), Norwegian words, ice boarding, class systems, discovering an entierly different part of your world, constant distrust, feeling chased, leaving everything behind, anxiety rep

Why did I choose this one? 
25% because of a stunning cover, 25% because the author is Norwegian, and a final 50% becasue the blurb seemed really interesting

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able? 
Sadly, put-down-able. I was not into this as I should have been. The final 50% was violently skimmed. I stand by my point a bit up here, but a lot of the writing could have been cut and the story would have been just as good. I ended up reading the first two sentences in a paragraph, then the final, and then moving on to the next. It allowed me to at least feel like I was making progress and also get what was going on. It is sad I ended up doing it, but it is what worked for me in the end. 

What was the vibe and mood? 
I am cold, I am in danger, now I am angry, now I am sad, oh we are moving now? And repeat for the rest of the book 

Final ranking and star rating? 
D tier, 3 stars. Rounded up because I skimmed, and that is entirely on me. This is a good story, it is only the filler that left a bad taste in my mouth. I also felt a lot at home with the references to scandinavian culture and words (go Norway). 
This will be a fantastic read to a younger age group than me, and maybe also to someone less desensitized to YA books. A very solid start to a series, but I will have to sit on it before deciding to continue or not. 
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