FrostBlood (FrostBlood Saga #1) by Elly Blake

Title: FrostBlood
Series: FrostBlood Saga #1
Author: Elly Blake
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published Date: January 10th 2017    
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Magic
Page Count: 376
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love. 

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 My Review:

“I wasn’t being noble. There was nothing noble about a thirst for revenge. It was about getting what I wanted, a chance to kill the king. And no one else would have to suffer because of me.”

This is my favorite new fantasy world! Yes it is similar to Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (and I still like that series as well), this one was able to keep my guessing and the world building was slightly more enjoyable than Red Queen for me.

Ruby is a young woman who doesn't think of herself as strong, yet still try's to act like it so that she can attempt to protect those around her. Yet she also breaks down all the time, and feel inadequate. For me this made her an even more like able character because she is knows what her flaws are and learns to use them to her advantage with some help. This is when we bring in Arcus and so many other of the monks where she is staying.

Arcus is one of those characters, that while you don't fully like or trust because of how little is known about him. You also really want to like him and get to know him and learn why exactly he wants to help Ruby on her mission.

While Ruby and Arcus do end up fighting a lot, it's the type of fighting that is enjoyable to read because of how easy the banter between them is and how they both seem to feed off of each other's anger and frustration. But when they do work together on something they make a pretty good team if I do say so myself.

I'm honestly afraid I am going to say too much and give away the mystery and excitement behind this story. But I will say this if you like fantasy stories that involve saving a country, all while learning to use a power with a small side of romance, then I think you might enjoy this book. Also the world building while easy to understand, was also very detailed in how  certain things worked all without giving to much information.
I can't wait to read the next book in this trilogy and see what Ruby gets up to next!