Review: Frostfire

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Amanda Hocking
Format: Paperback
Pages: 321
Rating: 5 out of 10

Summary (Thanks, Goodreads.com): Bryn Aven is an outcast among the Kanin, the most powerful of the troll tribes.

Set apart by her heritage and her past, Bryn is a tracker who's determined to become a respected part of her world. She has just one goal: become a member of the elite King’s Guard to protect the royal family. She's not going to let anything stand in her way, not even a forbidden romance with her boss Ridley Dresden.

But all her plans for the future are put on hold when Konstantin– a fallen hero she once loved – begins kidnapping changelings. Bryn is sent in to help stop him, but will she lose her heart in the process?

My Thoughts: So, this novel made me a little bit sad. Perhaps it was that it has been quite some time since I had read any novels by Amanda Hocking but I seem to recall her novels being so much better than this one.

Sure, there was some adventure and some romance aspect...it all felt forced though. I had to struggle to believe this novel and the fact that the characters weren't human was almost the easiest thing to accept! Everything went too quickly. This novel seemed to skip over a lot of important stuff, taking for granted that people had already read Hocking's Trylle series. This meant that the world wasn't explained as well as it could be. It also means that important action was lost. Fights were resolved too fast, emotional issues were skipped over, and family drama was all but ignored. This novel could have been so much more. Granted, this is part of a series, so there is room for it to get better but I wish this novel had done more to help with that. 

I loved that the main character didn't find any insta-love and that she was strong. She wanted to do things on her own and for herself. She never discounted her ability to do something and believed in herself. It's too bad that novels are more than just the characters that can be found in them.

Overall, the novel could have gone deeper. Show me deeper into the protagonists thoughts and emotions. Show me more about the world in which these people live, their city, their customs, their family arrangements, their politics, their daily lives. Show me more of the main characters and their motivations. Show me more about the big bad guys. Show me more about the fight scenes and how the characters manage to get out of these sticky situations. Show me something more! I needed more of just about everything. It needed more work, which is sad because I thought that grammar, vocabulary, and structure were great.

Basically: This novel was much worse than I expected. It was an easy read but is very clearly young adult in nature. I wish that it had slowed down. I'm not sure what this would have meant for other novels in this series but I don't care. It needed to be done. I'll likely finish the rest of the series but I am in no rush at all. This one was a disappointment. Check out Hocking's other works first, please!