Fireblood (The Frostblood Saga, 2)

Love these books & this author! It got here quickly and was un-damaged.

Great book fun read easy read !

Actual rating 3.75/5

I think Fireblood ended up being better than Frostblood. I enjoyed the differences of Ruby's time in Sudesia versus Tempesia. Whereas the people of Tempesia are cold, indifferent, and keep their emotions to themselves, I found it refreshing how those from Sudesia are encouraged to release their emotions, both good and bad, without judgment from others.

I did find that there were unfortunate similarities in both books. Book 1 has Ruby fighting in an arena against others to both survive but also to prove herself to the Frost King in a way. In book 2, she has to go through trials to test herself and also prove herself to the Queen of Sudesia which I found somewhat redundant while reading. And like in Fireblood, there's a moment where a bunch of world building gets dumped on us all at once via a character telling a story to Ruby. That's just personally one of my pet peeves; I dislike getting information this way, it just seems rather lazy.

I mostly like Ruby's own journey within herself in these books. The plot is fine for a YA book, we've got another main character being the chosen one who has to save the world, there's a love triangle, there's a character that goes through trials, but it's Ruby's growth that's most enjoyable for me. She starts out so defeated in the first book after what happened to her mother and being imprisoned and it only gets worse while she's in Tempesia's capital being forced to fight to the death. She wants to have a home, she's naive, weak, unsure of herself. Her time in Sudesia helped her grow as a Fireblood and as a person. I'm looking forward to the final book to see what else she'll be able to do.

I really don't like love triangles and unfortunately, this series has one. It doesn't help that the new character introduced is more likable than the original love interest. I like Kai and his friendship/relationship with Ruby much better than Arcus. The brooding male character is so overdone at this point and I liked that Kai was honest and true to himself. And what makes it worse is that I'm very certain this love triangle is going to be pointless and Ruby will end up with Arcus anyway.

I liked that there was more than one twist as well. There was only one that wasn't very surprising and was immediately obvious to me when it was originally foreshadowed. It doesn't help that it involves Marella who I already don't like much. I feel she's the weakest character so far; I can sort of sympathize with her motives but her actions were very questionable and didn't make a lot of sense.

Overall I find these books mostly interesting and easy to read. I know Ruby is the main character but she's easily the star and what keeps me reading. I'm looking forward to seeing how or if the two opposing nations make peace with each other. There is a lot of animosity that Firebloods and Frostbloods feel for each other and I'm wondering if it'll be resolved in a satisfying way.

Amazing series!

Nice book

{Many thanks to the publisher for sending me an eARC of Fireblood free of charge.}

I really wanted to love Fireblood as much as I loved Frostblood, but no such luck.

Frostblood was the first book in the The Fireblood Saga by Elly Blake and held such promise! The series tells the story of Frostbloods and Firebloods, warring people who wield magical frost or fire. The feud goes back as far as anyone can remember and the only potential ending appears to be the annihilation of one or the other.

In this second novel, Fireblood, the story picks up where Frostblood left off, but this time the focus is on the nations of Tempesia (the Frostbloods home) and Sudesia (the Firebloods home). I don't want to spoil anything from Frostblood, but I'll say that when our heroine heads to the Fireblood homeland, she is greeted much differently than she anticipated.

I found myself wanting to put the novel down for about the first half because it moved sooooo slowly, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The second half really delivered, moved the story forward, and made me anxious for book three.

Sent as a gift to a friend.