Review – Bitter Frost (Frost, Book 1) by Kailin Gow (3/5 stars)

Reading level:Young Adult
Genre:Fantasy/Paranormal
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: The EDGE
Release Date:  June 1st, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1597488983
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Frost trilogy
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 3/5 stars

I should start by saying that I got this book because of the pretty cover and the fairy premise; for $4.99 is looked like a steal and had excellent reviews.   I had recently read both of Julie Kagawa’s Iron King books and was in the mood for more fairy court drama.  This book was okay; it could have been great and it did start out really good.  As the book went on though it lost depth and characters started sounding awkward and bored with themselves.  Also it should be noted that this is a very short book; took just over an hour to read it.

Breena dreams nightly about a fairy court and a lovely fairy prince.  It isn’t until a boy disappears near her school and is found with human looking bites all over his body that she starts to fear there is more to her world than she knew.  Then one night Breena is attacked by a Pixie, saved by a Fairy Prince named Kian, and forced into the fairy realm that she had before only dreamed about.

This book started off wonderfully; beautiful descriptions, a tough and fun heroine.  As with a lot of these teen books there was a love triangle of sorts; Logan is Breena’s protector and is a werewolf, Kian is Breena’s fairy prince from long ago.  Kian is a wonderful hero; beautiful, moody, honorable.  The fairy courts are interesting, but after the first half of the book things began to decline.

For some reason about half-way through the book I just felt like things started to fizzle out, which is weird because that is when the action really picks up.  Breena looses her personality and becomes this generic fairy princess; she looses a lot of spunkiness and kind of wanders around whereever people put her.  All of the characters seem to loose their passion and become more like 2D figures being pushed through the pages.  The dialogue was forced sounding and a bit stilted, it just didn’t sound natural.  In general the writing just seemed less polished and a bit immature.

There weren’t really any surprises in the story it was very predictable and the world Gow created didn’t add a lot of creativity to the fairy worlds I’ve read about before.  Through the whole book I kept thinking…hmmm…this plot is a lot like The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, only 2D and not nearly as well written.

The book is very short, I read this on Kindle, and it took me maybe an hour to read.  It also ends literally in the middle of a scene which kind of irks me.  Of course I am sucker, so I bought the second book, Forever Frost, on Kindle because I just want to see what happens (and it was cheap).  If the 2nd book is written like the first half of this book it will be great; if it is written like the second half I will be banging my head against a wall.

Overall an okay book if you are a fan of young adult fairy books.  There are a number of series out there which are way better than this one though.  I would recommend the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr (not my favorite but still better than this one), The Iron King series by Julie Kagawa (absolutely one of the best fairy series I have read ever), A Modern Fairy Tale by Holly Black, and Theatre Illuminata by Lisa Mantchev.  All of these are better young adult series featuring fairies.  If you have made it though all of those and need a quick read, then for the price, this book is worth it.  It is okay and somewhat entertaining; I hope that the second book is better.

This book goes to the following reading challenges:
– The Young Adult Reading Challenge
– Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge Book List
– The 100+ Book Reading Challenge