Book Review of Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Title: Frostbite

Author: Richelle Mead

Release Date: April 10, 2008

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose…

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians–including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand- to- hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks….This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price…

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: Before I get into the review, as most of you know I am in the process of moving so I listened to Vampire Academy and Frostbite on audio book while driving from my old house to my new one. The reason I bring this up is because in the first book the voice of Dimitri has this really thick Russian accent and then in the second one it is gone…weird…if anyone else listens to it you’ll have to help explain that to me. I know in the book it mentions he has a slight accent but it definitely goes from one extreme to the other in audio book land which I found very peculiar.

Ok so onto the review we find ourselves back at St. Vladimir’s academy with Rose and crew. It is winter break and a recent attack has made everyone a little concerned about the students traveling, therefore they are all sent to an elite ski resort with the thought that there is safety in numbers. But if that were the case this would be a pretty boring book wouldn’t it? Yep, so of course there are problems that arise, one of them at the very start of this book. A beginning that put things in perspective for Rose very quickly and sets the tone for this book in my opinion. While the first book did have some dark moments in it, Frostbite has a shadow cast down upon the entire story with the emphasis being on Rose’s life and those who surround her. I feel the best comparison to what I am talking about is Harry Potter, I know you are sitting there saying “What!?!” but hear me out. Did you notice that with every Harry Potter book that came out the story got a little darker? That is what I feel like here, as Rose starts to get older, her job becomes a little tougher. Darkness is closing in on her world a little at a time and that seeps into the tone of the book. Rose is definitely not an average 17 year old girl and that becomes very apparent as this story unfolds.

However, with dark there is also light. In this book the “light” in my opinion was found in Lissa and her budding relationship with Christian. They are so happy and in love you cannot help but smile while reading about them. Lissa is having a good year and while her highs are great to read about my heart still goes out to Rose because her life might never be like that. She will always put her emotions and wants second to Lissa because it is her job and she feels a responsibility to do so. We do get a few glimpses into the Rose/Dimitri world, but not as much as I would have liked. They are both trying desperately to keep their emotions for each other in check and are both having a very difficult time doing so. And while we are on this talk of romance, there is a new character introduced, Adrian, he comes in toward the end of the novel but I have a funny feeling he is going to cause some problems in upcoming books. Time will tell for that I guess…

The end of this book was very emotional for me and my heart broke for Rose for multiple reasons, sometimes I forget that she is only 17 because she is forced to mature so quickly. She handles this responsibility like any teenager would, she makes mistakes! She acts before thinking, and is crazy stubborn, but she does learn her lessons and works very hard to better herself both physically and intellectually. That is why I love her, she is a real character. She is not perfect and you can relate to her. To sum up, I really liked this book and I am enjoying this series. If you have not picked it up you should.

Language Love:

“Icicles hung from the eaves, and the tinted windows reveled no secrets.”

I like how darkness is related to the secrecy of the house in this description.