Review: Frozen (Heart of Dread #1)

frozenTitle: Frozen (Heart of Dread #1)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz, Michael Johnston
Genres: fantasy, dystopian
Pages: 336
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Review Copy: the library
Availability: September 17th 2013

Summary:
Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she’s heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all. [Image and summary via Goodreads]

Review: Frozen felt like a story of adventure — you know, a ragtag band of youths go travelling. That sort of adventure. Natasha, a blackjack dealer with a past that is a mystery even to herself, wants out of New Vegas. Everywhere is covered in ice and is, essentially, a frozen wasteland — save for the legendary place called “the Blue,” where the tropical waters are (surprise) blue and not frozen.

Natasha has a magical secret and dark voices in her head — a few of the many things about herself that she doesn’t understand. What she does know is that her secrets — betrayed by her colorful eyes — are dangerous to her. To avoid persecution and gain her freedom, she must flee New Vegas and search out the mythical Blue with the help of a band of boys lead by the oh-so-mysterious-and-hot Ryan Wesson, he of the tragic backstory.

While the worldbuilding and characters had a lot of potential, there was little to no follow through. The imagery of the frozen world was vivid and fascinating, but there was barely any explanation as to how the world had ended up frozen. There was only a cursory explanation about why magical beings were hated and hunted. Aside from the prologue, there is very little set-up or foundation for a lot of the elements in the story — magical marks, colorful eyes, frozen lands, and so on.

The romantic subplot was, unfortunately, the usual fare… dangerous, heterosexual longing, overlaid with a heavy sense of doom. Similarly, the ‘colorful eyes equals special and different’ device was also one that was all too familiar. Though Frozen is set in a frozen world vastly different from the settings of most YA lit, I still felt like this book was treading very, very familiar ground.

While the book was a fun read, it was hard to get away from the feeling that I had dropped into the middle of a book series by accident… even though I was reading the first book in a series. While the world and characters of Frozen are intriguing, the lack of explanation or follow-through made it difficult to fully enjoy the book.

Frozen is a great book for anyone who is looking for an adventure story with an interesting post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland setting.

Recommendation: Borrow it someday