18. Fire and Ice

The book:  Frozen (Heart of Dread #1)
The author:  Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston
The rating:  4 stars

It's been a while since my last review, and IB exams have been to blame.  In any case, I am now a high school graduate, and I've got a lengthy summer reading list to help get me back on track for my 100-book goal.  Now, without further ado, Frozen (no relation to the Disney musical): 

Frozen and I didn't start off on the best foot.  I found it difficult to immerse myself in the authors' prose... sentences were uniform and choppy, and action seemed to begin and end so rapidly that there was no time to build up suspense.  This might seem to be an odd criticism to levy against a book, but it truly felt as if I was only reading about events; they weren't actually occurring.  A good novel needs immersion, needs to pull its reader out of the real world and into theirs, and for a good while, Frozen failed to deliver.  While that aspect did improve over the course of the novel, problems with pacing continued to plague Frozen from cover to cover.

Betrayals, character deaths (and resurrections), various tribulations and crises... none lasted long enough for me to truly become emotionally invested.  When an important character dies, for example, my default position is a solid belief that they're not really dead.  Give it a couple chapters, though, and I'll begin to doubt... maybe the author did kill off little Susie Soandso for real.  For a twist to work, the author needs to instill that doubt, or else the fake-out death will have no impact on the reader; he or she never had the chance to become invested in the implications of the death.  That's where Frozen's pacing really acts as a drag:  each crisis is resolved, each emotional trauma assuaged before it can truly impact the reader, and a tale will often veer into the realm of bland when it is unable to pull on the reader's heartstrings.

However, Frozen did have some saving graces.  For one, it's not your classic YA dystopian cookie-cutter.  In fact, it is an incredibly unique fusion of different genres.  It bridges science fiction and fantasy in a way that Whispers in Autumn tried and failed, it has the military charm, intrigue, and romance of the Legend trilogy (without that series' over-the-top thematic statements), it's full of the swashbuckling, sea-faring escapades of Pirates of the Caribbean along with a hearty helping of Graceling-style adventure and fantasy.  Fans of Graceling (a 2008 novel by Kristin Cashore) will actually find a great number of similarities:  individuals who are gifted with magic have strangely-coloured eyes, they're societal pariahs, our heroine has a murderous gift that makes her a monster...  while these similarities may serve to undermine my claims of Frozen's uniqueness, these elements are just one small part of a wonderful genre mismatch that creates a surprisingly complementary, well-seasoned dish.

The result of these genres are the setting and the adventure, the two respects in which Frozen truly shines.  The tale takes place in a fantastical, futuristic Las Vegas, redefined after a frozen apocalypse and full of magic à la urban fantasy.  This fusion of old and new creates a setting that is at once familiar and rife for exploration, something that is extremely significant to story that, at its essence, follows a traditional quest plot structure.  New Vegas, Garbage Country, the deadly, trash-filled Pacific... each segment of the journey is vividly imagined and subtly insightful, creating an unspoken commentary on present-day consumer culture with a finesse that would seemingly go over the head of Legend writer Marie Lu.  Despite its fantastical elements, Frozen's future is an undeniable reflection of the present day, and the way in which the authors integrate this vision into their story is admirable.

As previously mentioned, the adventure itself is a classic quest, and there's something so readable about this type of storyline.  Unlike many of its YA fellows, Frozen's plot does not get bogged down by teenage angst or love triangles.  Admittedly, Nat is a fairly angsty protagonist, but her fears of being a monster are fairly substantiated, and the romance between her and Wes is rather tolerable.  Significantly, the romance runs congruently with getting our heroes to their destination, not oppositely, and therefore instead of dragging on the plot, their 'will they/won't they' serves to push the action along.

All in all, Frozen is a solid, immensely-readable tale, even if the writing itself sometimes gets in the way of the story.  (As a side note, a special mention must be made to the novel's epigraphs, all of which were particularly well-chosen.)  I'll definitely be giving the novel's sequel, Stolen, a look once it comes out later this year, but for now I'll keep my expectations for the rest of the series as a blank slate.