I recently had the opportunity to read Beasts of the Frozen Sun by Jill Criswell (thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the Advanced Reader Copy!). I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for older young adult readers.
Lira’s known loss, but everything seems to fall apart shortly after she finds a boy, half-dead, wash up onto the shore. He’s from another land — enemies of her clan. The boy happened to be the same boy that saved her from gods-knows-what years before. She decides to save him, and that’s when her adventure started. And you’ve all heard the ancient Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times”.
What I Liked
There’s a lot I liked about Beasts of the Frozen Sun. Lira is a strong-willed character who is willing to do what is right, even if it could be dangerous or defies her own family and clan. She cares about her good friend and about her family. She’s also willing to see past a person’s birth circumstances and judge a person on what’s in their heard. Lira happens to have the ability to see into a person’s soul, and Reyker — the boy she saved — is not who he appears to be at first.
The culture and circumstances seem to go along with what the societies this story was based on were like historically. I like to read about girls that kick butt just as much as the next person, but realistically, girls are generally not as physically strong as trained male warriors (unless they have some sort of magical power). In most ancient cultures, girls weren’t much autonomy and were controlled by their fathers. When fighting, Lira doesn’t have a physical advantage over the invading warriors. Her father thinks that he can use her as a pawn. Of course, Lira overcomes this.
I also enjoyed the relationship she develops with Reyker. Their trust in each other develops very slowly, as you would expect with people that grow up being taught to hate each other. Although their relationship takes time to grow, it becomes strong and I found myself wanting to see everything work out for them.
This book has political maneuvering and evil characters making deals with the enemy. I liked the twists and turns it made.
What I Liked Less
The story took a little while to grow on me. By the end, I didn’t want to put it down, but it didn’t immediately grab me. That happens often with books that have prologues, but at least the prologue to Beasts of the Frozen Sun directly ties into what happens afterwards.
Other Things to Note
YA books cover a wide age range, and I wouldn’t recommend this book to younger YA readers. There are also things that could trigger some readers. This book has a male-dominated warrior culture, and the way they treat the captured women is not good (although not really elaborated on). There are executions and one attempted rape.
Beasts of the Frozen Sun ends in a cliffhanger. It’s not a massive cliffhanger where you’re just dying to find out what happens next, but I definitely was left with wanting to find out what happened next. I’ve already added the next book to my TBR.
