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ARC Book Review: Frozen – Erin Bowman


frozenFrozen
Author: Erin Bowman
Series: Taken #2
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopia
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

The Heists were only the beginning.
Gray Weathersby escaped from the primitive town of Claysoot expecting to find answers, but what he discovered shook him to the core: A ruthless dictator with absolute power. An army of young soldiers blinded by lies. And a growing rebellion determined to fight back.
Now Gray has joined a team of rebels on a harsh, icy journey in search of allies who can help them set things right. But in a world built on lies, Gray must constantly question whether any ally – or enemy – is truly what they seem…

 
First Sentence: We have been walking for two weeks.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.

My Review:

Anybody that knows me really well knows that books with gorgeous covers are my weakness. When I see a book with a gorgeous cover, I have to have it, no matter what. I remember seeing the cover of Taken last year and knowing that I just had to get the book in my hands because really, have you seen its gorgeous cover? However, after reading Taken and not being impressed with it at all, I was still a bit excited and willing to read Frozen, hoping it would redeem the series in my eyes. Frozen‘s gorgeous cover also helped convince me to give the series another chance. Sadly, Frozen didn’t impress me much either. In fact, I personally think Frozen is worse than Taken was, if that was even possible.

I catch myself smiling.
Because there’s a sense of tranquility among us, an optimistic current you can’t ignore.
We’ve made it. We’re nearly there. (ARC 83)

Frankly, Frozen bored me to death. Right from the very beginning, I had a bad feeling about Frozen. The first couple of pages didn’t drag me into the story and the first half of the book didn’t capture my attention either. The pacing of Frozen was horrible – the book mainly consists of running, hiding, fighting, hiding, running, fighting, rinse and repeat. Honestly, if I haven’t received a physical ARC from the publisher, I would have DNF’d Frozen when I was three chapters into it.

Another main issue I had with Frozen was that all the characters were so clueless, Gray, his team, and their enemy included. I was literally screaming at them multiple times in my head to please grow a brain and to stop being so foolish. That sadly didn’t happen.

[MILD] SPOILER: Examples include: 1. You visit a town and discover that nearly everyone but one person living in it is dead because of a virus. You don’t know anything about said virus. So obviously you touch the last person left alive, not caring about the fact that you KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE VIRUS and that YOU MAY CATCH THE VIRUS BY TOUCHING THAT PERSON BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW HOW THE VIRUS SPREADS. I’m surprised they’re not all dead by now.
2. You do NOT leave a small child with your enemy. It doesn’t matter if your enemy is tied up and can’t escape; your enemy can still speak and you know how gullible children are. The enemy can easily convince the child to release them like that, DUHHH.
3. The enemy successfully ambushed Gray and his team. Some people on Gray’s team survived and comes back to the battle wreckage the very next day to check things out. You would think that the enemy would be smart enough to plant some spies there just in case, no?
I can go on and on, but I’ll spare you my pain.

And that’s not all. I had an issue with the world-building in Frozen too. The world-building in Taken was easy to understand, but the world-building in Frozen is a whole another story. First of all, in Frozen we learn more about Gray’s world through cheap info-dumping through “stories” told by the characters. I usually won’t mind that too much, but the “stories” the characters told in Frozen was so confusing. I couldn’t keep track of what was what and who did what. Believe me, I’ve tried to understand the history of Gray’s world; I read those info-dump parts four times and still didn’t get what the characters were talking about until I had no choice but to give up.

Everyone who have read Taken knows that Taken ended with a love triangle. I am sad to say that there is still a love triangle in Frozen. To make things worse, I didn’t feel any of the romance. In fact, the romance parts in Frozen was one of the parts that bored me to death. I could care less about who Gray ends with – I can barely tell Emma and Bree apart except for the minor fact that Emma is a nice caring person while Bree is more rough and in your face kind of girl.

“Because maybe we’re not right, Bree.”…”You and me…Maybe we’re too aggressive for each other. We’re either at each other’s throats or we can’t keep our hands to ourselves.” (ARC 92)

There was this one big shocking twist in Frozen that was meant to make readers go all “what?!” and “unbelievable!” but sadly, the twist didn’t work on me, even though I wasn’t expecting it. By the time I finally got to the plot twist, it was already a little too late to redeem the book. The only thing the plot twist did was make me even more angrier at a certain character. (People who read my review of Taken will probably know who I’m talking about.)

I sadly can not think of one positive thing to say about Frozen, besides that I love its gorgeous cover. I’m just looking at my notes right now as I write my review and I see nothing positive written, nada. I wish I can compliment the villains in Frozen, but that one move they made (explanation in the above spoiler) changed my mind about how smart they are.

Overall, do I recommend Frozen? Sadly, no. If you thought Taken was a frustrating read, wait until you meet Frozen. It had me raging in anger.

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-Kelly

Posted by Kelly on 4-09-14 · 15 Comments
Categories: 2014 book, book review Tagged: 1 star

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Speak Your Mind

  1. Jessica @ Rabid Reads says

    4-09-14 at 10:39 AM

    Ouch. That’s really bad. I just skimmed to begin with b/c I haven’t read Taken yet, but now I’m kinda wondering if I should bother . . . Sorry this was so alternatingly boring and rage inducing read. I hope you’re reading some fun now ;)
    Jessica @ Rabid Reads recently posted…Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini TaylorMy Profile

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      4-12-14 at 11:29 AM

      If you don’t like love triangles, guys that punch girls out, and “cheating”, then I strongly recommend you skip this series Jessica. :l
      I’m definitely reading something fun now – Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins! :D
      Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [75]My Profile

      Reply
  2. Emily @ The Loony Teen Writer says

    4-09-14 at 7:16 PM

    Disappointing books shouldn’t be allowed to have beautiful covers! It just ruins everything. Good luck with your next book :)
    Emily @ The Loony Teen Writer recently posted…Book Review: Disruption by Jessica ShirvingtonMy Profile

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      4-12-14 at 11:39 AM

      Yes, they know that gorgeous covers will always suck me in into the book. ):
      I am loving my next read so far, so that’s good right? ;D
      Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [75]My Profile

      Reply
  3. Missie says

    4-09-14 at 7:23 PM

    Well boo, I definitely don’t want to read a book that bores me from the beginning!
    Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
    Missie recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Mortal DangerMy Profile

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      4-12-14 at 11:43 AM

      Yeah. I wish I could have DNF’d this one. D:
      Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [75]My Profile

      Reply
  4. Christine says

    4-10-14 at 2:01 AM

    It’s sad to know that this was a frustrating read because that cover is so cool! I still haven’t read Taken, but I’m not looking for another boring book in my already book life…so I think I’ll skip this one.

    Reply
    • Christine says

      4-10-14 at 2:03 AM

      *boring life

      Reply
    • Kelly says

      4-12-14 at 12:08 PM

      Ha ha, Frozen does pick up a big at the end, but like I said, it was a little too late by then. I just wasn’t feeling it anymore. :l
      Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [75]My Profile

      Reply
  5. Sofia says

    4-12-14 at 11:05 AM

    It has a gorgeous cover, I’ll give you that. Too bad it turned out to be a disappointment! :(
    Sofia recently posted…Stacking the Shelves (#11)My Profile

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      4-12-14 at 12:11 PM

      Agreed, I am definitely crazy about the cover. The cover designers did an AMAZING job. I’m just sad the inside isn’t as gorgeous as the outside. D:
      Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [75]My Profile

      Reply
  6. Ashley @The Quiet Concert says

    4-16-14 at 7:32 PM

    Not going to lie, I strongly disliked Taken but I was still kind of intrigued by this one. After your review I feel like I just need to stay clear of it! Great review :)
    Ashley @The Quiet Concert recently posted…Open Road Summer by Emory LordMy Profile

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      4-18-14 at 2:54 PM

      Ha ha, yeah. I didn’t like Taken and hoped Frozen will redeem the series for me, but it just didn’t happen for me. But maybe you’ll like Frozen better than I did? :l
      Thanks Ashley! :D
      Kelly recently posted…Book Review: A Mad, Wicked Folly – Sharon Biggs WallerMy Profile

      Reply
  7. Hillary R. says

    4-19-14 at 5:56 PM

    I actually haven’t read Taken yet so I’m not even sure I’ll get to Frozen, especially after reading this review. But you are so right! Books with gorgeous covers are my definite weakness. That actually happened this month when particularly four books came out on the same day of April 15. All of them have covers I can’t help but admire and now I’m dying to read them! But Frozen doesn’t seem that worth it…I’ve heard a lot about the books, but not everyone sings praise about them. I think I might end up skipping this series.

    Reply
  8. Chanpreet says

    5-14-14 at 11:27 PM

    Ouch! Well at least the cover is pretty to look at. :/
    Chanpreet recently posted…Cover Reveal: Flat-Out Celeste by Jessica ParkMy Profile

    Reply

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