FrostFire by Zoë Marriott

Pages - 439

Published by Walker Books in July 2012

Book kindly sent by publisher for review

In my dreams, the wolves come for me. I hear their voices echoing from the far-off mountains and the frost-bright stars. They sing of the hunt, and hot blood spilled on snow, and the scent of their prey's fear on the wind. My fear.

Goodreads Summary

Frost is cursed - possessed by a wolf demon that brings death everywhere she goes. Desperate to find a cure, she flees her home, only to be captured by the Ruan Hill Guard. Trapped until she can prove she is not an enemy, Frost grows increasingly close to the Guard’s charismatic leader Luca and his second in command, the tortured Arian. Torn between two very different men, Frost fears that she may not be able to protect either of them ... from herself.

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Zoë Marriot is one of those authors I adore. When I receive a book by her, I know I will be lost in a fantasy world from the moment I begin reading to the final paragraph on the last page. Her writing is just so evocative,  I find my emotions become entwined with her words and I react alongside the characters to the events that occur in the book. 

FrostFire is set in the same world as Daughter of the Flames, which is the only book by this author I haven't read. I didn't feel that I needed to read it as this book stood very well on its own. 

When we meet Frost, she really is in a bad way, her self esteem is non existent and it is only when Luca helps her to blossom as her person, that she begins to shine like the rising star she should be. You can almost feel her glistening in the sunlight, as she conquers her fears and learns to live with the wolf inside her. She becomes such a strong character as the book progresses, you find yourself cheering her on from the sidelines. There is an intensity to her relationships between Luca and Arian, that gripped me completely. On finishing the book, I was still torn over which character would have been right for Frost, however I find myself leaning towards Arian more than Luca, as he is such a tortured soul himself. His connection to Frost felt stronger to me, than Luca's. Each character within this emotional triangle, go through a cycle of emotions and reactions, each taking their turn to shine as well as suffer. 

The plot is strong and full of action, as the characters fight to stay alive and save their community. 

I loved the world created by the author. The writing is extremely descriptive as always and you are aware that the author has painfully taken time over every word chosen and every decision made.  The climatic ending left me shocked. I was not happy with the outcome as I wasn't expecting it. I was gasping at the events that occurred in the last hundred pages.  I have been placated since by the author via Twitter over her choices, so I am now in recovery from the events that occurred!

Zoë Marriott is an exceptional author who weaves magic through her words allowing her readers to become part of her fantasy world. I would always recommend her books to everyone to read.