Review: Frostfire by Amanda Hocking

FROSTFIRE
Series: The Kanin Chronicles #1
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: January 6th 2015

Book Length: 321 pages
Publisher: St. Martins Griffin
Source: Physical Copy, Goodreads 

Review: 4/5 *Full Review Below.

Blurb:

Bryn Aven is an outcast among the Kanin, the most powerful of the troll tribes.

Set apart by her heritage and her past, Bryn is a tracker who's determined to become a respected part of her world. She has just one goal: become a member of the elite King’s Guard to protect the royal family. She's not going to let anything stand in her way, not even a forbidden romance with her boss Ridley Dresden.

But all her plans for the future are put on hold when Konstantin– a fallen hero she once loved – begins kidnapping changelings. Bryn is sent in to help stop him, but will she lose her heart in the process?

“Bryn Aven. Remember my name. Because I'm going to be the one who kills you.”

Well.. I didn’t think I would ever read a book about Trolls and love it! I’m new to Amanda Hocking’s books so I’m completely new to this concept of Trolls but I have to say I really enjoyed this one. I am totally loving the title Frostfire, to me this promises lots of action that we sadly didn’t get a great deal of but I love it all the same and adore the wintery cover.

Bryn is apart of a troll tribe called the Kanin, these are the most powerful and possess unique abilities like being able to blend into their surroundings or tracking a human by a lock of their hair. However Bryn is only half troll so she doesn’t possess any of these abilities which made her training to become a tracker that much harder but she refuses to give up and is determined to become a Hogdragen despite her bloodline.

The Kanin tribes make their money by leaving their babies (changlings) in human homes, the human baby will then be taken to an orphanage. Changlings are typically placed into wealthy homes and when they come of age a tracker with retrieve them along with their giant bank account back to their original parents.

What I loved about this book was the little details that made it so different from the majority of YA book I read. Usually our heroines are orphans, are around 15-17 years old and still in school, whereas in this Byrn is 19 years old and still has two very loving parents, she’s not in school she’s a fully trained tracker and wanting to further her career. These details may not seem significant but not once did I become annoyed with Byrn because of a childish outburst or selfish behaviour, it was quite the opposite actually. Instead Byrn focuses too much on her career and it totally head strong and independent which was really refreshing.

Anyway back to the story, changlings are being targeted for kidnappings but no one knows why, the only suspect is the traitor to the crown: Konstantin. Together Byrn and her boss Ridley must capture Konstantin and bring him to justice but nothing is as it seems and there’s something much more dangerous afoot.

I really enjoyed the world building and learning about the many types of troll, I was so impressed with it, the place sounds gorgeous and I wish could live there myself! The romance was my favourite kind; forbidden, although for me there wasn’t enough of it, Bryn would always ruin some potentially swoony moments with denial or outright running away. I was a little disappointed by the ending, as it seemed a little blunt but I will definitely be reading the next book because it promises more action and romance which I felt this book lacked. I would recommend this but I'd be aware that Hocking has already written a Troll series so everything is not explained in the very beginning so you may feel a little lost but worry not, keep going and you soon get the answers you need.

Overall this was a good start to a new series and I can now add Trolls to my bookshelf along with faeries, gargoyles and aliens, yay!