Review: Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes

Frozen Tides

Morgan Rhodes

(Falling Kingdoms #4)

Publication Date: December 13, 2015

Hardcover, 413 pages, Razorbill

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

Rebels, royals, and monsters wage war over the Mytican throne in the shocking fourth book of the Falling Kingdoms series, from New York Times bestselling author Morgan Rhodes.

CLEO: Reeling after a bloody showdown in Limeros ending with Amara’s abduction of the water crystal, and a vacancy in the Mytican throne, Princess Cleo must cast aside her feelings and look toward her kingdom with the eyes of a Queen.

MAGNUS: With the kingdom in chaos, Princess Lucia still missing and quite possibly in danger, and a shocking realization about Cleo, the steely prince is once again torn between love and duty, leaving him wondering whether he’s strong enough to rule his people.

LUCIA: The young sorcercess has had her vengeance after the cruel death of her first and only love. Heartbroken and unable to trust anyone, she allies with the awoken Fire god, who also seeks revenge.

JONAS: After escaping death by the skin of his teeth, the defeated rebel—along with a mysterious stranger–leader reunites with Princess Cleo, only to find himself a mere pawn in a dangerous hunt for the elusive Kindred.

KING GAIUS: Abandoned by Melenia and betrayed by his own children, Gaius flees Mytica and sails to Kraeshia, where he attempts to ally with the famously brutal emperor across the Silver Sea.

My Review

I tried so hard to hold back and not read this book, and it’s not for the reason you think. I just knew that once I finished Frozen Tides, I would immediately want Crystal Storm. I guess I did alright. I held out for half a year…

But anywho, the gang is all back in this continuation of Morgan Rhodes’ epic fantasy series. Lucia, Jonas, Cleo, and Magnus are pretty much all up to no good and, overall, just being sneaky pain-in-the-butts to almost everyone.

Lucia is still loathe-worthy. I was going to say hate, but my feelings towards her are much stronger now. I loathe her. LOATHE. I’m hoping that where Frozen Tides left off means she’ll somehow redeem herself, but it’s going to have to be a pretty big act of redemption for me to get back on her side after some of the things she did. Whereas Jonas is the guy who you just have to feel sorry for. Every move he makes seems to end up with infinite negative repercussions. Also, WHY, Rhodes? Why? I really liked that character. While you redeemed yourself from the previous book’s character kill-off, the one you offed in this book set everything back. *sob*

As for Cleo and Magnus… I wanted more. Magnus and Cleo are such a ship-worthy couple, but every Lucia, Gaius, or other chapter besides Jonas’s had me wishing for a Cleo or Magnus one. I feel like their storyline is constantly getting overshadowed by some of the other characters’ because, honestly, the two don’t seem to be doing a whole heck of a lot. That brings me to my issues with the plot of the book.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy this series, I just feel like there needs to be something extra in it somewhere. Whenever I’m reading these books, there are soooooo many point-of-view shifts which make it really easy to not really see or recognize the forward motion of the characters. Because, while Jonas does do a lot of traveling, I don’t get to see him do it. He just jumps from one place to the other while I’m reading chapters from, say, Magnus’ pov. It kind of reminds me of Game of Thrones. You know how if you watch an episode of GoT, you feel like nothing important really happened, but if you look back at the season as a whole, you say to yourself “Wow. Some crazy sh*t went down.” That’s how I feel about the books in this series. One feels like nothing happened, the whole series feels like a bunch of crazy sh*t happened. It messes with my mind.

Other than that point and Lucia, I have no real complaints about this book. Yes, some of the chapter povs weren’t my favorite, but I understand how they help the storyline. Additionally, the twists and turns Rhodes did manage to squeeze into the book, while not always completely surprising, were entertaining at the very least.

All in all, I will continue to pine away for book five in this wonderful fantasy series, while also taking the time to admire the beautiful covers these books possess.

*Note: I was gifted a copy of this book. This in no way affected my opinion/review.