Thoughts on Thursday - REVIEW of Frozen Fire

On Thursdays I take time to step back and just share my thoughts on things related to reading. Sometimes these may be my thoughts or thoughts I've gotten from my students. It depends on the Thursday. It depends on the topic. It depends on the week!

This week I'm thinking about writing reviews - more specifically how to write a review for a book I really really liked BUT left me confused and left we without an idea of how to explain why I liked it! How do I write the review??? I can't just say - "hey it was fantastic but I don't know why, and oh BTW I was completely confused at the end - hope you figure it out better than I did!" I'm really thinking that's not the best way to write a review :)

The book I'm talking about is Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler.  I'm going to do my best to explain to you my thoughts on it, but it's not (in my opinion) a conventual book, so I'm finding a review difficult.

Summary from Goodreads
It starts with a phone call. “I’m dying,” a voice tells Dusty. Who is he and how has he gotten her cell number? Dusty wants no part of this strange boy . . . until he begins saying things that only someone who knows her intimately could say—things that lead her to think he knows the whereabouts of her brother, who disappeared over a year ago. Suddenly drawn in, Dusty very much wants to save this boy. Trouble is, she cannot find him. Part human, part spirit, he won’t let himself be found. He is too dangerous, he says. There are mobs of people who agree and who want to see this boy dead . . . and who will hurt anyone who stands in their way.


A gripping, hair-raising mystery about a boy not of this world, and a girl determined to protect him.

My Review - the best I can!
This book was amazing in ways I can't even begin to explain.  From the first page I was pulled yanked into the story with such a force I was almost left breathless.  I have never had a book start so strong not only with action but mystery and  intrigue and questions and promise - the promise of never letting up.  And that promise was kept.  I, like Dusty, had to find out who this boy was and how did he know what he did.  Unlike Dusty I didn't want to always go where she went because I was scared of what might be there. And to a degree I was scared of him - who was he? To add to this, the whole story is encased in swirling snow, and that snow adds not only to the mystery but the sense of isolation. I've been in snow storms like the ones in the book, so I know that feeling of blindness and emptiness they can create. She surged forward, and I was grateful she did.  Dusty's personality really did drive this story forward because she refused to give up.

As the pages went on more questions were raised and then - they all begin to unravel.  It's like when you pull a loose string on a sweater.  It unravels slowly at first and then faster.  That's what happened at the end.  The reader is pulled fast and faster into the unknown and then the known.  For me it unraveled so fast that when I reached the last page I wasn't completely sure about what I'd learned. And to a degree I think that's what Dusty felt.  I loved it, but my mind is still putting pieces together, and I finished it on SUNDAY! In all honesty I WILL have to reread it, so I can make sure I've got all the parts.  And I NEED to reread it because I want to enter that world again. 

Final thought:  An amazing swirl of emotions, mystery, isolation, sadness and finally answers.

Best stick with you image:  The first time she sees the boy. He is amazing and scary all at once.

Best for ages: 15 (at least)+ Younger kids just wouldn't get it. 

Here's another cover for it.  I'm not sure which one I like better.