Genre: Christian YA Fantasy

Overall Rating: 4/5

Literary Value: 4/5 A Soul as Cold as Frost was beautifully written, with delightfully quirky turns of phrase that helped to create an immersive story world. But at several points while reading, I felt like the story was created around the writing style, not the other way around. While I love beautifully written stories, the plot and characters are always more important to me, and the prose in A Soul as Cold as Frost often overshadowed them. But it was still an enjoyable read, and the writing style did a lot to add to the story.

Worldview: 5/5 I didn’t realize A Soul as Cold as Frost was by a Christian author, so I was pleasantly surprised to find Christian themes woven throughout, with an allegory beginning to appear about halfway through. While the Christian themes in the story were largely allegorical, I didn’t find them overly didactic. If I had to describe this story in a few words, I’d say it’s a very quirky urban fantasy version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, echoing many of the same themes plus the winter setting. I don’t recall disagreeing with any theology or philosophy, and found the Christian themes to add depth and richness to the story.

Enjoyability: 3/5 I had a really hard time following the plot. To be fair, I was reading it as an ebook on my phone (due to travel), and I have much lower reading comprehension when reading on a screen and especially my phone. So the odds were against A Soul as Cold as Frost! Although the plot was difficult to keep track of, I absolutely loved the characters, the prose (well, most of the time), the setting, and the themes. So, if you don’t mind occasionally flipping (or, well, swiping) back to review part of the plot, you’d probably enjoy this book.

Other books by the author: The author has written a few sequels to A Soul as Cold as Frost. I started the second book and had a hard time getting into it (again, ebook on my phone…), so we’ll see if I ever finish that. If I do, it’ll probably get reviewed on here eventually, so feel free to check back if you’re curious!

Have you read A Soul as Cold as Frost? Let me know what you think in the comments below!