Nightblood by Elly Blake

SYNPOSIS

Ruby's world has changed more than she ever could have imagined. She's in love with a powerful Frost King. She's the heir to the Fire Throne. And she may be a Nightblood--the spawn of a vengeful deity hellbent on releasing his wraithlike Minax from their prison. Once freed, these beasts will roam the earth, devouring every last person until he or she is nothing but an empty husk.

​But Ruby is able to control the Minax to a degree, and now she, her beloved Arcus, and her friend Kai must find a way to bring Frostbloods and Firebloods--sworn enemies--together to make a stand against a foe more deadly than any they've faced.

In this heart-pounding finale of Elly Blake's gorgeously written and action-packed Frostblood Saga, the fate of Frostbloods, Firebloods, and all of humanity is at stake.

Synopsis from Goodreads

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PERSONAL REVIEW

Nightblood marks the end of the Frostblood trilogy and gives us a fairly solid conclusion to Ruby’s story. She’s gone from innocent young girl to powerful Fireblood, and it felt like we finally had the chance to see her fully grow up.

Strongest Book in the Trilogy
I was not a fan of the earlier books in this series and I walked into Nightblood with very low expectations. So I was happy to find that this is a much stronger book then it’s predecessors. We are finally given a clear goal and journey for the characters to work towards, there is some character growth, and a nice resolution to wrap it all up. At the end of the previous novels, I found myself frustrated and uninterested in these characters and their world. While this still isn’t my favorite fantasy series, Nightblood made more of an impact and I’m happy to say that I somewhat enjoyed it. There were still a lot of slow moments, and some of the “problems” between characters were either way too forced or too cliched for me to have any interest in (yup, the non-love triangle love triangle continues to come up as a source of antagonism between Kai and Arcus simply because Ruby wants to be friends with Kai. So annoying). Regardless, this felt like a decent way to end the series and I’m happy I read it to have some closure.

Ruby Finally Stands Up For Herself
It took three books, but I feel like Ruby has finally come into her own. She’s still brash and rushes into situations without thinking them threw, but gone is the meek girl afraid of her powers. There’s finally some growth happening and I honestly loved every time she stood up to Arcus’s anger. When he’s jealous, she reminds him that if they can’t trust each other then their relationship won’t last. When he gets in a fight with Kai, she tells him to get over the jealousy because she has chosen him, but if he can’t, she’ll end the relationship. I’m honestly happy with how her story ends because it felt like there was growth for her, even as she retained her youthful ignorance of consequences. It was the first time I wasn’t annoyed with her, so yay for Ruby!

Arcus is Still Annoying
I really, really want to like Arcus because Ruby clearly loves him and he would do anything for her, but man is this guy annoying. While he’s definitely better in this book then in Frostblood or ​Fireblood, I still couldn’t get over how controlling he tries to be. There are many arguments that could be used to defend him: he’s just looking out for Ruby, he’s a king and used to giving commands, or that he’s simply a man who wants to protect others, but he just constantly comes across as not trusting Ruby. I’m happy that she combats this and tells him off, but he is continuously freaking out that she’s going to leave him or hurt herself. I sympathize with him in that Ruby makes rash decisions, so it would be stressful to love her, but I have no tolerance for his jealously when Ruby has told him on numerous occasions that she chooses him and will continue to choose him. It takes him an entire book is stop being an ass and I just didn’t have that kind of patience.

I didn’t write full reviews about the previous books in the trilogy because I didn’t particularly love them and there were simply other books I wanted to review instead. While I didn’t love this series, I am happy with the way Nightblood concluded it. We have a clear resolution, there was some character growth, and it finally felt like the story had a clear direction. I’d be interested to see what Blake writes in the future, because this book was definitely the strongest of the trilogy and I think that future books will continue to give us even better stories. In the end, we say good-bye to Ruby and Arcus and wish them good luck in their future.

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FINAL RATING: 3/5