Stolen

October 15, 2014
Drakonrydder Nat and her guy-for-hire Wes are at it again.In a dystopian world destroyed ages ago by global warming, heroine Nat Kestral fought like hell to reach an Edenic place called Blue (Frozen, 2013). This sequel finds her there, training with white-haired, handsome Faix, messenger to the queen of Vallonis, and longing for her lost love, Wes, who's found enough trouble of his own in a quest to find his long-lost sister. Readers are plunged right in the middle of the action from the first page, and the story unfolds in alternating chapters told from each character's perspective. Readers will definitely need to review the first installment of the series to catch themselves up, and this one is chock-full of fantasy-novel-esque character and place names that may have them wishing for a dramatis personae or a map. The novel takes off with a start-and-stop sensibility, but the authors do provide the back story eventually (and cleverly), and the plot takes off from there. Everything feels mostly real, with the exception of Nat's dark phase in the first part, which renders her more a cheesy Bella ("an artist unable to paint; a poet unable to write") than the fierce fighter she is. A sputtering start leads to an action-packed adventure for patient fans. (Dystopian romance. 14-18)

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December 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-In this follow-up to Frozen (Putnam, 2013), readers are reunited with Nat, who as reclaimed her flying drakon and has left the love of her life, Wes, in order to defend her lost homeland, Vallonis. Nat finds growing support among the populace and with ships filled with pilgrims seeking "The Blue," the mythical nickname for her lost kingdom. When the Remaining States of America soldiers find a way to magically disable her drakon, she rejoins her mysterious guardsman Faix in an attempt to learn more about her own power. Meanwhile, Wes has attempted to settle back into his old life in New Vegas without Nat. Still looking for his lost sister Eliza, he suffers further setbacks when the slyph (mage) Liannan and the two dwarfish smallmen on his team mysteriously disappear. Wes is ultimately recaptured and redrafted into the army against his will. As his trajectory propels him closer to the ocean and to Nat, he struggles to find his place in the growing war between the marked (humans with powers) and the wealthy elite. De la Cruz and Johnston further the adventures of the frozen dystopian wasteland. The story slightly drags as Nat learns to harness her newfound abilities, but the narrative is intercut with Wes's thrilling quest to save his sister, which picks up the slack. Readers who haven't read the previous installment will be lost, but fans of the first book will no doubt be very happy with where this action-filled trilogy is headed.-Ryan P. Donovan, Southborough Public Library, MA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
Grades 7-12 Alternating chapters follow drakonrydder Nat and her boyfriend, Wes, in their respective parallel worlds: Blue, where magic is real and the earth's environment is stable and unpolluted, and the RSA (Remaining States of America), where most of the earth has been swallowed by the oceans, and what's left battles a constant winter. De la Cruz and husband Johnston combine dystopian futures with more standard fantasy conventions, all the while maintaining the giddy pace, nonstop action, and comfortably predictable romance of their first title, Frozen (2013). Two interesting new characters have been added: the enigmatic sylph Faiz, Nat's teacher in all things magic, whose handsome presence makes Wes jealous; and Wes' twin sister, Eliza, who emerges after years of internment in the hospital system reserved for marked children with special powers. The concept of overlapping worlds on one planet will intrigue readers and raise philosophical questions about the nature of reality. The cliff-hanger ending assures readers that a finale is in the works.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)