The Reread Diaries: Frostbite

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose…

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians—including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks…. This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price…

This post will contain spoilers for Vampire Academy and Frostbite.

I am a little late at getting this post up… I reread Frostbite in November, but didn’t get the post up straight away because I wanted December to be blogmas content only. This post was supposed to go up in January, but plans kind of went out of the window and I took a little break. However, plans are slowly getting back on track and I am getting back to my regular schedule! Thankfully, when I read Frostbite, I did take notes, so all I had to do was make my notes a little more cohesive for you; so these are still my authentic thoughts right after reading the book for the second time.

First off, I want to address something I have discussed in the comments with multiple of you guys… and that was my very dramatic way of beginning my segment about Adrian. The first time I read this book, I did not like Adrian. I found him arrogant and bland and I did not enjoy his scenes. It was the main reason I did not continue the Bloodlines series which is the spinoff series with Adrian as the main character. This time around though, I really loved his character. I found him so much more likeable. I loved the arrogance and the humour, and this time around, I could see the vulnerability underneath the arrogance – even when Rose couldn’t. I never thought it would spin this way, but I am really looking forward to seeing more from him in the rest of the series.

Just like when I reread Vampire Academy, the romance between Rose and Dimitri really made me uncomfortable. It is wild for me to think that I once really loved this aspect of the story and saw nothing wrong with it. Because I know the story, and because I know what happens afterwards, I do still like Dimitri. Which I know seems a bit contradictory. I really like his character. I think he is great. But I cannot ignore the huge age difference between the two of them and the power dynamic issues. I can sense that this is going to be an ongoing thing for me as I continue the series.

Oh Mason, Mason, Mason. I loved Mason. I wish there had been a little more romance between Rose and him. I think they would have been such a great match. And an age appropriate one at that. I had remembered that Mason died. But I did not realise how early on it was in the series! I thought it was around book 3 or even 4, so when I realised that it was happening in book 2, it kind of took me by surprise! I do feel like the death impacted me more the first time that I read it. It felt very, very quick and for me that meant that a lot of the emotions were left behind. But that feels weird for me to comment on now, because when I was the age of the target audience, it did work on me, however at the age I am now (24) reading this for the second time, it does not.

I am still really struggling to connect with Lissa. I feel like we are just supposed to take Rose’s word for how great Lissa is. We’ve never really been shown it. If anything, I find her more annoying. And there have been some points where I can’t even understand how they became best friends and how they got to this inseparable state. Bouncing off of Lissa though – I do still like Christian. And again, I can’t quite understand where the hatred for him has come from for Rose. It feels very random and unnecessary. Especially at the end when they had to work together during the Strigoi attack.

One thing I did notice is that the main plot point and the climatic scene felt the same as book 1. Someone is captured and then Rose has to swoop in and save them. And whilst this was different enough that it did not drastically stick out and bother me, it did still bother me a little bit. However, I will be even more frustrated if this was to continue in the next four books. I think this goes back to me not connecting as much with this writing style this time around. I reread for the characters and world more than anything else, so I am able to ignore the writing style to some degree. But because I haven’t read this story in so long, it is sticking out to me a little more.

I am so happy to finally get this post up. I wouldn’t allow myself to start book 3, until I had posted this. Mainly because I don’t want to get carried away with reading, and not keep up to date with my posts, and then never return to it again… like I did with my Throne of Glass Discussion Posts. Hopefully there won’t be too long of a gap until I read book 3 and get that post up for you!

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