Jeremy C Kester

Review: Frost by M.P. Kozlowsky

Genre: YA Scifi Dystopia

This was one of those books I picked up after seeing the cover. A single, robotic hand holding a rose that appeared to be melting from a metallic form into a true state all set against a grey background. Simple. Striking. Upon reading the description (see next), it sounded like a great read.

Here’s the official summary:

Sixteen-year-old Frost understands why she’s spent her entire life in an abandoned apartment building. The ruined streets below are hunting grounds for rogue robots and Eaters.

She understands why she’s never met a human besides her father. She even understands why he forbids her to look for medicine for her dying pet. But the thing is, it’s not her real father giving the orders…

It’s his memories.

Before he died, Frost’s father uploaded his consciousness into their robot servant. But the technology malfunctioned, and now her father fades in and out. So when Frost learns that there might be medicine on the other side of the ravaged city, she embarks on a dangerous journey to save the one living creature she loves.

With only a robot as a companion, Frost must face terrors of all sorts, from outrunning the vicious Eaters…to talking to the first boy she’s ever set eyes on. But can a girl who’s only seen the world through books and dusty windows survive on her own? Or will her first journey from home be her last?

I wasn’t disappointed. Frost was a fun read with an interesting twist on what had become of the world. It wasn’t ruled by robots, or by humans either. It laid in some odd state in between, each side distrusting of the other as they tried to navigate their way through. Technology ultimately destroyed civilization in this story, but little is said other than the vague tales of “the Days of Bedlam” as the humans call it. Then there are the eaters, people struck by a zombie-like virus that makes their appetite for flesh insatiable to the point that they will eat themselves to satisfy that hunger. Dangers abound in this story for Frost and her companions.

The characters are compelling, from Frost herself, to her robot servant, Bunt, to the memories that are/were her father, to the overlords who run the world she enters. They fit into the world well, not appearing to be an oddity shoved into a world they don’t belong.

The adventure remains grounded, despite residing in a world that appears upturned and twisted in every way. The story was fun and full of heart. Plenty of action keeps the story going and keeps plenty of questions remaining open that would feed in nicely to a sequel. And I look forward to that.