Frosted
MagicalReads
Fanfiction

Review of a completed book. ALL reviews from now on will be of completed books. Spoilers should not be significant, so feel free to read.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review at midnight hours. I'm not going to disclose how fast I read the book because it would probably curtail my credibility as a reviewer.

"Erm, help... I've never seen Rise of the Guardians!"

My first thoughts when this book turned up in my review request chapter.

However, my knowledge of the Rapunzel fairy tale stood me in good stead, and the author did an excellent job weaving in the Jack Frost elements in a way that I, as a novice, could easily assimilate and understand throughout the story.

Frosted, as the cover and summary indicate, is a Jack Frost/Rapunzel crossover, and I actually found it a stimulating and intriguing read. MagicalReads meshes original folktale and Tangled in a fun combination, and puts it in our world, at that -- on an imaginary island right outside the Bermuda Triangle.

The writing wasn't top-notch prose, but it flowed well, with a strong and occasionally humorous tone, and there were moments where it swept me off my feet with real emotion. After the first few chapters, I wanted to keep reading. There was an occasional turn-off: a stilted sentence here and there, a punctuation error. Largely the punctuation was just fine, which leads me to think that most of that can be fixed with careful editing.

A couple highlights for me:

The subtle yet deft way you showed Rapunzel's relationship with her "mother". She was a slightly different Rapunzel from the one in Tangled, a little more cowed, and yet I think more loyal and deeply loving toward Mother Gothel. It really struck me how passively she accepted the odd moment of cruelty, and I thought you portrayed fabulously how this is the only mother Rapunzel has known, and she thinks this is ordinary and even sort of okay.

The scene with Cassian. That was just... oh my. Really touched me. All in the feels.

Liesa and Zacharia. I rooted so hard for both of them. They're probably my favorite characters. I love how you chose to make them the ordinary couple of the original folktale; it made them that much more dear and human.

What I'd change:

Fanfiction is fanfiction. It's for fun. So as far as that goes, you can toss my ideas out the window and I won't bat an eye or complain to all my friends. XD But I will say, the whole romance part was rather meh for me. I would have liked to see their relationship build platonically for a bit before the tingles and glances started. What with all the other action going on around them, it felt as though there wasn't a chance for real love to develop.

Aside from the writing style/grammar knots mentioned above, that's pretty much it. Thanks for requesting a review, because I definitely enjoyed reading this story!

Rating
7/10

An engaging, fast-paced read, definitely on the upper level of fanfiction quality. Would recommend!