I Found the Perfect Novel for Frozen Fans (Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross review)

GENRE: YA Fantasy

LENGTH: 458 pages

PLOT

This standalone story follows Evadne and her sister Halcyon who is a fugitive from her former commander. When Halcyon is captured, Evadne offers to take part of her sister’s sentence.

CHARACTERS

If you loved the Disney movie Frozen because of the sisterly bond that Elsa and Anna shared, then this is the perfect book for you. Halcyon and Evadne’s relationship reminded me a lot of the Arendelle sisters.

Though Halcyon and Evadne are both envious of each other’s lives, that never interferes with their love for each other. They will defend and protect each other until the end. I appreciated how both had individual strengths – Halcyon being a foot solider and Evadne a mage’s scribe (someone who records a mage’s spells and assists them). It never felt like one was more valued than the other in their world.

Damon is a mage who Evadne comes to work for. He’s also her love interest. This novel is not a romantasy; the romance is a very small part of the story. Still, I think Evadne and Damon complement each other well. They have a gentle chemistry and compatibility rather than a fiery, consuming one.

Evadne has a weak ankle from a childhood incident, but never allows this to hold her back. It’s great to see that kind of disability representation. However, it does feel like Ross periodically forgot about the injury. That’s something I’m surprised her editor didn’t pick up on.

Something refreshing about the characters here is that they make rational choices. As a writer myself, I have been guilty of having my protagonists do dumb things for the sake of the plot. It was nice here, though, to see the characters actually being smart.

WRITING

The novel is told from the alternating 3^rd person perspectives of Evadne and Halcyon.

There are two forms of magic in this world. There are the mages who are of various strengths and who employ scribes as they cannot write with their dominant hands. When they do, the spells lift off the page. There are also relics left behind by the gods and these allow magicless people to gain magical abilities as well as elevated status within their world.

The one complaint I have about this world is that I wish we saw more of the stakes. Instead, we’re more so told what is happening/what the antagonist is doing. I love high stakes fantasies, but when the stakes are so removed I don’t feel the urgency as much.

Ross is one of my favorite YA fantasy novelist and one I admire as a YA fantasy writer. This is a standalone (something less common in the fantasy realm). Ross manages to balance character development, pacing, plot, and world building, all without having to sacrifice any of those things to make room for another. This novel is a perfect example of what a YA fantasy standalone should be and demonstrates what a masterful writer Ross is.

FINAL RATING

If you’re looking for a standalone fantasy and/or are a fan of the movie Frozen then I cannot recommend this book enough to you. I am slowly making my way through all of Ross’s novels and I have yet to find one that I didn’t rate highly. If you are looking for a standalone fantasy and have already read this one, then might I recommend Dreams Lie Beneath also by Ross? That was the first novel I read by her and it made me an immediate fan.

FINAL RATING: 4.25⭐️