Raina and Wizard are back, racing across the Northern Waste to outrun ice pirates as they follow a distress call to an isolated community that just might hold the answers to the mystery of Wizard’s missing-and-presumed-dead, now-possibly-alive sister, Tatiana. But instead of answers, all they find are buried secrets and a truckload of trouble.For those of you who’ve been missing the Northern … Northern Waste, FROZEN is a brand new novella that takes place between the events of DRIVEN and HIDDEN. It can be read as a stand-alone.
Warning: FROZEN includes non-stop action, Reavers, snowscooters, plasguns, frigid temperatures, rebels, a heroine who’s a blond tsunami with a backbone of pure steel, and a smart, hot hero who has a little difficulty with emotion.
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Second in the Northern Waste series, and a return to Raina and Wizard, the fascinating characters of DRIVEN. Silver handles action and tender moments with equal skill. This is one of my favorite series.
4.5 stars. FROZEN is a great sequel novella based on bk#1 DRIVEN (which I loved). The setting is Gripping. Brutal. Life or death. Survival at its Most Basic.
MY RATING GUIDE: (1= dnf/What was that?; 2= Nope, not for me; 3= Yes, it was Ok; 4= I LIKED IT A LOT! 5= A favorite, IT WAS GREAT!!)
Raina Bowen/FMC was once an independent trucker working and living in the deadly, bitter cold dystopian Siberian Northern Wasteland alone. The harsh man who fathered and raised her was killed less than a year ago, in a brief moment sacrificing his life for hers when they were attacked by Ice Pirates. Sam had never been a loving father but he’d taught her everything she knew; everything she required to survive in their brutal and dangerous world of scarcity where people killed for food, housing, and sometimes – simply for pleasure. Raina learned from her father’s hard hand as a child that only the quick, the smart, the prepared, and the lucky survived. He had taught her to trust no one; so she had always been a loner. But she was now part of a rebel group.
Wizard/MMC is also a survivor – a tall, well built, exceedingly fast, muscular, lethal man geo-engineered before birth and then raised by computers. Wizard comprehends words absolutely literally and (until recently) had been exceptionally good at compartmentalizing his emotions. For the past few months however Raina and Wizard have begun melding into a unified team of two. They met through brutal circumstances (DRIVEN, #1) shortly after Raina’s father died. While Raina had been surviving on her own, together they were a stronger, more lethal, better defensive unit. In addition, Wizard had the strength and loyalty of the rebel camp that Raina lacked alone.
FROZEN: A NORTHERN WASTE, #2 – a Dystopian short novella by Eve Silver. In FROZEN, Wizard and Raina separate from their rebel group when it is decided that Wizard and Raina will respond to a distress call as the others flee to a new location. As luck would have it, from the onset Wizard and Raina are chased by groups of thieving pirates/Reavers who kill and rape anyone unable to protect themselves. Both Wizard and Raina are seriously injured in the fierce battle that ensues and whether or not either will survive is questionable. I live in a frozen tundra 5-6 mos of the year. It is not too dissimilar to the Northern Wasteland setting portrayed in Silver’s Northern Wasteland series. There are wicked ways to die in the cold and the imagery in FROZEN moves my imagination to those very places. FROZEN is a quick reading suspense-filled, edge of your seat thriller in which the brutal environment is as present and biting as a character. FROZEN kept my attention fixed, turning pages quickly from beginning until the end. This was an especially refreshing read when presently it’s nearly a balmy 100F outside.
I very much enjoyed FROZEN but, IMO, FROZEN would be best enjoyed by readers who have previously read DRIVEN, #1 first. The 3rd title in the NORTHERN WASTE series, HIDDEN, features Wizard’s missing younger sister, Tatiana, and Raina and Wizard’s quest to locate her. I plan to read it soon.
Readers who enjoy fast, action-driven plots with gripping suspense created by chilling settings and lethal antagonists in a (lightly) dystopian setting, or readers who enjoy suspense-thriller novels may find DRIVEN and FROZEN as captivating as I did. The setting in both reminded me of WHITEOUT by Ariana Anders (although the latter isn’t dystopian) – bitter, intensely & realistically cold. WHITEOUT being another gripping read.
*READER CAUTIONS –
VIOLENCE – PG/PG-13. Dystopian thriller with predatory antagonists; thankfully, not depicted particularly dark (which I avoid).
PROFANITY – Yes. Strong language used rarely.
SEXUAL SITUATIONS – Yes. Detailed on-scene intimacy occurs between the MCs on 2 occasions (door open).
*Due to the aforementioned, YA readers and those who prefer Clean fiction may choose to look elsewhere.