Book Review: Frost by M.P. Kozlowsky

Frost
M.P. Kozlowsky
Scholastic Press, October 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-83191-8
Hardcover

She lives on the 23rd floor of a decaying building, dependent upon Romes, her broot, for companionship while Bunt, the robot who sometimes cedes control to the memory chip containing her father’s memories and identity, scavenges in an ever wider circle for food, fuel and other necessities.

This is Frost’s reality. She’s lived in the same room for as long as she can remember, with only vague memories of what life was like before disaster hit her world. When it did, utilities failed, buildings were destroyed, robots began going rogue and most human survivors turned into Eaters, flesh-devouring creatures who were so desperate for meat, they even devoured parts of themselves. Her own mother became one and was banished from the apartment after eating one of her husband’s fingers.

What little Frost knows about her current world comes from looking longingly toward Brooklyn where a mysterious blue light shines at night. At those times when her father takes over Bunt’s functions, she learns dribs and drabs, like the possibility that there’s a safe haven under the blue light. When Romes gets so weak he can no longer eat or stand, Frost is determined to get him to the mysterious blue haven in order to get him get well. Despite her father’s pleas to stay put, she gathers her courage and orders Bunt to help her get Romes down 23 flights of stairs and head off to find the help.

It’s an arduous journey, one that comes with multiple threats, attacks and an encounter with a father and son surviving in a jury-rigged play area in what’s called the Zone, an area where nature has reclaimed the terrain faster than others. Further along, she must deal with capture by John Lord’s men, a mix of humans and robots who are controlled by a mysterious individual who is rarely seen.

Frost is faced with her first contact with someone human who also happens to be her age, the deteriorating condition of her beloved pet and her growing horror as she learns just how bad conditions are for those under John Lord’s control and the gradual realization of her father’s role in the disaster that destroyed her world. These should be more than enough emotional bombshells for a teenager raised in isolation. However, there are more in store for Frost near the end of the book, the biggest dealing with who she is.

I enjoyed reading the book, but felt that it started to unravel in the last few chapters. This was in part due to the author trying to pack so much into the story line and because some things weren’t wrapped up well. For instance, it felt like things were left unfinished between Frost and Flynn, the boy she met in the Zone. Still a fast-paced and, for the most part, enjoyable read.

Reviewed by John R. Clark, MLIS, May 2017.