Frost by M.P. Kozlowsky - Review

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Frost knows full well why she's spent her entire life cramped in a tiny apartment and why she's never met another human aside from her father. She even understands why he expressly forbids her to go out and find medicine for her dying pet. After all, their city is a ruined wasteland and is a hunting ground for Eaters and robots gone rogue - any other human caught outside is fair game. But, her father isn't exactly her father, not anymore. Technically, his memories are giving the orders from their old robot servant that he uploaded his consciousness into as he was dying - and now that tech is malfunctioning so sometimes her father fades away and the robot's personality rises back to the surface. When Frost learns that there may be medicine across the city that could save her pet, she's willing to do anything she can to rescue the only living thing in her life. Hopefully, her first journey outside of books and windows won't be her only journey.

Frost by M.P. Kozlowsky is a YA post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel is a twisty ride featuring humans vs. robots vs. cannibals conflict in a ruined cityscape which explores what it means to be human. I took note of this novel as soon as I saw it around the blogosphere months ago and I'm glad I finally got the chance to pick it up. It's easily one of my favorite post-apocalyptic YA novels that I've read this year. The novel really left me in suspense and kept me turning the pages as quickly as I could. I just had to know more - about the characters, their world, everything. There's plenty of action and twists and turns to keep me invested. Frost is a very intriguing character. For a good deal of the story, she is the only human (a few of others are introduced later) against a backdrop of a ruined city, robots in various malfunctioning states, and what they call Eaters. We're with her near constantly, so her struggle to stay human in a crumbling world and do everything she can to ensure the survival of herself and her loved ones is right at the forefront of the story.

In regards to the humans vs. robots vs. cannibals, these elements of the story are fascinating. Of course, I found myself most interested when it came to the topic of the robots, especially considering the situation with Frost's father. Without giving away spoilers, when Frost was younger he uploaded his consciousness into a chip that was inserted into their robot servant. For all intents and purposes, he now has the body of the robot. That is up until a malfunction causes the robot to rise to the surface and causes her father to disappear sometimes. We get to see other robots who are attempting an uprising against humans - to see what their idea of humanity is, is pretty fascinating. In regards to the cannibals, Frost refers to them as Eaters - at first I was thinking that they're strictly zombies, but I wouldn't quite call that the case. I'd say that they're definitely more along the lines of cannibals instead. Either way, Frost finds herself right in the middle of what is still basically a robot uprising and zombie apocalypse.

Overall, Frost is a twisty and entertaining new YA novel that's a must read for fans of YA sci-fi dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels. It's also a novel that provides an intriguing commentary on what it means to be human over the course of a character's journey that simply begins as a mission to find medicine for an ailing pet. As much as I enjoyed the novel, I wish I knew right now if it's just going to be a standalone or if it's going to be the first in a series. I want to know if we're going to get a bigger picture of this ruined world or not, because I want to see these characters again. If you enjoy James Dashner and Moira Young with a hint of Isaac Asimov, I have a feeling you'll want to be introduced to M.P. Kozlowsky's Frost.

I read this novel from November 30 - December 1, 2016 and my review is also on Goodreads.