Review: A bit on the dark side, but a good read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2011
Frozen Prospects follows Va'del in his quest to find acceptance.  It is set high in the mountains where all the communities are based in large cave systems and it is death to wander outside unprepared.  Born from a lowlander mother and orphaned at a young age is enough to make him an outcast and a target for the bullies in his community.  Constantly beaten by the headman's son Jas'per he once again awakens to find himself in the healing area being taken care of by Sara.  While in recovery he learns that some of the mysterious Guadel have arrived to test the youngsters of his community to see if they will be taken away to the Capital.  When Va'del is tested he is given the choice to stay where he is and continue his miserable existence of getting beaten up and not having anyone willing to take him as an apprentice, or he can accompany the Guadel for training and possibly become one of them.Getting into anymore of the story would start to give spoilers so I'll just say that when he arrives at the Capital under less than ideal circumstances his life becomes just as miserable as it was and he is constantly thinking about suicide to end it all.  There were times that I really was not a big fan of Va'del as a character, but he really grows as the story develops and at the end I was left wanting to see more books about him.  I really enjoyed a lot of the support characters, especially I'rone.I look forward to the next book in the series, but in the meantime I will check out the other work by Dean Murray.