cover image The Art: Frost and Flame

The Art: Frost and Flame

David Newman, illustrated by Laura Juncker. Keating & Guthrie, $.99 e-book (72p) ISBN 978-1-63173-409-0

Kenton Fassler wakes up in a hospital bed with no idea how he got there. A doctor informs him that he's been in a coma for a week and was legally dead. As he's trying to process this information, a man bursts into his room and tells him that they have to escape. Beyonders, giant ice creatures bent on death and destruction, are chasing them. It turns out that dying and returning has turned Kenton into a sorcerer%E2%80%94and now he has to learn how to control his art to save his life. Newman's novella is fast paced and the Beyonders are truly terrifying. While readers will empathize with Kenton, they aren't given enough time to get a complete sense of his world in this slim volume. Still, there is enough here to hook readers on the book's basic premise and get them ready to read the next installment.