Frozen By Melissa De La Cruz Putnam Juvenile. 2013. 336 pgs. Young Adult This new series from Melissa de la Cruz's new series starts off dystopian, goes into a seafaring adventure, and ends with a bit of fantastical dragon magic. It makes for a really entertaining read and I ended it not wanting to wait for the next one. It also helped that the frozen city it takes place in is New Vegas, and my hometown is old Vegas. The author does a great job of building a creative and dark world in this new Ice Age and forming a new government, a group of violent mercenaries, and a world of magic all in the same book. Nat deals black jack in one of the New Vegas casinos and believes she can find a place where water is still clean, trash isn't piked everywhere, and there is sun. She hires a mercenary, Ryan Wesson to take her there. The characters that are introduced as part of his crew and later as additions to the group are memorable and bring their own clever story line to each encounter. The story is really one adventure to find the Blue and with some romance and difficult choices to make, Nat is a likable main character that I can't wait to see more of. EW