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I like to get the bad points out of the way in reviews at first, and Frostburn has several. Recent WotC books have suffered from some appalling typos, but I couldn't see any in Frostburn. There were, however, several proofreading errors. Some spells (Death Hail, Heartfreeze, Ice Castle) are incomprehensible or incomplete, and sometimes terms are used without introduction (I presume everfrost is meant to be permafrost). Also, what's this °F everywhere? Like most of the world, I use metric, and while I'm fairly comfortable with using feet and pounds as part of the whole faux-mediaeval setting, I'm not keen on ice age barbarians being familiar with the works of 18th century German scientists. Frostburn neatly uses nine, game significant, temperature categories, but keeps switching between them and degrees. A single reference to these nine in Celsius and Fahrenheit would have been ideal, and then the book should just have used its own defined categories.
Other problems? Some of the stuff in here is just silly, like the Sugliin (a polearm made from deer horns doing 2d8 damage) and the Piercing Cold metamagic feat (makes a cold spell so cold it damages creatures immune to cold. Like ice elementals.)
No more complaints, what about the good stuff? Well, the book starts with a whole bunch of definitions, and expands on various hazards from the DMG. Cold weather clothing, glaciers, snow, wind chill, it's all in chapter one, and it's thorough and simple to use (until something says -10 °F instead of one category colder). There're some magical hazards and diseases, and an exhaustive list of frostfell terrains. Read chapter one and you're feeling ready to write a very cold adventure.
The book gets a bit more standard from then on. Chapter 2 is races, classes and feats. There're icy versions of dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings, and there are two new races, neanderthal and uldra. Neanderthals are large, dim cousins of the humans (as opposed to the small, brainy cousins of the humans they were in reality, but I'll let that pass). Uldra are small icy fey who have some interesting background. There're some new animal companion and familiar options, like lemming and penguin. Most of the feats aren't useful outside a frostfell area, but some are cleverly conceived and useful, like Arctic Priest (let's you spontaneously cast some survival type spells) and Winter's Champion (gives paladins extra spell choices - like ice storm). A so-so chapter; there's probably stuff you'll use.
Chapter 3 is prestige classes. Several NPC-only ones here, mainly because they lose their powers when it gets warm. Sample classes:
Disciple of Thrym: Thrym's the Frost Giant diety, but you don't have to be a Frost Giant to take this class. Their abilities are rather too good for a PC though - good combat, magic and defence. I think my PCs'll meeting one soon.
Primeval: A warrior who partly shapechanges to a dire animal or dinosaur.
Stormsinger: A bard prestige class who can use bardic music to control weather.
Chapter 4 is equipment. A new weapon class is introduced: Primitive exotic. You can use these without exotic weapon proficiency without the usual -4 penalty, but then you run the risk of breaking them. There's a useful little sidebar explaining what happens to potions and scrolls when it gets cold, and lots of arctic equipment. Strangely, you need the Balance skill to skate, but not to ski. It finishes with vehicles, including the possibly useful information that the DC modifier for sailing an iceberg is -20.
Chapter 5 is magic. Quite a few spells are here, and only a few reprints (Obedient Avalanche must be a contender for most-printed spell. This is the third book I've seen it in.) Highlights include Freeze Armour (a super Chill Metal which also locks the target into their armour), Fimbulwinter (go read your Norse myths), Column of Ice (my favourite. Sticks a creature on top of a column of ice. Or squidges it against the roof. Or acts as a barrier. I just love versatile spells.), Leomund's Tiny Igloo and Ice Assassin (like simulacrum, but designed to kill the original creature).
There's some interesting magic items as well. The Major Iceheart creates a permanent winter around it and has an impressive set of abilities. It ought to be a minor artifact. Ring of the White Wyrm lets you turn into a half-dragon. Skull Talismans are skulls you crush to release magic, like potions, but they don't freeze. They do offer some other differences to potions. You can try to break your opponent's talisman to gain its effects, and they can hold spells up to 9th level.
Chapter 6 is monsters. There's some Russian-inspired fey here (Domovoi, Rusalka and Vodyanoi, but no Leshy), and some polar and ice-age animals (the latter all under Dire Animal for some strange reason), some reprints from earlier editions (White Pudding, Frost Man, Yeti, Yuki Onna), and, for any Phillip Pullman fans, armoured bears (here called Urskans). Nothing especially inspiring.
Chapter 7 is called adventure sites. There're only two detailled here, but their coverage is extensive. Delzomen's Iceforge is a nice mini-module, but Icerazer: the Iceberg City offers the most potential. Tying in a lot of the earlier information about frostfell environments and deities, it's a cleverly written setting which can be extended to a full adventure or toned down (it's a place hostile to most adventurers) to use as a long term location. It would easily find a place in a planescape setting (which I have a feeling it was written for).
Last is the appendix. I said I wouldn't complain again, but who really wants 25 pages (c. 10% of the book) of encounter tables? You do get 4 cardboard floorplans as well, 3 usable in miniatures games.
I've given this 3 for style and substance. It's a narrowly targetted product, and you don't really need it, but there's stuff you'll use if you have it. To tell the truth, WotC could have pulled out the Icerazer section and turned it into a 48 page module with all the interesting bits in without too much problem. Most of the art is average, with a couple of good pieces (including the cover).
