October 31, 2014

Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch


Title: Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1)
Author: Sara Raasch
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date: October 14th 2014
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

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A heartbroken girl. A fierce warrior. A hero in the making.

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

Sara Raasch’s debut fantasy is a lightning-fast tale of loyalty, love, and finding one’s destiny.

This book had been on my list of most anticipated books, I couldn´t wait to read it, primarily because the synopsis sounds great and because it is a epic fantasy book.
The world Primoria has 8 kingdoms, four known as the seasons or Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring these kingdoms retain the station according to their name all the time, ie. the Kingdom of Winter is always winter and snowy; and so according to their name/season, the other four kingdoms have different seasons and they pass or switch throw stations/season as is suppose to be. The world in which the story unfolds is complex and because I read it on my kindle, I struggled to locate or remember the other realms that are not seasons, so I recommend you read in physical book, if you want to be checking the map that comes at the beginning.

Sixteen years before the story begins the Kingdom of Spring declared war to the Kingdom of Winter and won; so only 25 winterians escaped, living as exiles/refugees and trying to regain the magic amulet that was taken from their Queen when she was murdered, among the refugees is the main character Meira, a 16 year old girl, that has been on the run since she was a baby and doesn´t know her country. From the once 25 refugees now only survive a few of them along with her, her best friend Mather, he´s the prince of Winter, an she has a crush on him but for the reason that he´s the future king, they had been told that they can not be more than friends.

Meira wishes to be an active member and help in the pursuit of the amulet (even though their leader does not want to involve her in such missions, because he doesn´t believe that she´s ready for the task) and the rescue of Winter prisoners living in the kingdom of Spring as slaves; something that I love about her character is that her weapon is a chakram, something I didn´t know about before I read the book but after some research I found out that is the object that appears on the cover.

Something I always dread in a book is the love triangle (because most of the time I end up rooting for the other one) and Snow Like Ashes it has a love triangle. On one hand we have Mather, the Winter prince and Meira´s best friend and her crush since forever, even though she knows she can not get anywhere because he´s royalty and she's just an orphan, so they could never end up been a couple. And there is Theron, another prince, he´s very cute, a nice person (totally swoon worthy), that wants to be something more or different that he already is (like Meira), he has artistic aspirations and is a god fighter. I liked both Theron and Mather, so I just have to wait to see what will happen in the following books.

Overall, I really liked this book, the world building is very interesting, very well written, with likable characters, with enough action, with a very interesting twist and a good ending. I´ll definitely read the subsequent books.

19 comments:

  1. OOoh nice review! I was seeing this one around a lot and I was do my best not to keep adding new books to my TBR Mountain of Doom...but I just failed. This sounds AWESOME! It's soooo going on my xmas list! Great review! I can't wait to read this one!

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  2. Like you, I'm not a big fan of love triangle but I'm so excited for this book! I'm really happy to hear that you loved the story and the world building! Cannot wait to start my own copy!

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  3. Glad you enjoyed this one. I liked the concept of the world but I felt like there wasn't much originality to appreciate in this novel. And it was predictable. :/

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  4. I cant believe ive had this on my ipad for 2 weeks and haven't read it yhet. your review just reminded to to put it at the top of the TBR. Thanks!
    ~Britt

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  5. I am getting ready to start this book, and the more reviews I read for it, the more my anticipation is rising. I have honestly not heard a single negative comment about the book, and that is so incredibly rare these days! Cannot wait to get started and I am going to go start right this minute!!

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  6. I totally didn't want there to be a love triangle, but the love triangle is believable, plus the world building was great. Meira definitely was a character that grew a lot in the first book. Wanting the second book to be out already. Awesome review.

    Grace @ Books of Love

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  7. When I just saw the cover and read the blurb, I wasn't super intrigued, but I keep seeing awesome reviews for this, so I was torn. This review pushed me over the edge. It is officially on my list. I'm not excited that there is another love triangle, but I've heard it isn't as irritating as they usually are. Fingers crossed!

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  8. Nice review! Amazing book & cover, I want to read it so much!

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  9. Enjoyed your review! I have had this book on my TBR list eversince I first saw it on the blogs.

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  10. Great review! This is also something on my TBR that I really want to be reading soon! I love a good novel that knows how to handle its world building, and this seems like a novel that does. Which makes me all the more eager :3

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  11. I want to read soon, I love the cover.....Nice review :D

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  12. The world building sounds awesome, but I'm afraid of the love triangle. I always pick the other guy too! Nice review! :)

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  13. Great review! I've read a lot of good reviews for Snow Like Ashes. Can't wait to get my hands on this book!

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  14. I'm pretty sick of the love triangle trope as well, but I'm really glad that you liked the other aspects of the book. I really can't wait for this one. Great review!

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  15. I heard this book is so amazing. I am glad you liked it. Cannot wait to read it. Great Review

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  16. Can't wait to get my hands on this, it's totally my kind of book. Hope I'll buy it soon and enjoy it for the holidays. :)

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  17. Just got my copy in the mail. Can't wait to read this.

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