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[eARC Review] Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Thursday, October 16, 2014



Title: Snow like Ashes
Author: Sara Raasch
Series: Snow Like Ashes #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Release Date: October 14th 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: eARC received from publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Purchase
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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.



I love fantasy novels, and i love when they surprise me. And Snow Like Ashes surprised e in a way that I did not expect. I loved the world that Sarah created, it as so different from any other one I have read in a long time. I loved that the realms were created based on season and months of the years. It made me smile every time someone said Januarri. I loved it! The magical element of this book was by far my favorite part. I am a sucker for everything magic and so I gravitated towards this book right away because of that. But what I found so surprising was how connected I became to the characters. Well really the main character Meira. I fell for her right away. I loved how spunky she was and how Independent she was from the society that told her how to behave. Reading a female character that it strong and independent is one thing, but reading one that follows that lead throughout the ENTIRE book is very rare. Meira is a great heroine for young girls reading YA today. She went against society even when it seemed like there was no hope for the future she wanted for herself.

I loved the way the story unfolded for us readers. There were so many different areas that the characters needed to explore in order to get the answers they needed. I really enjoyed all the characters in this book, they all had a purpose to the story and they all played their part and I loved that. I will say that I was not a fan of the love triangle that surfaced for a bit in the book because I didn't think it added anything to the story. Yes it created tension, and I love tension in any form, but for me I just didn't think it added anything of substance to the book and I would have liked the story without it. I will also admit that at certain times I felt the pacing to be a bit slow. There were a lot of descriptions and i felt myself wanting more character interactions.

Overall I really enjoyed Snow Like Ashes. It was a fantasy worthy of the name and I loved all the characters that we met and will meet over the course of this series. I loved the way this book ended, it was not a cliffhanger, but we were not given all of the answers. We were left wanting more but also satisfied with what we had just read. The perfect ending to the first book of a new fantasy series.

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