Snow Like Ashes

I have been hearing so much about this book and the sequel, Ice Like Fire, that I decided to pick it up at the library. I am soooooooo glad that I did.

The story follows, Meira, a Winterian refugee who was one of the few that escaped the King of Spring’s attack. Meira is an orphan and has been raised by William. Meira has called him “Sir” since the time she made the mistake of calling him father.

I liked the fiercely headstrong Meira we got to know as the book progressed. She is certainly no girl content to let her life be dictated by the men. Instead she goes after what she wants and finds a way to do whatever she sets her mind to. She has so much spunk.

Among the other refugees is Mather, the son of the last Queen of Winter. He is the reason that the Winterian refugees keep fighting. They believe that someday they will be able to free the imprisoned Winterians and return to their own country. Until then, the refugees live on the outskirts of civilization.

The setting of the story is awesome. There are eight countries. Four of them are called the Seasons. The Seasons are each influenced in a different way by the magic that lies in a chasm under the mountains to the south. The other four countries are called the Rhythm Kingdoms. I have always thought that a setting where the seasons are perpetual in different areas would be amazing and that is what this book gives us. Sadly, we don’t seen enough of the Seasons. :-(

I really enjoyed this read even though I called the ending by the time I got to the second chapter. It was just a gut feeling that I had and it turned out to be right. That won’t stop me from reading the next novel in the series and didn’t bother me too much since it is the way the ending came about that was exciting.

This review first appeared at Orandi et Legendi ([...]).

Snow Like Ashes has one of the SLOWEST starts to a book I have ever encountered. It took me days to get to 100 pages. Not only was it slow, but it was extremely confusing. I still don’t understand all of the Seasons/Rhythms stuff, and I stopped trying to understand it. Once you give up on needing to make sense of why these kingdoms are split the way they are, then the story gets easier to handle.

In fact, the story gets AWESOME when Theon is introduced. I don’t know what it was about arriving in a new kingdom, but the story took off from that point forward. Theon might be the best character in this whole book (and Meira could be a close second). I seriously liked him, and I'm not entirely sure why.

Snow Like Ashes is a high fantasy novel lacking magic. The magic is there, it’s just hidden (until the end). There is plenty of action and epic good vs. evil battles to keep you reading. The love triangle is actually believable too (maybe), which is a plus. I usually hate love triangles but this one worked. I’m glad to have found another book where the female protagonist is strong and capable. She does not wait around for others to save her. She handles her business!

By the time I finished the book, I was hooked. I must continue the series to see what happens next. In fact, I think I can say I ended up enjoying this one as much as I've enjoyed the books by Morgan Rhodes (Falling Kingdoms series, A Book of Spirit and Thieves). If you are a fan of fantasy and action, this is a must read for you.

This review and more can be found at The Heart of a Book Blogger (http://theheartofabookblogger.com).

Meira is one of eight Winterian refugees. When Spring attacked Winter, she was only an infant. She was orphaned and raised along with Winter’s future king, Mather. Mather is Meira’s best friend as well as the boy she happens to be in love with, but will never be able to act on these feelings. All Meira wants to do is help her kingdom, but Sir will not allow her to participate in any important missions. This all changes when they get word where half of the missing locket, and Mather convinces Sir to let her go. She rescues the piece, but not without attracting soldiers to their hiding place. The Winterians are forced to seek refuge in Cordell, but Cordell will not help without a solid alliance through marriage with Meira and Prince Theron. Meira would do anything to save her kingdom, but this? It’s something she never imagined she would have to do. With Spring’s army hunting them down and Cordell’s demands, Meira has a huge decision on her hands.

I loved Snow Like Ashes so much and it has quickly found a place on my list of favorites. Meira is such a great character, not to mention a badass solider, and I look forward to continuing her story in the sequel, Ice Like Fire. I loved the world that Sara Raasch has created with the eight kingdoms—four Seasons and four Rhythms— and its magic system. This is a promising series and I definitely recommend it for fans of Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series.

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch is the story of a young refugee finding herself and going through hell to help her scattered kingdom. Snow Like Ashes has one of the coolest fantasy settings I’ve read where there are four king(queen)doms that are forever in one of the seasons and four king(queen)doms that experience all four seasons normally. The magic in the world of Snow Like Ashes is lost except for eight royal conduits, objects that the royal line can channel magic through to help and control their peoples. How can four of the regions be forever in one season you ask? Because they are closest to the source of the world’s magic, that’s why :D. But I said the magic was lost you ask? It is! Under a mountain of stone that is ;-). As our characters learn quite well, just because you know where something is, doesn’t mean you can get to it, mwahahahaha.
Note: I received an advanced copy of Snow Like Ashes from the publisher. Some things may have changed in the final version.

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (Snow Like Ashes #1)
Published by Balzer & Bray on Oct. 14, 2014
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Length: 432 pages
How I got my copy: Edelweiss

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.

Strengths:
I had no idea going in that Snow Like Ashes had regions called Seasons that were forever stuck in one season and I loved it! Each is called, reasonably, by the name of the season it is covered by and our main character is from the realm of Winter. I also loved the added details of how peoples from each of the Seasons were also changed by the magic controlling their land and adapted traditions and physically to the different climates. The people of Winter have thicker skin and a layer of essentially blubber in order to be comfortable in the cooler temperatures, though this then means they are ridiculously uncomfortable in any heat at all. They also all have completely white hair and a tradition of eating frozen berries to celebrate events :).
The main character of Snow Like Ashes, Meira, goes through some really intense character development since she starts off rather immature and naive of a lot of the world and becomes very strong because of everything she has to survive.
The romances of Snow Like Ashes will definitely annoy some readers, however I was honestly convinced of why each of them existed and when I really thought about it, I suspect I would have felt the same way. That’s right, there is a love triangle, but again, it is actually a fairly reasonable thing and the characters involved handle it believably.
Snow Like Ashes gets pretty darn gritty for a book with a queendom of Winter ;-). I enjoy slightly darker YA fantasy once in a while since it adds a real sense of danger. By the climax of Snow Like Ashes I had no idea who was going to make it and in what condition, love that!

Weaknesses:
Snow Like Ashes does suffer from a fair amount of info-dumping. I generally didn’t mind too much because I wanted to know more about the world, but it would have been nice if the information had been worked in a bit more smoothly.
The big revelation in Snow Like Ashes was way too convenient for me and falls into some pretty common fantasy tropes. I can’t really discuss more without spoilers obviously, but I just found myself disappointed with how things went towards the end.
Some of the things that Meira figures out about the magic and the history of her world didn’t really seem logical with previous events in the story. Again, I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but I found myself thinking a bit too hard about how everything could fit together into a cohesive whole.
I kept going back and forth on the love triangle between thinking it would go away and fearing its return. I ended up fearing its return in book two.
The names of the capitals of the Seasons are close to our names of months but not quite and it drove me batty trying to pronounce them correctly in my head. I really would have preferred them either be exactly our months or not alike at all.

Summary:
Snow Like Ashes is a great start to a promising new fantasy series and I can’t wait for the sequel. While there were things that annoyed me at times, I’m very hopeful about the second book in the series and can see a lot of YA fantasy readers falling in love with this world and Meira. I’ll definitely be collecting the entire series for the gorgeous covers if nothing else ;-).

Listened to instead of read. An EXPLOSIVE book that could even stand alone in all its glory. WAY BETTER TO LISTEN TO THANKS TO THE INCREDIBLE NARRATOR. I can't even get words around how amazing this story is. The plot, the romance, the family, the kingdom, the people, the fight scenes (EPIC AND DETAILED), were all high caliber. You are instantly sucked into this world where evil must be overcome, and a young woman with incredible potential must rise to the challenge. This does not read as a romance, it reads first and secondly as a fantasy and war story. You will not regret this buy.

This book had has really good. It had a lot of world building which caused me to take a while to get into the story but once I did I was hooked. The ending plot twist to me was a little obvious but I did enjoy the ride getting to it.

This book takes place in a world called Primoria and in this world there are 8 lands four are seasons Summer, Winter, Autumn, and Spring. The other four are known as Rhythms which means they have all of the seasons like us. There are eight different rulers who hold a special conduit ( kind of like a talisman) a locket, dagger, staff, ring, cufflink, crown and a ax that contains magic that only their bloodline can control. These conduit in each land varies from only a female can use the magic or a male. I know it's kind of confusing but once you get past the world building the real story begins.

The book follows a young named Meira who is a orphaned refugee raised by a winterian general. They are in the middle of a war with Spring who 17 years ago came into their homelands destroying there lands, people and queen. Only 25 escape that night one of which was the future King Mather. They are trying to survive and win back their home back from spring.

Meria was a very complex character who was a strong fighter, to be honest I didn't much care for a first but she grows a lot in the book that I truly begin to love her and understand her more and more as the story progressed. Mather is the future king of Winter and I truly loved his character. The was extremely great at hiding his emotions and was truly a great friend to Meria. They were kind of like 2 halves of the same coin where she lacked he had.

This book was suppose to be a stand alone but it was announce it would become a trilogy and I'm really excited to get to continue this story in Ice Like Fire that is currently out right now. I will be picking it up hopefully soon.

MY THOUGHTS: Snow Like Ashes was one of my most anticipated reads for 2014. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to it last year, and I also didn’t get it for Christmas – even though it was on my Wishlist. So, when I was recently at the library and saw a copy sitting there on the shelf, my greedy little hand grabbed it so fast I swear there were flames!

World Building
Snow Like Ashes follows the story of Meira, a sixteen-year-old girl who is one of only a handful of refugees from the kingdom of Winter. In this world, there are eight kingdoms – 4 Season Kingdoms (Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn) and 4 Rhythm Kingdoms (Cordell is the one that plays a major part in this book). Spring is ruled by Angra, the major villain in this series. He has taken over Winter and enslaved all of the Winterians in slave labor camps within the kingdom.
A majority of the first few chapters is spent on world-building and back story. We know that deep in the Klaryn Mountains is the source of the magic that exists in this world; however, the entry into the caverns has been lost over the centuries. Each of the rulers of the kingdoms has a conduit (be it jewelry, a weapon, etc.) that contains the magic, and they can only use it for the good of their kingdom. It also passes down by bloodline, and gender. The conduit for Winter – a locket – has been confiscated by Angra, and the sixteen years since Winter fell have been spent trying to recover the locket, which of course, Angra has split into two.
So the book begins with a mission to steal back the first half of the locket, and sets into motion events that will carry us through the rest of the book.
Plot & Pacing
We are thrown immediately into action, and for the most part there really isn’t much lag in this book – it’s pretty must fast paced until the end. I can’t remember many slow parts, or parts where I was bored. I also found Raasch’s writing to be enjoyable. Unfortunately, though, I did have trouble connecting with Meira in the beginning. I have to admit first though, that I was distracted at the start and may have not given the book the full attention it deserved. I found myself having to reread some paragraphs. Such is life with a one year old *insert ‘wah-wah’ face*.

Characters & Development
The major characters of this book are:
Meira – the main character; Winterian Refugee
Mather – the heir to Winter; son of Queen Hannah and future King of Winter.
Sir – Winterian General; leader of the refugees
Theron – Prince of Cordell
Angra – King of Spring
Herod – Angra’s Second in Command
Noam – King of Cordell
The Refugees – Alyson (Sir’s Wife), Finn, Greer, Henn, Dendera
Queen Hannah – Queen of Winter when Winter fell
Nessa, Conall, and Garrigan – Winterian slaves in Spring labor camp
I think each character had their own personalities and desires that were conveyed well; however, I felt as though the main character, Meira, was lacking. I was able to connect more with Theron, whom I dare say is my newest fictional crush! Together, I believe Meira and Theron can become a force to reckon with. They each have characteristics that the other lacks, so as one they will be unstoppable. Nessa, a winterian currently enslaved in Spring’s labor camp with her two older brothers was also one of my favorite characters. Her hope is what keeps her going, that someone will free them and lead them back to a free Winter. I also feel as though a “good” character at some point may turn “evil”. I can’t explain it, just a hunch. It is also interesting to see how the alliance between Winter and Cordell holds up. Not in the aspects of Meira and Theron, but King Noam.
Writing
I found myself enjoying Raasch’s writing style, and I found her ability to tell Winter’s story pleasing. However I did have trouble connecting with Meira’s character in that I couldn’t “read” her. I knew what she wanted and how she felt, but I was having a lot of trouble getting inside of her head. I truly felt that Winter’s story was being told, not necessarily Meira’s. I believe this will change in the second book – at least I’m hoping for it. I truly want to know more of Meira.
I also felt that when it came to the world-building, Raasch did a little too much telling, and not enough letting my mind “show” me what the world looked like. It caused me too much confusion, and feel that it was rehashed too many times what the world was like. Especially since the major kingdoms are season kingdoms and reflect the characteristics of their said season. Regardless, I really enjoy the world she has created and I definitely look forward to spending more time here once the second book in the series is released.
It doesn’t happen very often, but I found myself very intrigued by the villain in this story. Angra has been able to take in dark matter/magic “decay” and make himself a sort of “conduit” and that is how he carries out his evil deeds. He is a dark, evil character that I’m so interested in that I cannot WAIT to see what happens in the rest of the series. If Meira can become this amazing, kick-ass heroine that I think she has the potential to be, it could make for an interesting fight between the two.

Review Summary
A less than impressive introduction to this fantasy series, but enough excitement, action, intrigue and potential to make me excited for book two.
Would I Recommend This Book? Yes. If you love YA Fantasy with magical themes and evil villains with a heroine who has tons of potential. There is lots of action and adventure; magic and romance mingled in to keep anyone fully engaged.

Sara has created a rather interesting a new world with this series. There are eight kingdoms (four seasons and four rhythms) that are ruled by monarchies that possess magic; some kingdoms it is the female line and in others it is the male. Winter, in a perpetual state of Winter (and the crazy people love the cold), is one of those kingdoms where magic runs through the female line, which is a bit tricky considering that were invaded by Spring and had their queen killed. Bad luck on her having a son, too. Even worse luck is that their conduit for magic was broken in half by Spring's King Angra. Things are not looking good for our Winterians and the odds are stacked against them.

Having escaped when they were babies Meira and Mather (heir to the Winter throne) have grown up as refugees alongside the 23 other people, now down to roughly 10, who escaped Winter when Spring invaded. Meira wants to fight and to help bring her kingdom back to its former glory, but at the same time is kept behind by Sir who treats her like child despite her attempts to just be good enough for him. I love the relationship between Meira and Sir. It's very love-hate and while she cannot stand the way he treats her, when s*** hits the fan she is the one he turns to. The ones she trusts to keep her safe and make sense of the world.

She is really a truly strong and realistic character. She constantly doubts herself, despite her skill and knowledge, and actually has a normal range of feelings. She dreams of a day when she can marry Mather, despite knowing he will have to marry royalty once they reclaim Winter, and fights with these feelings. She doesn't want to love him because they're future together is doomed, but at the same time knows she cannot help it. Mather, who returns her feelings, struggles with the knowledge that even if they reclaim Winter from Spring since he is male he cannot harness the magic of his heritage and is powerful until he has a daughter and she becomes age.

At the same time, Sara doesn't allow this somewhat doomed relationship to dominate her book. It's a subplot. She allows it to be important and integral to the story, but it is not the story. She puts her focus into Meira, into the refugees effort to reclaim their home, and the development of the plot as a whole.

These characters have a lot of obstacles to overcome and there are a lot to details to keep straight and remember. Despite all this, Sara keeps everything straight and doesn't overwhelm her readers with too much detail all at once, but just enough that we are informed and not drowning in details and facts.

I've stated before that I'm not a huge high fantasy person, but if I encounter more books like Snow Like Ashes, I can definitely be turned when it comes to this genre. As it stands, I'm counting down the days until Ice Like Fire is released.

Original Review Link: http://asdreamsaremade.com/2015/06/book-tuesday-snow-like-ashes/

Ok, I have to preface this review with the fact that the blurb pretty much covers the first few chapters and then SO MUCH happens afterwards–all good things though.

Meira is one of 8 survivors of Winter, a Kingdom that was overthrown by Angra, the King of Spring. She trains under Sir, Winter’s general, to be the best warrior for Winter, all while fighting her love for her best friend and future king, Mather. She forces her way onto an assignment to retrieve the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic; an assignment that starts an avalanche of events that spiral out of Meira’s control. She comes to realize her true destiny and what she must do to save Winter.

I really liked this one guys. Meira is an awesome main character who kicks butt (with a chakra!) and wants to make a difference for her country. She can be a bit whiny at times, but understandably so with everybody making decisions about her life around her. The ending really makes you understand why though. Sir and Mather are very opaque, but deep. You never know what they’re thinking–until something drastic happens. Theron. LOVE YOU THERON.

Here’s the only issue I had with this book, and some of you might not even think it’s an issue. There was so much happening all at once and really fast!

You never had a breather. There was one major thing happening right after the other. I just wanted to be like, "Whoa, calm down."

I get it’s a YA book and things usually progress very quickly, but I was a bit overwhelmed! Again, is this really a problem to have? I dunno. Definitely, not a BAD one.

There is also that dreaded love triangle thing and we all know how I feel about those...

BUT it ended up not being so much of a usual love triangle that I was all "Yay!"

Now, Ms. Raasch left it off that there might be some more drama involving said “triangle” in future books, but I think there was a clear distinction as to which guy to go with.

The ending was a bit predictable, but still fantastic. It was also one of those rare first trilogy books that leaves you with a satisfying ending, but still has you chomping at the bits for the next installment. I will definitely be picking up it’s sequel, because this was an awesome start to a trilogy!

Book Info:

Rating (out of 5): 5
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Series: Snow Like Ashes
Series Volume: 1
Profanity: Mild
Violence: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild

Review:

I have been looking forward to reading Snow Like Ashes for a while now. From its beautiful cover to its fascinating summary I knew I was going to be hooked from the moment I picked it up.

Raised in a land not her own Meira has spent her entire life as a refugee. She is a citizen of Winter, a kingdom that was destroyed by Spring soon after she was born. Now she and her band of refugees are trying to retrieve Winter's broken conduit and bring both magic and hope back to Winter.

The story opens with a brave attempt at recovering half of Winter's conduit, a locket. From their Meira and her friends are sent on a journey through the kingdoms, both Season and Rhythm in an attempt to gain allies and stop Spring's reign of terror. They are faced with intrigue, war, betrayal, and marriage proposals. Eventually Meria finds herself in a place she never imagined she'd be, with the growing suspicion that she's not all she's been told she is.

Meria's story is one that I was really worried would turn out to be cliché and typical. I am pleased to report that it was anything but. Sara Raasch has created a unique and beautiful world filled with one of the most interesting magic systems I've seen in a while. I loved the way that the rulers of each kingdom empowered and strengthened their subjects with the help of their conduits. And I found it really interesting how that same power could be turned for evil.

The romance was really well done in this story as well. No matter what side your on, the romance felt sweet and grew naturally. There was no insta-love in this book which I was immensely grateful for. There was even a love triangle that I didn't hate. Sara Raasch did a great job balancing the romantic and story aspects in this book.

I loved every bit of Snow Like Ashes, and I cannot wait for the next book to be out so I can find out what happens next to Meira and her fantastic group of allies. If you like a good fantasy with excellent romance and a fascinating magic system then Snow Like Ashes is the book for you.

This was awesome. I mean that very calmly and happily. The first maybe quarter of this was a struggle since i couldn’t keep my attention on the story long enough but after that first little hump things became awesome. Be patient with this story because it does take time to build the world, the intrigue, the drama. It takes a little longer than just any pop up YA story. I was surprised that i liked this to be honest. I had expected the hype to be a let down but i really did enjoy this story and who wouldn’t! There’s magic, Seasonal kingdoms, unrelenting need to survive, determination in the face of destruction, bravery, love. There is so much love and not romantically, though there is some of that, but I mean there is a loyalty there that I for one won’t ever understand but appreciate. I liked this story it was pretty awesome. Ive already ordered the second book from the library.

This book is too hard for me to simply slap a star rating on.
I'm going to switch things up for this review.

The Good:

The action.
There is plenty of action in this book to pull you in. It's well written and it really adds to the feel of the story.

The characters.
You won't find any Mary Sues in Snow Like Ashes. These characters are flawed and lovable in their own ways. Meira especially stands out as a strong main character. Some people may not agree with me because she had her moments. But I'd rather have a character who has very real flaws than a Mary Sue. I enjoyed her and her strength a lot. She makes for the perfect female lead in a high fantasy!

The Bad:

The love triangle.
Yep. You read that right. There's a budding love triangle. Just not my thing, ya'll.

The In-between:

The world building.
Okay. Let me say this up front: Sara Raasch has crafted an amazing world full of history for this series. It's truly amazing and entertaining to learn about and submerse yourself in. But. The amount of info dumping to educate the reader about said world was tiring. At times, it felt like a constant thing. Ultimately, it really soured my reading experience with this book. There was a lot of potential with the world, but the way it was introduced to the reader left me with a headache.

**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review with no compensation.

Title: Snow Like Ashes
Author: Sara Raasc
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Well, where do I even start with this book? I have been on the waiting for this book since December and it is now May. With that long of a waiting list, I had very, very high expectations and I ended up being let down. The first quarter or so of the book is just simply, eh, very boring. It just wasn't there for me and I almost stopped reading the book. There is so much explaining and not really any action. Plus, there is just nothing new. A warring nation and a destroyed kingdom. Um...I believe we heard this storyline before...

So, really the first half of the book was pointless and boring. It really did cause me to resent the book and I almost did not finish it. Now, the second half of the book was really good and that made me understand why people heavily praised this book. I just wish that the first half of it had been like the second half-we would really had something then! The writing was amazing and the action was so well done! Why couldn't Sara Raasc written the entire story like that?! Come on!

I really did like the characters. They were, for the most part, really well written and rounded. I also enjoyed how well written the villains were. I also really liked how the side characters were given a voice and were not just simply there to fill the plot. All of the characters had depth and were now the shallow crap that young adult seems to have. My favourite character was probably Theron. He was everything that a prince should be. Meria was also a very nicely written character. She is a real girl, with real problems. She knows who she is and she is not going to change that to fight some role.

Now, let's talk about the love triangle. I really was hoping to see some more development with that. It did seem like that Sara Raasc was going to go somewhere with it early one, but as the book went it on, it seemed like to me that the love triangle was just kind of forgotten about. I don't know. I was just expecting there to be more development with that.

This is not a bad book, but the beginning is what killed this book for me. It was to the point where I thought I wasn't going to be able to finish it. It was so boring and pointless. There was just too much information for my liking.

I just have a feeling that this is not going to be one of those stories that sticks with me. It's just not there. Maybe as time goes on the series will get better, but I'm not sure if I will be reading the rest of the books.

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch is her debut fantasy novel about courage, determination and a mission of 8 Winterians to free their captured slaves and rebuild their kingdom. Meira, the main character and one of the surviving remnant, is a 16-yr-old orphan girl who wants to be a soldier and contribute to help Winter. This looks like an in surmountable task especially since Winter has lost its magic conduit. The secrets, betrayal and lies all create a very good story line.

This book sailed along for me. Once Meira decides to do whatever it takes to help Winter even if it’s not the way she wants, the book took off. I liked the fighting scenes best. For me, it was really hard to pull for Winter because I don’t like Winter. The kingdoms were named for the four seasons and then four other kingdoms were rhythms which I really didn’t understand. The magical part didn’t make much sense to me either, but it did make things interesting. I really liked the ending and think this is a very good debut novel. (4 stars)

If I could give this book seven stars I would. It was beautifully written with a story that keeps you wanting to read more. The characters are rich. It is full of twists and turns, adventure, love, and tension. It has a wonderful, satisfying ending, which is something I truly appreciate. Add that Sara's talented editor, Kristin Rens helped mold her book and Kristin's team at Balzer & Bray put the time in to provide impeccable editing and you have seven stars. If you liked The Red Queen, An Ember in the Ashes, or Diabolic, you will love this book. For all of you who may have missed reading this book when it first came out, like I did, don't miss it now. There is a bright side to coming to the table late - the rest of the series are written, so you can keep reading and continue to enjoy the characters and their journey. I'm on to ICE LIKE FIRE.

I loved the world building in this book! A thousand years ago the kingdoms created eight magic conduits for the four Season kingdoms (they are permanently stuck in one season) and the four Rhythm kingdoms. The conduits only work for the royal family and are either female or male line based. With these conduits they can make crops grow, make people better soldiers, keep their people healthy, or in the case of Spring force their people to obey.

The pacing is very even, skipping over any everyday boring details and getting to the good stuff. I never knew where the plot was going to go next, though I did guess one of the major twists from the beginning.

There were some good action scenes and I liked that Meira was a good fighter, but she wasn’t automatically good at everything. She does some death defying stunts over rooftops and climbing up castles. (Some of which were a little unbelievable, but just so cool!)

The characters are solid and well created, but there was nothing really outstanding about them. They have potential, but with so much going on there wasn’t time for more development. Meira evolves over the course of the book (through a lot of introspection, that girl thinks way too much) so I’m hoping that she’ll be a great character next book.

The romance wasn’t too quick and I felt like I understood it. The next book will tell where it’s going since it was just getting started here. There is a love triangle, but it isn’t one of those annoying ones. (Where one girl leads two men on) It was political since the Winterians need to use marriages to gain allies. Also both of them are nice guys, so I don’t care which she ends up with. (Yay I can’t choose wrong!) Though I do like one more than the other, if only slightly.

The Bad:

There were a couple of times where Meira was getting all lovey-dovey when she should have been running for her life. Yes, I know, she’s always running for her life, but priorities girl!

Point of View: First (Meira)

Predictability: 2 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

My Rating: 9/10 Stars

My Summary:

Sixteen years ago, the kingdom of Spring attacked the land of Winter. Only twenty-five Winterians managed to escape, the rest were killed or enslaved. Their queen was killed and their locket conduit, the source of their magic, broken. The Winter refugees have been in hiding, trying to can get the two pieces of the locket back, so that they might stand a chance at getting their kingdom back.

Meira’s an orphan who grew up among the Winter refugees. She struggles to prove herself as a solider and though she knows nothing can ever happen between them, she has feelings for Winter’s young king.

Sara Raasch makes one heck of a stunning and captivating debut with Snow Like Ashes. I seriously couldn’t get enough of this book!

This book really surprised me. I didn’t expect to love it so much, not for any particular reason, but it’s just that even though I love fantasy, I don’t LOVE love it, you know? Well, I’m so glad I finally got around to reading this book because it was so amazing and is easily one of my all-time favorites. This book reminded me a lot of The Dragon King Chronicles by Ellen Oh in that I loved the world and its characters, and I felt so much joy and excitement while reading it. There was just something about Raasch’s writing that had me so engrossed in the book, I was hanging on every word. Her style is exactly what I like, plenty of action scenes to keep me entertained, with mixes of information at key points, and a good deal of romance right when you need it to help stir the emotions. I really liked the world that she created, having kingdoms representing different seasons and rhythms and there was such a wonderful sense of magic and awe that has me smiling each time I think about this world. I want to know about it all!

My favorite aspect of the book was Meira. She has massive potential to become one of my favorite heroines. She’s surrounded by men, most of whom treat her like she can’t measure up, so she does her best to show them all that she’s just as good, if not better, than them all. She’s all about proving that she can be an integral part in the Winterian’s fight against the Spring kingdom. She’s smart, capable, fierce, strong-willed, and she’s got a bit of snark and wit about her, too. I loved that she was able to hold her own among all the men and she had a good sense of family and comradery. Of course, she’s a bit stubborn at times and has a lot to learn about what’s really going on, but I liked watching her grow and discover everything. Her mindset was on point and I couldn’t help but want to know her more. While I will say the mystery surrounding Meira is pretty predictable, it in no way made the story less enjoyable. In fact, it made me eager to see how the characters would discover the truth and how it would change their lives.

As for the romance, we’ve got Mather, the one Meira grew up with and has always had feelings for. And we’ve got Theron, an important figure in Cardell, another kingdom in this world, who Meira spends a lot of time with while in Cardell. At first I really liked Mather. He was a bit on the brooding side and he’s not one who really knows how to express his feelings, but that’s just his way. However, I never felt like I got to really know him and there weren’t nearly enough interactions between him and Meira to have me rooting for him in any real way. Theron, on the other hand, I grew to really love. Not only is he a genuinely good guy, but I really enjoyed watching his relationship with Meira play out and they seemed to just click so much better than her and Mather. Each person has a good deal of potential and I’m excited to see how Raasch develops each relationship and who Meira will actually choose in the end.

There is just so much more to this book than I can do justice without spoiling it. A big thing that really sold this book for me was that it was able to capture my attention from the very beginning. Usually with fantasy books, especially the first in a series, the pacing is really slow, there’s a ton of info dumping in the beginning, and things don’t pick up until halfway through. I’ve gotten used to that formula in this genre. Snow Like Ashes, however, is the exception. Raasch throws you right into the heart of the characters and this world and she chose to scatter her world-building around that. I’m all for books that draw you in from the first few pages, and Snow Like Ashes does just that. I really can’t speak enough praise for this book and I am dying to read the next one. If there’s one fantasy book you read this year, let it be this one!

Plus, did you see that cover?! So gorgeous!

I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but I know it blew all my expectations out in the snow. Sara Raasch created a new fantasy series that had such a beautiful, intricate world. I was held captive by the history of the Seasons, especially the Winter kingdom. So much had happened to them but they still held on to the sliver of hope that they could get their kingdom back.

Readers are thrown right into action, Meira, our main character, is sparring with the to-be king, Mather. As soldiers for their kingdom, Meira has only ever wanted to be important to her people, to have a purpose other then an orphaned peasant. So she trains and trains until she is seen as an equal. She wants her leader, Sir, to look at her with respect and that she has values to their mission.

Meira didn't start out as my favorite character, she was whinny and very self centered in the beginning, but as the novel went on, Meira grew on me. She might have been a solider but she was still a teenage girl who had feelings and put trust in a group of people who she would do anything for. But when those feelings and trust get put to the test with an alliance in hopes for the aid for their kingdom, Meira feels lost.

Her whole life has been a battle. She doesn't know another life other then a solider.

I felt a shift in Meira they arrived in the Rhythm kingdom of Cordell when she meets Prince Theron. He was like a kindred spirit. Someone I feel Meira really needs in her life. Not just because he's hot as heck, because he is, but I feel like he understands her on a level when her best friend Mather doesn't. Theron is such a passionate character, he cares deeply for so many things and he's a skilled warrior.

Safe to say, he was my favorite character. Partially because he's hot ;)

Being in a huge fantasy kick right now, I devoured this book. I couldn't flip the pages fast enough. There was mystery, action, and secrets weaved within secrets. This book is perfect if you're looking for complex worlds, royals, badass female leads, and big revelations. Be warned, the ending will have you screaming for the sequel.

"Even the strongest blizzard starts with a single snowflake."

Oh my goodness, why didn't I read this book sooner? I really should have read it months ago, but I wasn't really feeling the Fantasy genre, so I was holding off until I was ready for it. I really wanted to love this book because the cover is gorgeous, and I wanted the insides to match the gorgeousness of the outside.

I was not disappointed. At. All.

Meira was a total bad ass and I loved her as a character. She was well rounded and so awesome. I loved her relationships with Sir and Mather especially. They were both protective of her, possibly too protective. They refused to allow her to fight in battle, or to do anything physical like that. Meira and Mather have an undeniable connection from the beginning and for the first 125 pages, I adored Mather, and I wanted Mather for my own.

Until we met Prince Theron. Sa-woon!

He was hot, and quickly turned into my favorite guy in the entire story. There was much more to him and why Meira was meeting him, than initially met the eye. Meira seemed to warm to him pretty quickly, which surprised me big time. I didn't expect the connection to be what it was, so I was pleasantly surprised when truths were revealed.

"We have all the time you desire, Meira. I will not rush you."

Holy hell, he's totally swoony and I love that about him. He's more than just a prince. He's got a good heart, and he's essentially trapped in Cordell, forced to do what his father, King Noam, demands.

"Don't you want more than this?"
"Every day of my life."

It was sad because Theron wanted so much more than to be king. He wanted to explore his artsy side. His artistic abilities included poetry and painting, but as future king, he was unable to explore that side of him.

On the other side of the triangle, we had Mather, who was also struggling with everything. He was in love with Meira, but according to Sir, Winter had to come first. Before his own happiness, even. That was rough on both Meira and Mather. They were attracted to each other, but nothing could happen between them.

King Noam was a complex character and I was never sure what he wanted or who, if anyone, he was loyal to. Watching him was fascinating because I never knew what to expect.

The world was described so vividly that I could see it as I read it. That excites me. Being able to visualize what I'm reading about makes a book even better in my eyes. I was worried that this world wouldn't be described well, but I am so glad I didn't need to worry. It was beautifully & clearly described.

Oh, and I want a chakram

There are so many other things I want to talk about, but I cannot mention it. It's too spoilery and I don't want to ruin it for others. Yes, you definitely need to read this glorious fantasy novel. I loved it, and will happily give it 5 stars.

I very nearly gave up on this book, and I am glad that I didn't.

I enjoyed the first 15-20% of this book and I loved the last 20-25%, but the middle section was ROUGH. I would have loved to give this one 4 stars, and I nearly did based on how I was feeling once I was finished. However, I quickly recalled the trudging necessary to finish and determined anything more than 3 stars would be inappropriate.

This story is set in a world in which there are four regions that are "seasons" and four that are "rhythms". Several years before the start of the book, the season Spring and its allies attacked and defeated Winter, enslaving all of those captured. There were 25 people that escaped Winter. Among them were Mather the future King of Winter, and Meira our narrator. There is magic in the world and it can be wielded by the ruler of each region using a conduit (an object infused with magic), but Winter's conduit (a two-piece locket) had been taken during its fall. This story is about the remaining survivors' search for this conduit so that they might have a chance to reclaim their kingdom and free their people.

The world building in this book was not great. I'm so glad there was a map or I would have consistently been even more confused. I will say that Raasch did a great job of building each individual area once the characters were in them, I could vividly picture them. But the whole world overall? Those descriptions were a hot mess. You have a somewhat complicated geographic area and the author felt the need to constantly explain things about other areas that did not have any pertinent bearing on the story. If you provide your readers a map, which I always love, you don't need to go into painstaking detail about how the different areas are connected and their entrances, and so on. It was just too much information. It was boring. Raasch could have EASILY shaved at least 75 pages off of this book and worked harder to make sure what remained was clear and concise.

I really disliked the love triangle in this story. It seemed really unnecessary, and frankly the last thing these characters should be worried about. I really disliked this aspect of the story. And not just because I can't stand Mather.

Sir and Theron made this book for me. Along with the Winterian slaves that we finally get to see. I'll be honest, I did not give a poop about these people. We kept hearing about them and knew that they were enslaved, but it didn't really matter to me until we actually got to see some of them and the horrible conditions in which they had been forced to live for so long. That was when this really picked up for me and became a story that I actually wanted to know what happened next.

I will read the next book because I want to see what happens with these characters. I hope it is a significant improvement over this one.

Sara Raasch makes one heck of a stunning and captivating debut with Snow Like Ashes. I seriously couldn’t get enough of this book!

This book really surprised me. I didn’t expect to love it so much, not for any particular reason, but it’s just that even though I love fantasy, I don’t LOVE love it, you know? Well, I’m so glad I finally got around to reading this book because it was so amazing and is easily one of my all-time favorites. This book reminded me a lot of The Dragon King Chronicles by Ellen Oh in that I loved the world and its characters, and I felt so much joy and excitement while reading it. There was just something about Raasch’s writing that had me so engrossed in the book, I was hanging on every word. Her style is exactly what I like, plenty of action scenes to keep me entertained, with mixes of information at key points, and a good deal of romance right when you need it to help stir the emotions. I really liked the world that she created, having kingdoms representing different seasons and rhythms and there was such a wonderful sense of magic and awe that has me smiling each time I think about this world. I want to know about it all!

My favorite aspect of the book was Meira. She has massive potential to become one of my favorite heroines. She’s surrounded by men, most of whom treat her like she can’t measure up, so she does her best to show them all that she’s just as good, if not better, than them all. She’s all about proving that she can be an integral part in the Winterian’s fight against the Spring kingdom. She’s smart, capable, fierce, strong-willed, and she’s got a bit of snark and wit about her, too. I loved that she was able to hold her own among all the men and she had a good sense of family and comradery. Of course, she’s a bit stubborn at times and has a lot to learn about what’s really going on, but I liked watching her grow and discover everything. Her mindset was on point and I couldn’t help but want to know her more. While I will say the mystery surrounding Meira is pretty predictable, it in no way made the story less enjoyable. In fact, it made me eager to see how the characters would discover the truth and how it would change their lives.

As for the romance, we’ve got Mather, the one Meira grew up with and has always had feelings for. And we’ve got Theron, an important figure in Cardell, another kingdom in this world, who Meira spends a lot of time with while in Cardell. At first I really liked Mather. He was a bit on the brooding side and he’s not one who really knows how to express his feelings, but that’s just his way. However, I never felt like I got to really know him and there weren’t nearly enough interactions between him and Meira to have me rooting for him in any real way. Theron, on the other hand, I grew to really love. Not only is he a genuinely good guy, but I really enjoyed watching his relationship with Meira play out and they seemed to just click so much better than her and Mather. Each person has a good deal of potential and I’m excited to see how Raasch develops each relationship and who Meira will actually choose in the end.

There is just so much more to this book than I can do justice without spoiling it. A big thing that really sold this book for me was that it was able to capture my attention from the very beginning. Usually with fantasy books, especially the first in a series, the pacing is really slow, there’s a ton of info dumping in the beginning, and things don’t pick up until halfway through. I’ve gotten used to that formula in this genre. Snow Like Ashes, however, is the exception. Raasch throws you right into the heart of the characters and this world and she chose to scatter her world-building around that. I’m all for books that draw you in from the first few pages, and Snow Like Ashes does just that. I really can’t speak enough praise for this book and I am dying to read the next one. If there’s one fantasy book you read this year, let it be this one!

Plus, did you see that cover?! So gorgeous!

I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but I know it blew all my expectations out in the snow. Sara Raasch created a new fantasy series that had such a beautiful, intricate world. I was held captive by the history of the Seasons, especially the Winter kingdom. So much had happened to them but they still held on to the sliver of hope that they could get their kingdom back.

Readers are thrown right into action, Meira, our main character, is sparring with the to-be king, Mather. As soldiers for their kingdom, Meira has only ever wanted to be important to her people, to have a purpose other then an orphaned peasant. So she trains and trains until she is seen as an equal. She wants her leader, Sir, to look at her with respect and that she has values to their mission.

Meira didn't start out as my favorite character, she was whinny and very self centered in the beginning, but as the novel went on, Meira grew on me. She might have been a solider but she was still a teenage girl who had feelings and put trust in a group of people who she would do anything for. But when those feelings and trust get put to the test with an alliance in hopes for the aid for their kingdom, Meira feels lost.

Her whole life has been a battle. She doesn't know another life other then a solider.

I felt a shift in Meira they arrived in the Rhythm kingdom of Cordell when she meets Prince Theron. He was like a kindred spirit. Someone I feel Meira really needs in her life. Not just because he's hot as heck, because he is, but I feel like he understands her on a level when her best friend Mather doesn't. Theron is such a passionate character, he cares deeply for so many things and he's a skilled warrior.

Safe to say, he was my favorite character. Partially because he's hot ;)

Being in a huge fantasy kick right now, I devoured this book. I couldn't flip the pages fast enough. There was mystery, action, and secrets weaved within secrets. This book is perfect if you're looking for complex worlds, royals, badass female leads, and big revelations. Be warned, the ending will have you screaming for the sequel.

"Even the strongest blizzard starts with a single snowflake."

Oh my goodness, why didn't I read this book sooner? I really should have read it months ago, but I wasn't really feeling the Fantasy genre, so I was holding off until I was ready for it. I really wanted to love this book because the cover is gorgeous, and I wanted the insides to match the gorgeousness of the outside.

I was not disappointed. At. All.

Meira was a total bad ass and I loved her as a character. She was well rounded and so awesome. I loved her relationships with Sir and Mather especially. They were both protective of her, possibly too protective. They refused to allow her to fight in battle, or to do anything physical like that. Meira and Mather have an undeniable connection from the beginning and for the first 125 pages, I adored Mather, and I wanted Mather for my own.

Until we met Prince Theron. Sa-woon!

He was hot, and quickly turned into my favorite guy in the entire story. There was much more to him and why Meira was meeting him, than initially met the eye. Meira seemed to warm to him pretty quickly, which surprised me big time. I didn't expect the connection to be what it was, so I was pleasantly surprised when truths were revealed.

"We have all the time you desire, Meira. I will not rush you."

Holy hell, he's totally swoony and I love that about him. He's more than just a prince. He's got a good heart, and he's essentially trapped in Cordell, forced to do what his father, King Noam, demands.

"Don't you want more than this?"
"Every day of my life."

It was sad because Theron wanted so much more than to be king. He wanted to explore his artsy side. His artistic abilities included poetry and painting, but as future king, he was unable to explore that side of him.

On the other side of the triangle, we had Mather, who was also struggling with everything. He was in love with Meira, but according to Sir, Winter had to come first. Before his own happiness, even. That was rough on both Meira and Mather. They were attracted to each other, but nothing could happen between them.

King Noam was a complex character and I was never sure what he wanted or who, if anyone, he was loyal to. Watching him was fascinating because I never knew what to expect.

The world was described so vividly that I could see it as I read it. That excites me. Being able to visualize what I'm reading about makes a book even better in my eyes. I was worried that this world wouldn't be described well, but I am so glad I didn't need to worry. It was beautifully & clearly described.

Oh, and I want a chakram

There are so many other things I want to talk about, but I cannot mention it. It's too spoilery and I don't want to ruin it for others. Yes, you definitely need to read this glorious fantasy novel. I loved it, and will happily give it 5 stars.

I very nearly gave up on this book, and I am glad that I didn't.

I enjoyed the first 15-20% of this book and I loved the last 20-25%, but the middle section was ROUGH. I would have loved to give this one 4 stars, and I nearly did based on how I was feeling once I was finished. However, I quickly recalled the trudging necessary to finish and determined anything more than 3 stars would be inappropriate.

This story is set in a world in which there are four regions that are "seasons" and four that are "rhythms". Several years before the start of the book, the season Spring and its allies attacked and defeated Winter, enslaving all of those captured. There were 25 people that escaped Winter. Among them were Mather the future King of Winter, and Meira our narrator. There is magic in the world and it can be wielded by the ruler of each region using a conduit (an object infused with magic), but Winter's conduit (a two-piece locket) had been taken during its fall. This story is about the remaining survivors' search for this conduit so that they might have a chance to reclaim their kingdom and free their people.

The world building in this book was not great. I'm so glad there was a map or I would have consistently been even more confused. I will say that Raasch did a great job of building each individual area once the characters were in them, I could vividly picture them. But the whole world overall? Those descriptions were a hot mess. You have a somewhat complicated geographic area and the author felt the need to constantly explain things about other areas that did not have any pertinent bearing on the story. If you provide your readers a map, which I always love, you don't need to go into painstaking detail about how the different areas are connected and their entrances, and so on. It was just too much information. It was boring. Raasch could have EASILY shaved at least 75 pages off of this book and worked harder to make sure what remained was clear and concise.

I really disliked the love triangle in this story. It seemed really unnecessary, and frankly the last thing these characters should be worried about. I really disliked this aspect of the story. And not just because I can't stand Mather.

Sir and Theron made this book for me. Along with the Winterian slaves that we finally get to see. I'll be honest, I did not give a poop about these people. We kept hearing about them and knew that they were enslaved, but it didn't really matter to me until we actually got to see some of them and the horrible conditions in which they had been forced to live for so long. That was when this really picked up for me and became a story that I actually wanted to know what happened next.

I will read the next book because I want to see what happens with these characters. I hope it is a significant improvement over this one.

I was one of the lucky few who got to read Sara Raasch's debut novel, Snow Like Ashes, before today. Having grown up a fan of adult fantasy novels, such as Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan), Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind), and Katherine Kurtz (Deryni series), honestly I was a little nervous about jumping into a more Young Adult fantasy storyline. I didn't want to read a story that focused only on the love story or grazed over details to help make the world come to life.
My fears quickly dissapeeared, as I was immediately drawn to Snow Like Ashes and her main character, Meira. Her voice and personality seems to just jump right off the page and you can't help but continue reading, eager for more. As a male reader, I didn't have any problems seeing the world and challenges from Meira's point of view. Do not be dissuaded, guys. Meira doesn't dote over dresses and flowers, but rather her kick ass chakhram and unique fighting tactics.
Sara manages to pull a variety of characters together by uniting them against the evil oppressive kingdom of Spring. There are many elements in her book that remind me of Game of Thrones. Now I know everyone rolls their eyes when a book is compared to GOT, but I assure you that Sara does give an in-depth and imperfect dark picture of the kingdoms and their politcal desires. The political struggles and other kingdoms make the world feel large, while you're still kept close to Meira, Mather, and the other winterians in their quest to locate their conduit.
I would highly reccomend Snow like Ashes to anyone who is looking for a fast-paced, dark at times, and well thought out Fantasy story. It's but the first of a trilogy, and I am eager to read on to see what happens next!

What a fantastic read! I want to read the next book. NOW! And not because of an evil cliffy, but because the story is that enticing! I did not want to be torn out of this world so soon.

This book starts off with young Meira and her camp of Winterian refugees trying to save their kingdom but with so few of them left, what chance do they stand. The odds are severely against them; a pipe dream really. Collect their kingdoms 2 part magical conduit, free all their people and overthrow the entire Spring kingdom. they had an entire kingdom once but Spring's king slaughtered their queen and enslaved all but 25 that escaped. Baby Meira was one of them, an orphan girl saved by the man she simply calls Sir (which drove me batty!) along with Winterian's heir, Mather.. Over the past 16 years, their numbers have dwindled to a grand total of 8. Eight! How can 8 people possibly free a country? The are exiled and despised in just about all other countries.

I am not sure what I think of the way the countries are done. We have 4 countries that are each based off a season and are aptly named (Spring, Winter, Fall, Summer) and four countries that have all for seasons throughout the year. If you are from a country, you have a very distinct look that identifies your country (such as Winterians have very pale skin and white hair). They was it does seems like something I would expect more in a middle grade novel with the names.

Yet while we have simple kingdoms, we get a story filled with rich characters. Every single one has a very distinct personality. Even the smaller characters that barely have two lines. Each response, expression and reaction is very individualistic and realistic.

Meira was very well done. I read this book with a group of others and a few thought she was whiny but I thought her reactions to things were perfect for her age. She is 16 and teenagers are prone to hormonal outbursts at times and can think in a bit self-centered way at times. Most 16 year olds I know of have been a LOT worse. This occasional flaw in her just made her that more of a believable character. As an orphan she is constantly trying to prove herself to the only parental figure she has- Sir. Yet she feels she is always falling short. Plus I liked the Xena aspect with her chakram style and use. Always fun when someone uses a rare weapon of choice.

Sir's character is very well done. The gruff, caring father figure figure, trying so hard to not let that side show as he needs everyone to stay strong to save Winter.

Then there are the guys that compete for Meira's attention. Mather-Winter's future kind is compassionate, a good fighter and shows so much without meaning to it (and how Meira often misses it is amusing!). And then there is Theron. Theron is a prince who just wants to be free to be himself yet he is an amazing leader and warm person. While I loved them both, right now Theron is winning in my opinion. He just seems the stronger character and more likely to take risks to do what is right (just like Meira). While this is a love-triangle it does not overwhelm the story. It plays along nicely, especially with how it comes to be.

There is a lot of deciding of others fates in this book, and turn about is apparently fair play! One person's actions have consequences for others and Sara Raasch does a wonderful job showing how each interaction and choice plays out.

The magic is mostly subtle but gives it just enough enough to make this a beautiful fantasy.

The world is rich and the story has a near-perfect pace in my opinion. While it is a longer book by some standards, it is about on par with many fantasy novels. Yet I didn't feel the length the way I do with some books. It just keeps moving along. It draws you in and keeps you involved with it's characters and world. I hated putting this book down for work or sleep. I just wanted to keep reading, to learn the endgame.

The ending is well done. Closing off the current arc enough to give us a breather and leaving a sense of fulfillment, with just enough room to leave me craving the next book.

This book earns ALMOST 4.5 stars from me. It has earned a permanent home on my shelves and I will be sure to get the next book when it comes out.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair, honest review. All opinions expressed are strictly my own.*

Meira wants desperately just once for Sir to recognize her talents and send her out on a mission to help recover half of the missing locket that will restore the kingdom of Winter. For the last sixteen years, Meira has lived and trained among a small group of Winter refugees. Their kingdom was overtaken by the cruel ruler of Spring, their magic locket broken, their Queen killed, and the survivors enslaved in work camps. It is up to Meira and the few who escaped to try and retrieve Winter's magical locket and save Winter. Unfortunately, the task is more herculean than anyone imagined. Can Winter be restored?
What I Liked:
*Color me impressed. Snow Like Ashes is a strong YA fantasy debut. It has plenty of action, terrific characters, good world building and an entertaining story line. If you are hungering for a thrilling fantasy adventure, don't hesitate, grab this one.
*When reading a fantasy, I always expect solid world building. While it took me a tiny bit of time to fully fall into this world and grasp everything, once I did, I was impressed. Meira lives in a world divided into eight kingdoms consisting of four seasons and four rhythms. Each kingdom is ruled by a queen or king who possesses a magical conduit which allows them to use magic to help their kingdom. I liked the idea of the kingdoms based on the Seasons, and I was intrigued by the creativity of the world building.
*This book possesses a strong cast characters. Meira is a strong, female protagonist who is impressive. She is a fierce fighter and extremely stubborn. I loved her never say die attitude and how she fought no matter how dire her circumstances were. Granted, she is young and a bit impetuous, so there were a few times when I thought she was a bit too rash, but by the end, I was pleased with her growth. I think she will continue to mature and be a terrific protagonist from here on out. There were many secondary characters such as Mather, Sir, Neesha and Theron who fit beautifully with Meira. The villains are particularly cruel and vile, and they made me shudder. All in all, I thought the characters were well developed and interesting.
*The story line is jam packed full of action. There are so many thrilling and dangerous scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat, especially during the latter half of the book. If you like books with lots of action and danger, you will love this one.
*There are hints of romance early on in the story, and even the possibility of a love triangle. However, as the book progresses, the romance is pushed out of the picture, and the book becomes more about Meira rising up and reaching her true potential. The romance wasn't clearly developed, but I am sure it will solidify in the next book. I appreciated that the romance didn't overtake the plot and the story became more about Meira.
*I was pleased that the book didn't end with a nasty cliffhanger. The book comes to a satisfactory close, while leaving some lingering questions. The fight is certainly not over for Meira and the rest of the Winterians. I am eager to continue the adventure.
And The Not So Much:
*For those who aren't particularly patient when it comes to world building, this one might be a bit trying. It took me some time to settle in, but once I grasped it all I was pleased. My one qualm was that I am still am not clear on the Rhythm Kingdoms. I need a bit more clarification on the Rhythms.
*While I admired Meira's fierceness and tenacity, she isn't exactly level headed. The first half of the book, she is a bit immature, and I struggled a bit with the way she jumped into dangerous situations and spoke too quickly, luckily by the end, she grows and matures. She is a character who requires patience.
*There were hints of a love triangle, but it didn't fully develop. I think there is one boy who is right for Meira, and I have my fingers crossed that a love triangle isn't in the works.
Snow Like Ashes is a solid beginning to what I hope will be another fantastic YA fantasy series. If you like strong, driven female protagonists, solid world building and lots of action, danger as well as evil villains, this is a series you must try. I was most impressed with Ms. Raasch's debut, and I will be eagerly looking forward to the next book.

Favorite Quotations:
"That's why literature is so fascinating. It's always up for interpretation, and could be a hundred different things to a hundred different people. It's never the same thing twice."

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my won and I was not compensated for this review.
Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.

I went back and forth on this book. I liked parts of (including the last three chapters or so) and parts of it really annoyed me. Obviously, the author has a great imagination and seamlessly creates a world that is both believable and magical. She's also really good at writing battle scenes/action scenes.

But for me, the problems made it hard for me to really get into the story. The world is poorly explained....there are Seasons (countries?) and Rythms (also countries?) and then there's other areas (like the Plaines). I get the four seasons (each of them only has weather coordinating to the season they're named after...snow in Winter, hot in Summer) but the rest is just a wash...I'm not even sure what the point of the others is, other than to be confusing.

Then there's the magic...each 'Royal' has a conduit that has magic. But at one time there were lots of Conduits....and there's also a great chasm of magic that's been lost. Why is this so complicated? And what happens when the conduit breaks? Also complicated (not giving details here to avoid spoilers).

Then there's ALL the characters. there are some decent main characters (Meira, Mather, Sir, Hannah, Theron) but the rest are not fleshed out and seem to serve no purpose. But they're all named and all appear randomly throughout the story.

And Meira is all over the place...she's a lost little girl/a warrior/a queen in training/a POW/a leader of the rebellion and so on. While I understand that this story is her 'Quest' to figure out who she is, there's just a lot of back and forth with not very much character growth.

And there's also a dreaded love triangle and the back and forth (do I love him or don't I) that's ALWAYS associated with this annoying plot feature.

I get that this is likely the first in a series (you get a conclusion but there are still some obvious things that need to be wrapped up) and some of these problems could be fixed in later books. But I don't think I'll be reading any future books.

Amanda @ Of Spectacles and Books

Why I chose this book:
A friend highly recommended this book to me. I originally got it as an eARC and then received it as a Secret Santa gift, while I read it as an eARC, I DNF’d it about 20% through, but after a friend, whom I trust greatly where books are concerned, recommended I keep at it, I continued, and in the end I’m glad I did.

My Bookish Likes:
I really liked the premise of the story. The kingdom of Winter trying to reclaim their people and homeland, while trying to get their magic conduit back makes for an overall exciting read. The concept of it all was awesome, and I really thought it was rich and complex.

My Bookish Mehs:
However, that complex concept was poorly conveyed to the reader. The first 28% of the book was full of long and monotonous info dumps. I seriously thought I would DNF it about three times, but only continued because my friend promised I would regret it later if I stopped. Also, Raasch’s info-dumps were needlessly complex. Yes, Raasch has a pretty complex world makeup, but I don’t think it was so complex as to need absolutely every one of those info-dumps. She could have spaced them out more fluidly, but she didn’t, and that made it hard to keep with it.

Apparently Raasch created the idea for this book when she was very young. I’m talking elementary school, young. Knowing that while reading, I could actually see that. This is a story that has been percolating for a while, almost to the point where she had so much world building and was so excited about it all that she couldn’t help but dump it all on the reader in one fail swoop. She easily could have separated bits of vital information throughout the novel where it was needed and throughout her next installments, but in trying to create a complex elaborate world, she confused me in the beginning with the names (which I generally am fine with) and places and kings and queens that almost didn’t even matter at that point in the book.

My Bookish Loves:
Theron. I LOVED that guy. Mather just was not doing it for me. He was nice and all, but I really like Theron as the love interest. I’m very leery about how the next book will be in terms of the romance, because I really don’t want it to turn out to be a terribly executed love triangle.

I also really really liked her time with a certain group of people come the end of the book. I don’t want to say exactly who these people are because I don’t want to spoil anything, but those few chapters really brought on another dimension to the story. And it was done very well. In my opinion, it was probably the best part of the book.

Final Thoughts:
I was glad I finished this book. It’s most definitely a debut novel, but it had its merits enough to warrant pushing through the info-dumping exposition.

I gave this book 3.5-4 stars (I can’t make up my mind)on my Goodreads.

check out more of my reviews at ofspectaclesandbooks.com

"That's what all of us do: keep trying to live, to survive, to get our kingdom back no matter what."

I'm not the biggest fantasy reader but as my reading tastes expand I find myself coming back to this genre again and again. I am a big fan of world-building and Snow Like Ashes is definitely one of the more complex ones. So complex that I probably should have taken notes while reading because there is a LOT of info-dumping that goes on here. The only Kingdoms I can recall from reading are Winter, Autumn, Spring and one called Cordell. I loved the idea of Kingdoms centered around the seasons. Especially when the physical characteristics are distinguished; Winterians have pale skin, light blue eyes and white hair while people from Spring have green eyes and slightly less pale skin, etc. How cool is that? Magic is also a component of the world-building and again, while there is a lot going on, it really adds a layer to the story that I'm hoping to learn more about as the series continues.
"We moved to Autumn eight years ago, a boy-prince pretending to be a solider and a girl-orphan who wanted nothing more than to pretend right alongside him."

While the world-building is a little heavy handed at times the strength of this novel lies in the heroine Meira and the struggles she goes through as a commoner, as a Winterian, and as a female. First she is in love with her best friend, Mather, who happens to be the King of Winter, therefore making any love-match between a commoner and royalty impossible. Second, as one of only 8 survivors of the Winter Kingdom, Meira and her people are constantly on the run trying to evade capture. Lastly, the gender politics and inequalities have Meira not only trying to prove her worth as a fighter despite her sex but dealing with the limited choices she has regarding her future. I loved that even thought she literally has every chance she can to just try to survive and deal with these issues, she instead fights back and wants more. Meira is quite simply a badass. There were a few moments that actually left me in tears because of how much I hurt for her character. There is a particular relationship between Meira and Sir (the man that basically raised her) that is especially touching.
"Someday we will be more than words in the dark."

In the midst of all the action there is a love triangle brewing Meira, Mather, and Prince Theron (I lurve him!). I know some people take issue with love triangles but I loved it. Especially because Meira isn't the type of girl to settle for just anyone. She knows her worth and what she deserves and it leaves all three in an interesting predicament that has potential for epic romance in the next book. I kept thinking of Graceling by Kristin Cashore when I read this because it's one of those books that has romance as an addition to the plot and not the center focus and I liked that. Overall Snow Like Ashes had a little bit of everything. It wasn't perfect but it has the potential to be.

3.5* review

This book was just okay. I'm in a real fantasy YA place right now, and this book was well reviewed, so I tried it. It wasn't great. The plot was thin, the characters relatively undeveloped, the surprise was not at all surprising, and the world building seemed lazy. The main city of the Winter Court was called Januari, or something. I didn't hate it but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

For context, my favorite fantasy novels lately have been Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass and Court of Thorn and Roses/ Mist and Fury series, pretty much everything by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Words of Radiance, Elantris, etc.), and I just finished Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkowski, which was fantastic.

I have read a lot of fantasy books and Snow Like Ashes stands high among them. This book brings us into a world full of season kingdoms and the rhythm kingdoms. The world building was incredible. It was a magical read with adventure at every turn of the page. With the first turn of the page, we're swept into a world of magic, deception, wars, refugees and one young girl who just wants to make a difference.

Our main character is Meira, who's an orphan from the defeated kingdom of Winter. Winter had fallen to the Spring King and Meira and the only 23 refugees of Winter, among them the prince, are on the run. Winterians are pale, with white hair and blue eyes. They hate the heat, which is a given since their kingdom is full of snow and ice. King Angra of the Spring Kingdom hates them and he won't be appeased until all Winterians are defeated and enslaved. There could be a way to bring back Winter and save Meira's people. King Angra had stolen Winter's magic by breaking a locket held by the Queen. Each kingdom has a conduit, a magical object that draws magic from an orb deep within the Klaryn Mountains. These conduits can only be used by the kings and queens of the kingdoms. Winter is ruled by a queen and the female line can only use their conduit. The locket was broken in halves and Angra changes is location constantly. Mather's is the heir to Winter but can't use the conduit if they even find it because he's male.

Sir, the captain and head of the refugees, trains Meira and Mather for the upcoming wars and whatever it will take to get the conduit back. Missions are sent out leaving Meira always behind. Until on day she persuade Sir to let her go and she happens to find a half of the Queen's locket. Meira uses a weapon, a chakram, and boy is she skilled to use it. She even outshines Xena!

When Meira returns everyone is happy but Sir, who remains cold as ever. Spring scouts had followed her and they must retreat to the Rhythm kingdom Cordell before they are fully attacked. Once in Cordell Meira is treated like royalty and immediately knows something is wrong. Sir and Mather have given her as a bride to the prince of Cordell, Theron. Now Meira is caught in a love triangle with two princes. And here is where the action intensifies because King Noam is working with Spring, that is until Angra marches on Cordell. Many seem like they won't survive and revelations are revealed. Meira has been having dreams of the night the Queen died and the conduit broke. They seem to be real, a message of help only Meira can appease.

Meira is a wonderful main character. She is a warrior who wants to help her people, especially Mather. She loves her friend but knows it can never be since he is the prince. She's fierce, loyal and really doesn't like being told what to do. Sir seems to be the true person behind that. She wants his respect, and looks at him like a father figure. When Theron enters her life she finds another guy to fall for, someone different and new. I'm not much in love triangles but Sara does a wonderful job at keeping it low and subtle. Sara did a wonderful job at writing Meira and I loved reading Meira's thoughts. She has flaws and sometimes you figure things out before her, but it was wonderful character building.

The secondary character were wonderful as well. Mather truly cares for Meira but the status of their differences keeps the feelings at bay. He's strong and handsome to boot. Theron is practical and quiet. He's just as handsome as Mather but brings a new thrill to Meira's life. Sir was one of my favorite side characters. He has his people's interests at heart and wants to protect them. But sometimes that protection causes more damage than good.

The story was wonderful. The world building amazing! It reminded me of Game of Thrones, and what a wonderful filler it has been until the next Game of Thrones book and when the TV series begins. Sara does a wonderful job with description and giving us a detail account of Meira's world. The characters mesh well together and the plot weaves it's way into different outcomes, some surprising.

Should you read it? Yes! If you are looking for a great fantasy novel, this one is for you. With intense action and well developed characters, you won't be able to put this book down.

Lately, I've become more and more wary of series starters owing to the fact that many of them have left me feeling underwhelmed. But then I came across Snow Like Ashes, a highly immersive fantasy which left me feeling exhilarated from the get-go. I love winter and here was my chance to read an amazing book about Winterians trying to get their kingdom back. Snow Like Ashes is a well-paced high fantasy with an impossible quest where the main character is a chakram-wielding kickass soldier and the setting is mind-blowing levels of awesome.

Snow Like Ashes begins in the Rania Plains with Meira as one of the eight refugees who managed to escape the wrath King Angra of Spring unleashed on Winter sixteen years ago. He also broke their conduit in half and stole it. Every kingdom has a conduit containing magic to aid themselves and since Winter's magic was wiped out the moment its conduit broke, everything since then has been done in an effort to get it back from the clutches of Angra. Winter is nothing without its conduit and Mather, who's to be the king of Winter, just might be useless to Winter unless he marries and bears a female child since theirs is a matriarchal kingdom. Girl power, yo.

The setting of Snow Like Ashes is elaborate which is why the pretty map comes in handy. The four Season kingdoms of Primoria perpetually cycle through their own seasons. Whereas, the four Rhythm kingdoms cycle through each of the the four seasons throughout the year. Moreover, wherever the people originate from affects their appearance, for instance, Winterians have pale skin, white hair and blue eyes. All of this calls for an engaging world-building and Raasch delivers. I quite enjoyed how the culture of each kingdom varies and how they deal with their differences, petty or otherwise.

Meira is fabulous. Grown up as an orphan who was saved by Sir, general William of Winter, during their getaway in the wake of Winter's plight, she's never even step foot in her kingdom. Yet the need to save it before Angra manages to wipe off the map of Primoria runs deep in her bones. Her relationships with the secondary characters are complex and well-developed, especially with Sir who's always a criticism away which hardly ever fazes her. Hello, new favorite female character.

Mather is a brooding but sensible and brave character which makes sense as he does have a lot of responsibility, being a king and all. However, it's hard for anyone to actually know his thoughts as he's a master of the perpetual blank facial expression. Theron, on the other hand, is the charming, misunderstood and artistic character who Meira quickly bonds with. Honestly, I can't choose between these two!

Snow Like Ashes is everything a good fantasy should have. The villain who doesn't sound like a villain, but will make you shudder anyway because he's oh-so-harsh and has absolutely no remorse whatsoever. There are moments which overwhelm you, moments which make you laugh and moments that just plainly make you gape in wonder. Snow Like Ashes is an exceptional start to a trilogy that every young adult fantasy lover would appreciate and adore for years to come.

FINALLY! After all the rave reviews and tweets, I've finally read Sara Raasch's Snow Like Ashes and it was fantastic!! I wasn't sure what kind of fantasy I was getting myself into, but it was quite remarkable! It wasn't a hard world to grasp, though a few of the past events had me confused...little nonsensical things, I can't even quite remember what.

Meria is one of the last remaining people of the Winter kingdom. The kingdom is beyond broken, most of the citizens are in prisons in the Spring kingdom and Meria along with the few remaining refugees are trying to find the pieces to the Winter locket to restore the power to the Winter kingdom. Mather, has been her best friend since childhood, and is the kind of Winter, despite its brokenness. He understands Meria and her need to do everything she can to save her kingdom despite her weaknesses.

After a direly close call, Meria is victorious in retrieving one of the halves to the locket. But that's only the beginning of the story, as Meria, Sir--the man who raised her after her parents died, Mather and the rest of the Winter kingdom venture to Cordell in order to get help from the king in planning an attack on Spring. But things are a lot more serious than she thought. The price for Cordell's help is high and it will cost Meria everything she holds dear.

It's hard to describe things with this one...while I LOVE and ADORE fantasies, I am always at a loss for describing the incredible awesomeness of the story! There's a lot of worldbuilding that goes into these reads and it's hard to describe that without getting into a near 10 page paper! But needless to say, the worldbuilding is incredible! This world that Sara has created is so remarkable! All the separate kingdoms, the strife Winter has gone through, the battles raging between Spring and Winter, the other kingdoms and their lack of sympathy for Winter...it's all so detailed and epic!

The characters are truly amazing as well! I loved Meria, she was a strong heroine. Your typical girl who doesn't know her own strengths, but yet, will do everything she can for her friends. Then there's Mather, the Winter king. He has never treated Meria as anything but an equal and their friendship is so sweet. And of course, Meria harbors a crush on him, so there's that wanting to see something more than friendship! And Sir, the man who raised Meria was a great character too. He's the glue that holds the remaining Winterians together. And Theron, the prince of Cordell was a surprising character as well! I nearly forgot he was supposed to show up until he did! He's a prince of many surprises, what more can I say?

Surprisingly, the romance in this one takes a backseat to the story. There's a little bit here and there. And I have to say, it's the most complicated love triangle ever! I feel like the characters aren't quite sure yet if they're in a love triangle. And I'm not entirely certain who I am supposed to "root" for. At the moment, I'm kinda feeling Team Theron, though I am dying to know more about him!

The pacing to this one was nice. I say nice, because it wasn't necessarily fast paced, but it wasn't overly slow either. It was a nice balance between the two! And the ending definitely leaves you craving for more as huge revelations are revealed that will change the course of the story! I wasn't really seeing this one coming! Perhaps my cold can be blamed or perhaps I was just too immersed into the story that when the surprises came to Meria, I was surprised right along with her!

Snow Like Ashes is as epic as everyone has been saying it is! I loved the language of the story! It was truly beautiful! And the story was enticing and the characters were engaging, there's not much more one could ask for in a story. As I mentioned earlier, my only struggles came every now and then with some of the flashbacks and the way they were incorporated. Sometimes, I just couldn't grasp what was happening then and how it effected the now. But again, I blame my cold on that. Muddles the head and cognitive thinking!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

Spring’s war on Winter brought about the collapse of a great kingdom, obliterating most of its people and orphaning many others. Meira, one of only a handful of survivors, has been on the run her entire life, trying to stay one step ahead of the evil King Angra. The ruthless tyrant has enslaved the last of the Winterians and is determined to end the life of the last heir to Winter’s throne, Prince Mather, who is also Meira’s best friend.

The last free remnant of Winterians has spent the last sixteen years trying to recover the two pieces of their queen’s locket, a vital heirloom tied to the power of Winter which was severed when the kingdom fell. Against all odds, Meira is able to recover one of the halves, but in so doing she sets off a series of events that will either be the end of her people or their salvation.

Meira has grown up a refugee and has never had a permanent home. She is eager to serve Winter and though her bravery helps her to do so, her youth makes her reckless. She has a complicated relationship with their leader, Sir, who is always pushing her to be better in combat, but who holds her up to impossible standards. Also complicating things is her close relationship to the future king, Mather; though she has strong feelings for him, their stations forever separate the two.

There is a love triangle in the book, but Sara Raasch’s Snow Like Ashes is never heavy on the romance. Mather, weighed down by the responsibilities of the throne, has always kept Meira at a distance, knowing an arranged marriage is most likely in his future. Prince Theron of Cordell becomes an unlikely ally to the refugees and stole my heart immediately. He is the first person who Meira feels understands her frustration at being a mere pawn in other people’s games and alliances, but unlike Meira, he has embraced his role and teaches her that to do so does not mean one gives up who they are.

I do want to point out that the love story of Snow Like Ashes is not romantic. Despite wanting to fight, Meira does not have the memories that tie her to Winter like the older members of her small group. She has fought because she has been taught to, but Meira’s journey becomes more significant when she begins to fall in love with her people and land for the first time.

Snow Like Ashes has an amazingly built world. The struggles of the different Kingdoms are extremely real. We don't get to see the "before" in this story. We begin with struggles and those struggles remain and change through the book. Meira struggles to find her place in the world, and the fact that her struggle is all a part of a much larger, more encompassing struggle is what makes this book so wonderful.

Meira is one of a handful of survivors from the Kingdom of Winter. She was only an infant when Spring attacked and destroyed Winter's magic conduit. Without the conduit, the Kingdom's magic can't be accessed and used. A small group was able to escape and have spent the last 16 years trying to find the pieces of their conduit and restore the royal line to the throne. When one half is discovered, it sets off a series of events that changes everything Meira knows about herself and the group of survivors.

I liked Meira. She was a real girl, with fears and insecurities, but she also wanted to make a difference. She wants to be able to help the survivors restore their magic. She's tired of being kept safe and protected. When she is finally able to go on a mission, she makes sure she shows just how much she wants to help.

Meira is also in love with her best friend, who just happens to be the king of Winter, if there was a Winter to rule over. She knows they can't have anything, since he must be married to someone equal in status, but she can't just turn off her feelings.

There is a bit of a love triangle in the book, and I'm not entirely sure where I want it to go. Both guys are wonderful, so far, and it's clear Meira likes both. I'm not even sure if it's a full-fledged love triangle yet. It's more of a swoony feelings triangle. I rather enjoyed this triangle.

I am incredibly interested to see where Raasch takes this story next. The ending of Snow Like Ashes wasn't a big cliffhanger at all. It only teased at what is to come. I'm looking forward to getting the next book and finding out what is next for Meira to tackle.

Okay, 3.5 stars.

This review suffers from ennui. Or maybe I've just read a few too many YA fantasies where the girl finds out she's important to the kingdom and then rides off to have adventures with her friends and save her kingdom.

I need something more than just that basic framework. I need real angst. Or I need cool characters.

And if you're looking for the angst of a tormented people divided from their kingdom, Tigana and Finnikin of the Rock have tormented angst down to a science. And if you're looking for plucky adventuress with a touch of romance, Girl of Fire and Thorn's Elisa has much more reason to rail at her fate and feel undervalued, and a much more believable character arc.

So I guess it's just that the main themes in this book, finding yourself and saving a lost people, have just been done before, and without the slightly arbitrary and overly clever world building of the Rhythms and Seasons countries in this story. (Four kingdoms called Seasons with city names like Abril and Jannuari).

And I had some character motivation quibbles. Let's say you had the secret heir to your devastated kingdom in your merry band of exiles running from super evil (I prefer my evil layered and ambiguous, thank you) Angra the magician? And let's pretend you've trained that heir in combat/espionage, but are constantly telling them they suck at close combat.

Would you really allow that heir to go alone on a dangerous mission, a mission that basically our whole future and that of your exiled people depends on? Really? Really? I mean, really?

And, slight spoiler alert, a dead character comes back at the end...just in the nick of time.

So I guess if you haven't read Tigana or Finnikin of the Rock or Girl of Fire and Thorns and you're a fantasy lover, then shame on you. Go ahead and read this book, you'll probably be amused for a few hours and it's a fine adventure with good fighting scenes. But then go out and read one of those other books and you'll see what I mean.

My full review can be found on my blog, Reader Rayna, as well as Goodreads.

This novel was a fun read. There were, of course, some things that didn’t flow well or things that just seemed out of place, but I overall enjoyed the book and am excited for the second one to come out.

The plot wasn’t very predictable, though I did figure out a couple of things as the story went on, but their means of how they came about surprised me, so that was nice in terms of the predictability area. It was engaging and fast-paced a lot of the time, the plot always moving forward even through the slow parts.

I liked the concept for the book itself, for sure, and thought that it was unique in many ways. Though the names of some of the countries and their capitals (country: Winter; capital: Jannuari) were so punny, I thought that the fact that each Season country held its own season and own strengths, while each Rhythm country had all four seasons but varied greatly, was intriguing in and of itself.

*Originally posted on ReadItInADay.con*

The last time I read a fantasy novel that I enjoyed this much was when I read the Lord of the Ring series-specifically The Hobbit. Because DUH LOTR IS AMAZING. I used to read a lot of light fantasy in junior high, but I’ve put it aside lately.

So when I read Snow Like Ashes, I was reminded just why I loved fantasy so much.

Meira wants nothing more than to fight for her fallen country of Winter. She and her fellow Winterains are living in on the run ever since Spring destroyed Winter. The only hope that they have is getting their conduit back, allowing them to someday use magic, and getting Maven, their king back on Winter’s throne.

But everything hangs in the balance when it seems that their only chance of hope might just be gone.

Hello plot twists!

I mean, WOW. This book exceeded my expectations in an unreal way. The gorgeous cover, the plot development, the OMG WHAT?? moment. Just everything about this book I loved.

Sara wrote a magnificent fantasy that’s easy to follow. Unlike most fantasies currently selling thousands of books (I’m looking at you, Game of Thrones), this book is not gory, it’s not too complex as to lose the reader, but it is by no means simple. It’s the perfect mix of fantasy and easy reading. It was epic.

This intricate and dazzling epic adventure left me dying for book number two…and whatever else this story might bring!

Why haven’t I read this unquestionably, undeniably perfect book much sooner?! It was /amazing/! I cannot stress enough my love for Snow Likes Ashes and for the lovely Sara Raasch (and her brilliant storytelling, seriously). I didn’t know what to expect coming into the book and it just blew me away (far, far away). While Snow Like Ashes was published in 2014, it is my favorite read of the year so far.

The story was so much unlike anything I’ve been reading with regards to YA. It was layered with so many elements and there’s so much that can yet be explored in this world. The idea of four seasons as kingdoms won me over fairly quickly. And I loved, let me tell you, that Winter wasn’t portrayed as ‘the evil’. Usually, I’ve seen, people portray winter as the worst/evil baddie of the seasons, but not in Snow Like Ashes! It’s the Spring that are the villains.

I loved both potential love interests. Yes, I said both. The slight love triangle was, as I just mentioned, very slight. It did not get in the way of the story and it did not affect Meira’s actions. It’s a miracle! Mather was a great character and receives an A+ from me, but it is the prince, Theron, that has my heart (and hopefully down the line he might have Meira’s because I ship this). Meira was the best possible MC ever. She was strong even when she was weak. She saved herself. She didn’t have to rely on a love interest for the most important moments.

Have you read Snow Like Ashes? What did you think? And, ahem, who did you like more Mather or Theron?

I am going to be totally honest and admit that this is one of those books where I grabbed it to read just because the cover is just PHENOMENAL. The cover is full of mystery and vibrant colors and whoever created it..did an amazing job!!! and I am so glad that I grabbed this book because it was a really good book!!!

Snow Like Ashes is a YA High Fantasy novel that is full of action, surprise twists, and a love triangle to die for!!! All these things added together makes this book amazing and
"un-put-downable!!!"

The main character, Meira, was orphaned at a young age when war broke out and her kingdom which is called Winter was defeated by Spring. Only 25 people escaped the war and out of those...only 7 lived. Spring placed the ones that were caught into slavery and this is what sparks Miera's fury.

Meira spends her life training to be a warrior for Winter and will fight to get her people and her kingdom back. Meira has to return to Spring and get Winter's conduit that contains all the magic of Winter and can help to restore their lands. The conduit had been cut into two pieces and once they get them back they have to figure out what to do....because the conduit is female-blooded and the only heir to Winter is male.

Miera is a fierce warrior and all she is focused on is proving her worthiness and that she belongs in the army that will fight to regain Winter's kingdom.

"No matter what happens, no matter who turns on me, no matter what pompous swine thinks he has power over me, I am still me. I will always be me."

The love triangle involves the prince of Winter, Mather, and the prince of Cordell, Theron. Miera has known Mather her whole life so she has developed a bond with him and she truly does love him....but....then she meets Theron and Theron is a phenomenal character who falls in love with Meira immediately. He understands her and her need for revenge and to regain her kingdom.

"Even if I die here, I will die mattering, and that's what I've wanted all along, isnt it? and I will, just within mu own set parameters--I will matter in ways beyondmy comprehension of the word, because I will matter in whatever way my kingdom needs me most. That, I think, is a truer mark of belonging somewhere--being willing to do anything, everything, that needs to be done, regardless of what I want."

Miera is a head-strong, independent, and just basically a KICK-ASS heroine!!! Her journey to recover the conduit and build Winter back is just epic. This book is high-fantasy at its best!! The romance really made the story as well.

The only issue that I had with Snow & Ashes was that it was a little too detailed. I found myself having to re-read some sections just to try and understand the details better. There were so many kingdoms and at times I got them a little confused. This made me read the book a little slower than normal but I still loved it! and fans of High Fantasy are going to RUN to get this gorgeous book off the shelves!!!

SNOW LIKE ASHES is the tale of a girl searching for her place in a dangerous world. And much, much more.

There are eight kingdoms in Primoria: four Seasons and four Rythyms. There are eight conduits, too, that supply their rulers with magic.

Meira is one of the few remaining refugees who escaped the downfall of Winter, where the people are white-haired and blue-eyed. The rest of her people are either enslaved or dead, and it’s all because of Angra, king of neighboring Spring.

The story begins with us being thrust into Meira’s issues. All she wants is to help. To be a part of Winter’s rescue. When she finally gets her chance within the first fifty pages, the plot kicks in.

The plot was a writhing, twisting thing. Right when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did. How will they get out this? was one of my constant worries as I flew through the pages of Sara Raasch’s debut.

And it was a wonderful feeling. I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough, and the constant unpredictable changes that were thrown at us—they rocked. As much as I love fantasy, there are some pretty predictable fantasy plots out there, but I’m relieved to say SNOW LIKE ASHES doesn’t have one of them.

As much as I liked the book, there were two dark splotches in my white sheet of enjoyment.

1. Meira. She’s strong, she’s good, but she’s also hot-headed and doesn’t always react the way she should. I don’t mean to say she should act the stereotype, but when this one thing (no spoilers!) happens to you, there’s a reaction expected. And not just an immediate one. When I’m inside a character’s head, I like to feel the constant stress/worry/fear that they feel.

2. The writing. SNOW LIKE ASHES has an amazing plot. There are a lot of things that happen pretty quickly, but still, an amazing plot. With equally amazing writing, the book would have been absolutely brilliant. In some parts, I felt myself mentally editing scenes, and the end result is that I think the novel could have been much tighter and the writing more honed.

You’re probably thinking this: if the writing and the main character were not to your liking, then how, dear Hafsah, can you say you liked this book?

I did like it. I did. That list of two points above? They were petty, despite the weight they impose. SNOW LIKE ASHES is a small book full of a lot. The plot is huge and spans quite a few different dilemmas and obstacles for our characters to hurdle. And while I didn’t love Meira, I did love the others. Mather, Theron, Sir, Hannah, etc., even Angra. They were all fleshed out and well-done, even Meira.

While I figured out the major plot twist long before it happened, it was still fun to see it all play out. And boy, does it play out well. This plot, people. It is insanely good.

Sara Raasch’s debut is a fabulous addition to YA. With tense kingdoms and magic and the inklings of romance, SNOW LIKE ASHES is a must-read. I really enjoyed the read and cannot wait for the next installment!

This and other reviews are on my site: My Friends Are Fiction
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts:
The world was complex, I was reading the e-arc and so didn’t have a good map to really keep me straight on where each kingdom was. Being able to reference a map would have helped clear up some of my confusion on the different kingdoms and where they all were. Raasch’s idea of separating them and their people by seasons was very creative and I loved the descriptions of each place. I did find some of the explanations a bit convoluted at times and there were minor instances of info dump. None of this was prevalent enough to detract from my enjoyment though. It felt like a complex world that I will enjoy learning about through-out the series.

Note- I later received the print ARC and I love that there was a map! I almost wish I’d had the patience to wait for the print version since I might have been able to connect to the world and characters even more.

Raasch created likeable characters and I very much enjoyed watching from Meira’s point of view. I felt that Mather and Sir were both very well developed and I found it easy to like them though I didn’t agree with their actions at all times. As the story progressed I did feel that more attention was spent on the story than the characters so the book began to feel more plot driven.

A love triangle was some-what present and it could possibly continue into the next books. One of the characters we are introduced to was Theron. He was of noble birth and I felt that he was a rather stiff character and felt very cardboard cutout to me. This made me incapable of connecting to him on any level. His attributes were great on paper but I had zero feelings for him and never felt the chemistry between him and Meira. I couldn’t shake that he felt too perfect and I wanted him to have some more depth and be less ‘good’. I enjoyed Mather because he was a much more complex character. I felt that he was pulled in many directions and this made him likeable and real. Theron felt like the creation of the ‘perfect’ love interest. He was understanding, handsome and brave. None of this appealed to me especially in comparison to the author’s more well rounded characters.

Final Thoughts:
I felt that the overall story was predictable but fun and I was entertained by it. I am very interested to see where the story goes in the next book and though I had some issues with Theron this book was still capable of causing a book hangover. It was easy to become swept away with Meira’s journey and it was able to instill some powerful emotions for me.

I have to be honest, I totally requested this book because of its cover, which is simply gorgeous. The synopsis was only an afterthought. Though this time you can really judge a book by it's cover. Snow Like Ashes was a fantastic YA fantasy novel.

The whole concept of the eight countries, the complex magic and the seasons is very well thought out and explained. It's a lot to take in at times, so there are slower parts and it's a long story, but I do feel now, that I really know this world Sara Raasch has created.

The country Winter has fallen. Sixteen years ago it was attacked by a neighboring country and most people died and the rest were taken prisoners. Only a very small group escaped and it's up to those to fight back. So the fate of all those people and the country lies on the shoulders of barely eight people. Talk about pressure.

Meira grew up in that small group. She actually has never been in Winter, but hearing all those stories, she knows it's her duty to go back one day. To be able to get there, they first need their magic back, which power lies in an amulet taken by the enemy. It's all they ever think and talk about. It seems to be their sole purpose in life. Meira believes that everything she's been doing for the past sixteen years is to get back to Winter, get it back the way it used to be and free their people.

She has imagined a lot of things, but reality is a bit different than what she expected. Political intrigue is always a factor the heroes of books seem to forget. Though it's not just that, there is definitely plenty of action and some teenage love drama going on as well, plus lets not forget figuring out the whole magic thing. Yes, it's a lot of things she needs to consider and it's not an easy journey.

While I wasn't a fan of the love triangle thing, it's luckily not a major thing in the story. It just pops up once in while, there is plenty of other things going on to distract you. I liked how we got to figure out along with Meira how it exactly was they were going to save Winter, how the whole magic thing worked and the world beyond her little group of friends.

It was a bit of a roller coaster at times, not just emotionally but there were plenty of twist and turns to make it interesting. I'll definitely be reading the other books in the series as well. I recommend giving this book a chance and believe it's more than just a pretty cover.

*I received a copy through edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

I featured Snow Like Ashes as one of my former Waiting on Wednesday posts and it seems like I've been waiting ages to read this one. Sometimes when I'm really excited about a book, I build it up too much and then end up being underwhelmed but thankfully this didn't happen with Snow Like Ashes because I really enjoyed it.

The setting is a kind of fantasy Throne of Glass or Game of Thrones for teens type world, where there are eight kingdoms each ruled by different monarchs. The world building is pretty detailed and it was a little confusing at times with all the different names, lands and boarders. BUT I was pulled into the story pretty quickly and appreciated the effort Sara Raasch put into her world (the print edition I read included a map to make it easier to visualise everything).

Usually in most stories sun is good and winter is bad but not in Meira's world. Meira is from the usurped Winter kingdom. I really liked Meira and appreciated her need to help and do something useful. She can be a little rash at times but I understood her reasoning and why she does certain things. I loved her Xena Warrior Princess moments! Raasch does a great job portraying Meira's lack of self worth (not being good enough for a certain guy) and looking at the problems of the class system.

I'm undecided when it comes to the guys in her life. I liked Mather and felt kinda sorry for him at times. I also really liked Theron, who was not only really different from my expectations, but also because he's everything a swoon worthy Prince should be.

I both loved the ending because it was a great way to finish this instalment but then also sort of hated it when I realised I'd have to wait to discover what happens next. But I guess it was the good kind of hate!

I received a review copy.

*I received this book as an eARC from Balzer + Bray on Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

This book was fantastic. This is the kind of YA fantasy I want more of! The world building is awesome. The magic is totally cool. The characters are interesting. The imagery is breathtaking. Everything about this book is just fantastic.

There are 8 kingdoms. And although it may seem confusing at first to try and remember them, they all are unique and interesting. Four of them are Seasons and the others are Rhythms. The four Seasons represent each of the natural seasons and have the physical features that go along with that season always occurring. In Winter, it is always cold and snowing. I also really enjoyed the names of the cities within the Seasons.

Each kingdom has a magic conduit in the form of a device like a locket or a sword. The history of these conduits is expanded on more and I found it really cool.

Although there is a little bit of a love triangle, I felt that it was very well handled. It felt natural. One of the boys Meira has known all her life, while the other she has just met.

I love when books hint at things to the reader that the characters don't realize until later. I felt like this was one of those books where the audience should have most of the pieces of the puzzle together, just waiting on the characters to figure it all out. All the reveals felt organic.

I loved Sara's writing. There is a particular chapter that I thought was excellently written. Chapter 24. I won't spoil anything about the chapter, but I loved it. The imagery Sara paints with her words is wonderful. I loved the aesthetic of each kingdom. The "spring-in-darkness motif" of Agra's palace was captivating.

Some of the characters have unusual names that may take some time to get accustomed to (Sir), but I was used to them a few chapters in.

We are Winter!

I give this book a 5/5. I am so excited to continue this series. It is everything I like in a YA fantasy. It reminds me of Jodi Meadows's Incarnate trilogy and Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy. If you're a fan of Kristin Cashore, Leigh Bardugo, or Pearl North you should check this book out, too! I cannot give this book enough praise.

Snow like Ashes is a fun read, different than many of the fantasy stories I am used to reading. I finished it in three days and stayed up till 4am reading the last half of the book. Out of all the elements in the novel, the characters drew me in the most. A wide variety of emotional conflicts and internal struggles are shown in various characters, making it impossible for the reader to not feel something for the characters.

However, I wasn't too fond of Meira's character in the beginning chapters of the story because she had this crippling self-doubt that stems from her need to belong and feel like she's a part of something bigger than herself. She wants to prove herself worthy. Wants to prove she truly is a part of her broken kingdom, Winter. When she interacts with other characters, her self-doubt deepens, her need for belonging increasing. This self-doubt is mentioned too much, making her appear whiny and making the reader frustrated, which is why I had a hard time relating to her. I understand the conflict of needing to fit in, but sometimes Meira gave the impression that she was the only one standing in her way of belonging--many times she'd turn from the truth and become blind to the fact that she does belong and people do care for her. When the reader clearly sees that Meira can and does belong but Meira fails to see that, the reader starts to become irritated. This self-doubt dragged on too long and slowed the pacing of the story, stalling Meira's ability to actively impact the plot.

Toward the second half of the book, I grew more fond of Meira and found her much more relatable. At this point, her self-doubt doesn't get in her way as much, allowing the plot to continue moving forward. The one thing that scared me with her character was the introduction of the love triangle. When the two male love interests came into play, I rolled my eyes, thinking this would be the typical love triangle whose romantic subplot would shift to be a main focus of the story, rather than sticking to the main goal of claiming back Winter's throne and stopping Angra from the rival Spring kingdom. Reading on, however, the love triangle did not dominate the story and the romantic elements were not a main focus. Whew, a relief! The fact that Meira stayed focused on the bigger picture around her, rather than getting drawn in to the drama of the love triangle, made me respect her even more.

The love triangle, too, differed from many stories. Instead of having Meira go back and forth, unable to decide who would be a better match for her, she makes a decision fairly early on regarding who would be the best person to provide the emotional support for her that she's been lacking. I'm not going to state names because I don't want to spoil anything, but I was very relieved when she chose the person she'd be happiest with, rather than clinging to the past and choosing to be with the character who frustrates her and has a hard time providing emotional support.

The second element of the book I truly enjoyed is the world Raasch created. Her division of the kingdoms into Seasons and Rhythms creates a unique world that, at first, appears balanced by magic. As Meira starts seeing behind-the-scenes, however, she discovers that the idea of balance is only a mask to hide the corruption underneath. The differences between the Rhythm and Season kingdoms makes the politics interesting in this fantasy world.

Yet, in the beginning half of the story, I had a hard time falling in love with this world. The second half of the book is when I became truly intrigued by this world. The reason I had a hard time falling in love with the beginning half of the book is due to the way the world-building was introduced. The opening chapters read like info-dumps. It overwhelmed me because there was so much information introduced in such a short time. These info-dumps also slowed the pacing of the beginning tremendously, making it hard to continue reading. Flashbacks were also used to introduce info-dumps, which is not the best way to let the reader get to know the world since the reader gets taken out of the present story. These flashbacks also became very repetitive. The beginning could've been trimmed down by at least 40 pages to improve the pacing. Although the start was weak and slow, I forged on with the hope that the story got better. It did.

Toward the second half of the story, the world-building of the story was much smoother and more complex. The concept of magic, which is the heart of this world, finally became clear. In the first half, the reader was told about magic and how it affects every person and each kingdom, but the reader never saw that until the second half of the novel. It would've been nice to see the effects of magic earlier on in the story to grasp a good understanding of just how important magic is in this society, rather than being simply told it's important without any evidence to back up that claim.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others who take an interest in fantasy worlds built on magic.

I loved Snow Like Ashes! It was one of my most highly anticipated fall 2014 releases and it (mostly) lived up to my expectations, which were pretty high. It was full of action, excitement, good world building, and great characters.

Meira was a fierce heroine that found her place in the world during this book. Theron was my favorite character, though. Whenever he was in a scene or was around the same area as Meira (as in, under the same roof but not in the scene), the book was AMAZING. Everything was so exciting and wonderful and . . . yeah, like I said, amazing! My thoughts went into all caps mode. When he wasn't around, though, I felt less interested in what was going on. It felt like a lull in the story. The other characters were great, too. I always liked Sir's presence. Mather was decent, but he didn't make much of an impression on me.

I really liked the world in this book. It was interesting and seemed to be well built. The world building didn't weigh me down by having too many details or info dumps, though I've heard that happened with some other readers (maybe there were info dumps, but I just didn't notice them). I loved the structure of the world with the eight kingdoms (four of which were seasonal ones) and how each had distinct characteristics.

Overall, Snow Like Ashes made me very happy. I had high hopes for it and it turned out to be so, so GOOD. The book didn't become one of my favorites, but the series has a potential to become one. Many readers will enjoy reading this one!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This has not affected my review or opinion of this book.

I got this book to review through NetGalley and wasn’t exactly sure if I would like it or not. However, I loved it! Can I give it like 8 out of 5 stars please? This was an imaginative and absolutely engrossing fantasy and I absolutely adored. It was one of the best books I have read this year.

Meira was orphaned during the fall of Winter and now struggles to survive with a small band of fellow Winter warriors. The remaining Winter warriors are desperate to retrieve a magic locket that will restore their power. The only problem is that the locket is in Spring and is guarded by a fierce leader who uses Decay magic. Meira and her fellow Winter warriors go on a mission to retrieve the locket and free Winter from it’s slavery under Spring. However the fallout from the mission has larger implications than any of them could have ever imagined.

First let’s talk about the amazing world-building. This is an amazing world. There are eight kingdoms; four Seasons and four Rhythms. Each of them has a magical conduit that allows their leader to enhance the ability of their kingdom with magic. Generally the leaders will use the magic from the conduit for things like making crops fruitful or strengthening trade; but in times of war they can also use the magic to make their people stronger. I wish more books had this excellent type of world-building it was just so unique!

Meira is a feisty young woman who is excellent at fighting from afar but poor at melee combat. This means she gets left behind for a lot of missions and absolutely hates it. She also never even considered an arranged marriage might be the best way for her to help Winter out of it’s decline. So she feels betrayed and surprised when the man who raised her decides to use her in an arranged marriage deal to get one of the Rhythms support.

I was impressed at the depth of Meira’s character. She starts off as fairly naive, but grows a ton as a character. She is constantly balancing what Winter needs as a kingdom against what she wants as an individual.

I loved the two male leads as well. There is her childhood friend who is the heir to the kingdom, with their difference in rank they have the whole starcrossed love thing going on. Then there is the wonderful Theron, he is a Prince of a neighboring kingdom who is so kind and so wise beyond his years...but still fierce when he needs to be. They are both very complex and awesome characters.

Oh and the bad-guy, the evil wizard who uses Decay magic and has lived for eons, he was soooo amazingly evil and yet strangely complex at the same time. Loved it loved it loved it. Even the side characters were well done, I was nearly in tears reading some of the scenes with the Winter slaves.

The novel is excellently paced with just a perfect balance of world-building, adventure, action, politics, intrigue, magic, and romance. This is one heck of a fantastic novel. I loved the ending to pieces, it does an excellent job of tying things up while still allowing for more story later.

There were so many great things here. I am sure I haven’t touched on all of them. This was just a perfect book, it went way beyond my expectations. It was impossible to put down, I pretty much read the whole 400+ pages thing in less than 24hrs. Yes, I was tired when I was done but I was also sooo excited to see what comes next. just writing this review makes me want to go sit down and read the whole thing again.

Overall an absolutely fantastic and amazing fantasy debut. Everything about this book was perfect. This is one of those books where I laughed, cried, and was holding my breath at parts. The world-building was absolutely amazing, the characters intriguing and engaging, the plot was perfectly paced, and I loved the ending. I loved this book, I really did. It deserves more than 5 stars, it was just that good. Recommended to everyone, especially fantasy lovers out there. Fans of Game of Thrones, Sarah Maar’s Throne of Glass, and Kristin Cashore’s Graceling will love this novel. I loved this book.

This review was originally posted on my book blog: http://seamlessreader.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-distance-between-us-by.html

After a long time of being in an excruciating reading slump I have managed to regain my freedom and need for reading. And who do I have to thank for that? Sara Raasch,, that's who. Thanks to her for writing this amazing book. Seriously, It is completely beyond me why I never picked this up sooner.

The first thing that totally stood out to me and helped with me becoming so engrossed in this book was the main character: Meira. She is by far one of the most enticing and dare I say enthralling female lead characters that I have ever read about. She is so determined and outspoken. Also, very strong-willed and a total fighter. She didn't accept any misogyny from anybody and didn't allow anything to get in her way. I totally loved her as a character.

Speaking of character's, Meira, wasn't the only special one. All of the character's in this book were great. They all had a lot of depth and didn't seem to lack anything. All of them were so intricately written and different as well as interesting. Especially Theron. Ahh, Theron. He was so sweet and caring. Swoon worthy too. Which leads me to ask all of those who have read the book, Are you Team Theron or Team Mather? Tell me down below! I'm definitely rooting for Theron, at least for now! Oh and by the way, this book also gave me hope for love triangles. SO GOOD.

The second thing that I want to mention was the writing. You see, I'm not too big on Fantasy due to past experiences with other books, but this one has allowed me see this genre in a whole new light. Everything in this story flowed so easily. It never felt like it dragged on nor did it feel rushed. It was the most perfectly balanced roller-coaster of emotions. And also, the originality in this book was absolutely outstanding. The idea of the kingdoms based on each season. Not to mention the kingdoms that were based on rhythms! Every aspect was so unique; I had a ton of fun picturing all of it. Needless to say, the descriptions were so complex. And although it was a teeny bit difficult to follow at first, once I got into the swing of things, everything was breathtaking.

In spite of the unquestionable love that I now have for this book, there was one small detail that I didn't get and really wish I had. Like I said, the descriptions in the book were great and the whole wold very unique and enticing. However, I wish I would have gotten a little bit more world-building. I mean it such an amazing story, that it would have been nice to have a few more details thrown in there. Aside from that there really wasn't anything missing from this wonderful book. I have fallen in love with it and I can't wait for the second one!

SNOW LIKE ASHES sucked me in from the moment I started reading it. It was beautifully written with a great storyline and characters you grow to care about pretty quickly.

Meira has a huge heart and a drive to help get the kingdom she was born into back at all costs. She was raised as a warrior, but treated like a child. She doesn't really understand why she is being held back from helping defeat those that are hunting her and all the other Winter refugees, but she can and does push to help at every turn. It was very easy to relate and fall in love with Meira. She's a strong person and it shows pretty early on in the book.

Meira is in love with her best friend, Mather. Because he is the future king she has no choice but to love him from the sidelines and is told often by Sir that they can not be together. Enter the love triangle. When the Winterians find refuge in Cordell she is pawned off to the future king, Theron in exchange for their help. She is willing to help her kingdom in any way she can, but never thought she would be used as a bargaining chip and never thought that she would actually start to have feelings for Theron. I honestly like both of her options and not sure who would be more perfect for her.

There is a lot of adventure, pain, sacrifice and secrets involved in SNOW LIKE ASHES. I had an idea where the story might have been going before the big reveal but I was still really excited to have my thoughts confirmed. There is just something about Meira that pulls everyone to her and makes them want to help her. I am really looking forward to seeing what happens as the characters get their kingdom back. I know they all have a lot of work ahead of them and I'm hoping the series keeps up the momentum of SNOW LIKE ASHES.

* This book was provided free of charge from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Meira the orphan knows she’ll never be anyone’s beloved baby girl, but can’t the head of their refugee group at least pretend he likes her? Or send her on important missions instead of staying at the camp? The beginning of the book has a slow and angsty start, but much of it is necessary once you get to the good stuff.

When Meira goes on her mission, her life gets complicated at a faster pace than she was ready for. Adventure, plot twists, maybe a boyfriend! Maybe two boyfriends! But does it count if the friendship is strictly political? Maybe? Does it hurt if politics means her boyfriend can’t hold hands with her in public? Does it hurt when that smarmy guy who killed 90% of her Winter nation beats her up – for her own good? You bet it does. But she finally meets people from her own Winter nation, and somehow that hurts too, until she figures out how to make it better.

The set-up for Book 2 was beautifully done, as Meira has important information that she can’t tell her friends over the noise of battle.

Color Coded for your Convenience: People of Winter have white-white skin nad blue eyes; Spring have pale skin and green eyes, Autumn are copper and brown eyes, and Summer is only introduced to us as a pleasure place who’s people only leave Summer to kidnap more people for their brothels. Oh dear, I hope Summer people aren’t black or yellow.

Though the world of SNOW LIKE ASHES by Sara Raasch is a bit uninspired in its construction, Raasch more than makes up for kingdoms named after seasons and capital cities named for misspelled calendar months with Meira and the other refugees of the Kingdom of Winter. An aspiring soldier, desperate to be important to her people and her lost homeland, sixteen-year-old Meira struggles with being kept off the battlefield and forced into a world of political machinations. She's a pawn, she's a symbol, she's a hero - much like THE HUNGER GAMES Katniss, all Meira really knows is that she wants to survive. That, and she's in love with her best friend, the once and future king.

It's Meira's desperation to be meaningful that drives this book forward. As an orphan of a dismantled kingdom, Meira wants nothing more than to matter, and in the beginning, she thinks the best way to do that is to prove herself with thrilling heroics, daring to accomplish a task her tiny band of refugees has dreamt about for sixteen years. But even though she succeeds, she discovers her act of bravery is merely a drop in the bucket to reclaiming their homeland, and the recognition she hopes to get fails to appear. Part of her desire to demonstrate her worth is so she can show she's worthy of Mather, her best friend and the rightful King of Winter. Raised on the run together, they grew close through necessity, but Meira has cast herself in the role of Unlucky Childhood Friend, always aware that there's a large discrepancy between an orphan and a monarch.

The divide between them widens when Meira discovers that her guardian and mentor intends to use her to form an alliance with a stronger kingdom. She rebels against the role designated for her, furious at having her choice taken away, but she also recognizes that if she wants to be important to her people, she can't be choosy when it comes time to play her part. It's unfair and she doesn't like it, though it doesn't hurt that the young man she's engaged to against her will is a sweet guy who understands Meira on a level most of her longtime companions don't. While Meira agrees to behave for the sake of Winter, she can't help longing to be important for who she is, rather than what she can offer, a longing to which most teenagers (and adults) can relate. Ultimately, 'who she is' becomes the most important question of all. Regular readers of this genre might not find the last act surprising, but it's satisfying, and opens a lot of new doors for future books.

Raasch’s world is incredible, and brilliantly explained. Filled with magic, and kingdoms for each season, we learn of Winters fall, their enslavement and their unyielding fight to recover what was lost. Fans of Throne of Glass will adore Snow Like Ashes.
Miera, our female protagonist, was orphaned during the war when Winter fell. She longs to be important in efforts to restore Winter to it’s former glory by regaining their magic. She was raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir, alongside Mathers, their king . Miera is kick-ass, fearless and desires to understand the magic. Miera is clever, plagued by dreams, and cares deeply for others. Despite all she endures there are no moments of pity. She faces each encounter and grows from them. I adored her, connected with her and cannot wait to see how she transforms.
You don’t mind if the romance is on the back burner. There is no triangle, but there are two suitors. I loved how the author kept this romance on the side. It was an interesting thread and both man are worthy suitors. Despite the fact that this wasn’t the focus, I did choose a fella, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all pans out.
The novel hooked me from the first page, and the tale slowly built as the author notched up the tension. There is intense action, politics, alliances, betrayals and an evil, ruthless villain to loathe.
Even though Snow Like Ashes is part of a trilogy it read like a standalone. It has depth, a beginning, middle and end. The ending was well-done, with just enough loose threads to have me eager to return to this world. Copy received from publisher,full review at caffeinated book reviewer.

Set in the fantasy world of Primoria, Snow like Ashes is a captivating, often suspenseful, read. Meira is training to be a fighter and, specifically, wants to be a fighter, so why don't her superiors want her to fulfill the role she clearly desires to? All this, while Winter needs every able-bodied fighter available to win back their country.

Gripping, suspenseful and often emotionally touching, this book, with its lively beginning and fairly rapid pace, is truly a page-turner. The world building is interesting, original and highly inventive.

The characters, especially the main characters, are fleshed out and lifelike. All the main characters undergo some measure of character development throughout the story. The main character, Meira, is the kind of female lead I love in a story. She is tough, noble and certainly not without flaws. She has to deal with betrayal both on a personal as well as a political level.

The use of magic and the concept of light vs dark is tastefully worked into the story. Romance in this tale is tender and often poignant and certainly not overdone.
For anybody who loves a good, imaginative and refreshing tale of fantasy, Snow like Ashes is a more than worthwhile read. (Ellen Fritz)

I listened to this on Audio with narration done by Kate Ruud, she was passable, not one of my favorites, but she did all right.

While this book had some inconsistencies, I still enjoyed it. Despite having a love triangle, which really, to be truthful, I'm not one of those people who despise love triangles, they happen, even in real life. Love triangles are all about the drama and drama is a good thing. Otherwise, the book could just be boring. I do prefer that the girl knows who she wants, at least who she really wants. I'm not sure Meira (MC) knows who she really wants, though. It's only the first book, so we will have to see. But, then the romance wasn't really the basis of this book anyhow. The twist is...

The world is fascinating in the Snow Like Ashes, and I read somewhere that it is similar to Game of Thrones, I've never read that or seen the show, so it was a totally new concept to me. The world building in the beginning was really hard to follow, but eventually with some repetition I did get the gist of it.

The last half of the book was actually pretty good though. The twist; that I didn't see coming was sensational. I will probably read the next one, or listen, either one will work for me.

Who Would I Recommend This Book To?
Fans of High Fantasy Novels such as Throne of Glass (Sarah J. Maas), Girl of Fire and Thorns (Rae Carson), Kiss of Deception (Mary E. Pearson),

Would I Buy It?

This is an Instagram of SLA @ Katz's Deli in New York City
Considering I begged for the book for Hanukah and it was one of my most anticipated books of 2014, I would say.... yes. I would have absolutely 100% bought it if I hadn't begged my best friend to get it for me.

Background & Backstory
I first heard about this book in January of 2014 when Fiction_The New Reality was doing her New Year, New Books celebration when there wasn't even a cover or a complete synopsis. I've been following Sara Raasch on Twitter ever since and knew I HAD to get her book. High Fantasy is a genre I have recently become interested in and this seemed like the perfect book to read.

What Was My Reaction After I Finished This Book?
Oh. My. Gawd! This is my new obsession. Let me yell from the rooftops!

In past blog posts, I have talked about how I find a new bookish obsession every year or so. From an outsider's perspective, "obsession" is a word taken extremely lightly. A lot of friends have said, "You say every book you read is amazing." As anyone knows in any dedicated fandom.... "obsession" is something that should be taken 100% seriously with the assumption that whatever it is (book, movie, celebrity) will henceforth take over your life. And that anyone in the foreseeable future should know that this book will be pushed/forced on them.

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Freaking Amazing Raasch is that new obsession.

If anyone has followed this blog for more than a week, they will know that from January 2013 ON, the Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu was something I lived and breathed. I have gained my best twitter friends, met the author twice, and made the commitment to the fandom like no one else has before. While it is still one of the best trilogies of all my existence, it was time that a new book came to take the crown.

I have to admit, like Legend and the Hunger Games, it was not my immediate reaction to LOVE this book. It took time, but not enough that I was almost ready to give up on it (Throne of Glass). In fact, I have two critiques for it. This is Sara Raasch's debut novel, she's young, and obviously doesn't have the experience Ray Bradbury does.... or even Veronica Roth. So it is expected that her debut won't be 100% perfection. There were some cliche phrases and awkward wording that more seasoned authors have smoothed out in their writing.

Because of this, the protagonist of this novel, Meira, was affected. It was most certainly not love-at-first-sight for me. In fact, even at the end of the novel it isn't. Meira is insecure and seeks out praise from her father-figure in the story, William Loren aka. "Sir." She seems extremely unsure of herself at times and a bit immature. Yet, with fantasy stories especially, the beauty of everything is that we as readers get to sit back and observe these character's development. Each time they overcome a new obstacle, each time they stand up for themselves/their obligations, you see them in a new light and I am so excited to see Meira's progression.

Something interesting throughout the first hundred pages or so of Snow Like Ashes, was that it seemed as if I was willing myself to dislike it. I don't know why, I don't know how (because of how undeniably awesome of a book it is), but I kept searching for some little quality to dislike. With this heightened sense of awarement (totally a word), my brain went into critical figure-everything-out mode. At each twist, turn, and bend in the road, I projected and inferred. To my (now pleasant) surprise, I was unable to guess what was going to happen. There are some common tropes/themes that make themselves prominent ONLY in fantasy (which is what has deterred me fro the genre the past 2 years) and Snow Like Ashes only had one of them, which I can overlook and forgive Sara for because of how well it was done and served only as a stepping stone in the plot versus a huge "What are we going to do now?" element.

Characters are an element that you could almost consider most important throughout a high-fantasy novel. Because of their reputation for being notoriously slow due to excessive world-buildind and build-up.... you have to rely on the characters to get you through the not-so-riveting sections. I am so happy to tell you that I liked nearly every one.

Despite Meira's short-comings in terms of confidence levels.... she had some excellent character traits. She was sassy and sarcastic at times, which was a surprising combination. On top of that, she was a bit of a theatric, especially when it came to Sir not allowing her to go on the mission for the locket half. All of these qualities and more are what made her relatable and lovable, versus Celaena Sardothien who takes some time to warm up to.

As I am composing my thoughts, I am having a conversation with Twitter BFF +Nathania Shuttleworth about Theron, who is one of Meira's two love interests. We are both firmly Team Theron. I don't know what was off about him, he was, in fact, endearing, during the majority of the novel towards Meira, but Mather was not the most likable character (plus his name annoys me). Theron is strong leader, he stood up to his father, is dependable for his kingdom, has an artistic writing side AND hot (according to Meira). He's the total princely package. I had brief suspicion that he was a bad guy and would turn against Winter.... but luckily that wasn't the case.

The dynamic between Meira and Sir is an intriguing one because of all the white lies that were told to hide Meira's identity. I am so looking forward to how their relationship will change in the sequels and how the positions of power will shift. For so long, she searched for his approval and she has finally done something to validate it, but how much will that change them?

It was a classic twist and one (out of the billion I thought of) that should have seemed the most glaringly obvious that Meira was the true heir. There were little hints/clues as to her true identity.... but I obviously sped right past them. I had a feeling (for some reason) that she wasn't a Winterian, but a citizen of another Season or even a Rhythm.

Can we just talk about the Chakram? In so many YA novels, the protagonist has some be-all, end-all weapon of choice. For Katniss, it's her Bow and Arrow. For June, it's her wits. For Jaron, it's his sword. Yet, I have never conceived of a weapon as epic as the chakram. It took some time for me to grasp as a kind of frisbee-boomerang, but once I did, I wished I could order it off of the store. I have no clue how you would catch it without slicing your hand open OR how it comes back to you without bouncing off of another surface. Yet, I accept it anyway and think it's remarkably badass.

I remember when I first saw the cover back in (let's call it May) when it was first revealed and was sent reeling with how incredibly epic it was. And it is by far my best looking naked book.

The title is something interesting to discuss. The prequel novella is Icicle Like Kindling, first book is Snow Like Ashes, sequel is Ice Like Fire. There is a gradual progression of power and development between them and their power. Icicles and Kindling are the weakest forms of their power. Snow aka Winter is weak, fine, and powdery, similar to ashes. Ice is harsh and Fire is its opposite which gives me hope that the sequel will be just as complex with an equally good conflict. I especially look forward to hearing about Summer which is never mentioned in detail.

The ending is satisfying and spins you around at a break-neck pace, yet is extremely conclusive. I have a feeling Raasch wanted to give us a mini reprieve before thrusting us into the action-packed sequel which I look forward to, especially if it means I can enjoy a little Theron/Meira fluff.

How Likely Is It That I Will Read The Sequel To This Book?
99.9%
I loved loved loved this book so much and the sequel -Ice Like Fire- is one of my most anticipated books of 2015. I will be requesting an ARC from the publisher and entering every giveaway under the sun so I may obtain it.

SNOW LIKE ASHES was an engaging epic fantasy about a young woman who was orphaned as an infant when her country was being invaded and who has lived as a refugee for the past sixteen years. She has been training as a soldier along with the sixteen-year-old king under the supervision of one of Winter's generals. She calls him Sir and would do anything to make him proud of her.

Meira and the other seven survivors of the fall of Winter are trying to locate the locket that is the conduit for Winter's magic despite the fact that the only heir is male and the power can only be used by a female. When the attempt to regain half the locket is successful, Meira thinks the problem is near a solution. But the Spring soldiers have managed to track them back to their camp. The only solution is flight to one of the other kingdoms. But the King of Cordell wants more than the survivors of Winter can give.

Meira finds herself engaged to Prince Theron of Cordell despite her lifelong love for the Winter King - a love she knows is hopeless because of their differing social statuses. And when the King of Cordell betrays Winter to the evil Spring King, Meira finds herself captive and in Angra, the king of Spring's, control.

There are all sorts of secrets, lots of political maneuvering and even romance in this fast-paced epic fantasy story that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

Received a copy from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book when I saw the ARC pop up. The description said GAME OF THRONES meets GRACELING. YES. Please!!!!

SNOW LIKE ASHES is a thrilling high fantasy debut from a very talented author. I was drawn in from the first page. Meira is a wonderful hero. She’s tough and a total badass. But unlike many other heroines in the genre, she was super relatable. She was young and vulnerable without being annoying. As the reader, we struggled right along with her. But we also felt empowered when she found her strength.

I adored the love story woven in because it felt anything but contrived. Yes, there was a triangle, but it wasn’t the main focus of the story. It was the delicious icing on the cake.

Sara Raasch really knows how to surprise the reader as well. This story was full of fantastic twists and turns. But nothing felt like it came out of left field. She subtly dropped hints throughout, so that when a big reveal came you went “OF COURSE!”

This is one is a serious page turner with an incredibly satisfying ending. Felt like it could be a stand-alone, but overjoyed to see this is part of a series. Cannot wait for the next!

I was really pumped going into this book (like I might have actually squealed with joy when it came into the library). I had heard fabulous things about it. Likening it to several series that I LOVED (Girl of Fire and Thorns, looking at you here). Needless to say, I was underwhelmed. It's my ow fault partially, I mean I had hyped it up in my head too much, right? There was that and the fact that it was all too big: the landscape, the story arch. And too forced/predictable. I don't know, for some reason, I just couldn't find myself caring about the characters. I like a string female heroin, however the quantity of times Meira had to reassure herself that she was strong enough, grated on me after a while. It may have also been the constant movement, they were refugees after-all. That whole not staying in one place coupled with having to familiarize myself with a brand new (and terribly expansive) landscape often left me confused and frankly, disinterested. I plotted through, however.

Final Recommendations: if you like vaguely confusing magic, a sprinkling of romance (warning love triangle), a HUGE landscape.

I wish I could give half stars because this would be 4.5 stars. It was a truly enjoyable read (read it all in one day). This is the first debut novel by Sara, and considering that, she is truly talented.

Sara weaves a beautiful tale, in a world run by the seasons, with Spring on a serious power trip to overrun all of the other seasons. Having already wiped out Winter, enslaved its people and on the hunt for its Prince, Spring is planning the ultimate coup. Too bad that the night Winter fell, 25 Winterians escaped.

Our Heroine Meira is raised side by side with the royal prince...the Heir to the Winter throne and its magic. Their small group is led by Sir, and they live out in the Reina Plaines, living nomadic lives the last 16 years, chasing after the medallion that will restore Winters magic and the King's rightful place.

Meira is tired of running rations and food missions and when the opportunity arises for her to go after half to the necklace herself, her best friend and Mather (the king), feigns a sprained ankle, which lets Meira go on the mission herself. A mission that almost gets her captured.

The story unravels quickly after she's able to retrieve the the first half, the group of now 10 seek out help to retrieve the other half from Angra, the man responsible for the displacement and enslavement of their people, the ruler of Spring. When they seek out the help of Cordellans, she is shocked to find she's been handed over like a mule to marry the Cordellan's prince Theron.. the only way their king will help out Meira and her band of refugees.

This book amazed me with how the scenes came to life. The characters were ones you could fall in love with, and I did. They were real, fought real emotional turmoils, and the fight scenes were believe and absolutely kicked ass. Meira is not just a girl, she's a warrior who will do anything for those she loves. The landscapes are breathtaking, and the way that Sara writes her descriptive landscapes, had me transported to a fantasy world so real, I felt like I was there.

So why is it only getting 4.5 stars instead of 5? Well I figured out the secret from the very beginning. It's one of the more typical ones seen in novels, but she still manages to do it very well, and even though I knew it was coming (the big reveal), I did still enjoy the journey it took to get there.

And secondly, Meira gets a little too "why me ... I can't do this ... Im a nobody..." type of character near the end. Here she is all book kicking mad butt, and suddenly she's this weak whiny girl ... thankfully it doesn't last more than two or so chapters, and she's back to her kick ass self, but that's the type of stuff you typically see in the beginning of a book, not near the end. Still, it wasn't super annoying like some authors make their characters, but it did irk me a tad, and had me skipping a couple of paragraphs here and there.

Overall, for a first novel, it was beautiful written and I can't wait for the second installment.

I've been really enjoying the Fantasy YA novels this year (and Sarah J. Maas will make 2015 amazing as well) and this was an enjoyable one.

The world building sold me on this series, the magical elements and the use of the seasons (plus their physical appearances being influenced by that was a nice touch) make me want to read more in this series.

Plus a badass female character that I connected with is a giant plus. (she reminded me of Celaena but not too much that it was a rip-off, just enough to make me love her). And it was nice to have a character that doesn't make me want to scream because of her poor decisions.

The reason I did not give it five stars was because of the cliché that I am so sick of: love triangle (one that is thrown at you out of the blue) and the main character being forced to marry someone for the sake of her country. (I think Heir of Fire spoiled me this year, lol)

Snow Like Ashes

Oh my gosh why haven’t I read this book sooner?! Possibly because it is one of the more mainstream YA books, and I was afraid all of the hype would ruin it for me, but by the snow I loved it! Snow Like Ashes is the debut novel of author Sara Raasch, and it is easy to say that she has created a frosty and magical masterpiece!

Oh boy, where do I start?

The first thing that stood out to me right away in this novel is the main character, Meira. Meira is definitely being added to my favorite female heroine list because DANG! All she wants is to be able to mean something to her lost kingdom of Winter, and for it to mean something to her. She wants to be a soldier and fight for Winter her own way, without losing herself. She doesn’t let herself be pushed around by anyone or anything, especially not without a fight! Despite her badassery she has flaws that make her real and human. One of my favorite parts of Meira’s character is she has sass for days. She may be from Winter but her comebacks and witty remarks are on fire! There were multiple times in the book that I went Ooooooo after she layed down a line.

Meira wasn’t the only character in this story, though. All of them had a depth and secrets, some of which are revealed while some stay under the surface. They all had a backstory that added to the hard life that we see they live in the book. And, even though there will inevitably be a love triangle in the next book, I am interested to see how it pans out for Meira— the Winterian soldier whom she grew up with, or the poetic prince who sweeps her off her feet. I am usually found rolling my eyes at a love triangle, but like both characters and don’t have an idea who will be the lucky guy in the end.

The world building that takes place is absolutely phenomenal! There are eight kingdoms with their own magic and ideals, which you would think may become confusing and that the details of each could become a blur, but Raasch did an amazing job clearly separating the settings to make them unique and distinguishable. Everything was thought out so well and given to the audience in exactly the right amount at the right time. I didn’t feel overwhelmed by this magnificent world, but instead welcomed into it.

The plot never slowed down once in this novel, it was constantly fasted paced and layer with secrets, betrayals, and battle scenes. If the characters weren't fighting or running for their lives, we were learning about Primorian history or uncovering secrets best kept hidden. Can I mention the battle scenes again, please. They were so epic and action packed, and to be honest, kind of gruesum. No battles were small sword clashes, no, there were knives and blood and death and war, showing how difficult life for these characters is.

Overall: 5/5

For the love of snow, please pick up this book, it will not disappoint! The characters and setting are rich with history and the plot fierce. The female heroine alone makes this novel worth reading, and the suspense over the amazing yet nail-biting events that unfold only add to the excitement. Your hands will win the gold medal for fastest page turner after you finish this magical story.

Eight Kingdoms, Four Rhythms and Four Seasons. All with magic, except one. Sixteen years ago, Spring attacked Winter and broke their magical conduit, leaving Winter vulnerable and unable to protect themselves from the attack. They fell. All were killed or captured by Spring, forced to work in brutal labor camps for sixteen years.

But not all were captured. A small group including the future king of Winter were able to escape that night, and have been fighting to free their people and unite their conduit again in the hopes of getting magic once again. In that group is Meira, an orphan girl with a burning need to help her kingdom. A fierce fighter, Meira will do anything she can to help her kingdom even if it turns out to she may have to endure being a pawn for gaining allies in the process.

In a world filled with magic and adventure, the story of these Winterians and their battle to restore their home is one that will captivate you with every turned page. I cannot wait to see where the rest of this series will take us!

Snow Like Ashes is probably one of my most anticipated Winter 2014 title. Many of you can probably see why - Snow Like Ashes has a gorgeous cover (and it is gorgeoussss in person), it is high fantasy (who doesn't love high fantasy?), and the hype for it is pretty big. To make things even better, I've seen nothing but high ratings for Snow Like Ashes, which should hopefully pretty much guarantee me to love it too right? (Let's ignore the fact that I'm usually the black sheep for books everyone else loved.) After reading Snow Like Ashes, all I can say is that I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it like other people did. To me, Snow Like Ashes was just okay.

I'm sure other people talked about this before because you just can't talk about it when it plays such a huge part of Snow Like Ashes - there is a lot of world-building in Snow Like Ashes. When I say "a lot," I mean a lot. There was just so much information about Primoria, the world which Snow Like Ashes takes place in, throughout the book. There was world-building in the dialogue between the characters, there was world-building in the form of info-dumps, there was world-building when the characters look at or talk about certain objects, there was world-building when people talk about their kingdom and magic, and there was world-building in Meira's musing thoughts. Yeah, you get the point. The good thing about all the world-building in Snow Like Ashes is that I know Primoria really well and don't have any questions about it.

There is kind of a love triangle in Snow Like Ashes. As the summary of Snow Like Ashes says, Meira is desperately in love with her best friend Mather, who is also Winter's future king. However, one thing lead to another and Meira finds herself meeting a new guy, Theron. There was some thick tension between Mather and Theron throughout the book and Meira is in the center of it all. Both guys never admitted their feelings for Meira though, so it's not completely clear if they both feel the same way for Meira (I don't want to assume anything), which is why I call this love triangle a "kind of" love triangle. I think the love triangle was resolved near the end of the book - I say "think" because it is up for interpretation and there are no solid answers.

The main reason why I'm giving Snow Like Ashes a rating of 3.5 stars is because some parts of the book just didn't work for me. In a book where the main character, or any character really, is trying to find their identity for lack of a better word, I prefer it when the character is being more subtle about it and not so repetitive. In Snow Like Ashes, I'll estimate about 12% of Snow Like Ashes was focused on Meira's thoughts about her identity - Meira is trying to figure out how to feel like she truly belongs to Winter and how to be who she is when so many people demand other things from her. Meira had to spell every single thing out for us all the time; everything is spell out for us instead of letting us conclude all that for ourselves. I don't mind if Meira spelled everything out for us instead of letting us figure out things ourselves, but to do it so many times just got repetitive and annoyed me.

Overall, I did enjoy reading Snow Like Ashes, but I did have some problems with it. I think I will read the sequel, depending on how the cover looks like. But even if the cover of the sequel isn't as gorgeous as Snow Like Ashes', I'll probably read it anyway.

I’ll be honest: I was kinda shaky about reading another YA novel. Other than what I’ve already mentioned, there’s also the fact that I was totally let down by the overly hyped Divergent last year. I did have my prejudices, and I was really scared that I wouldn’t enjoy the book.

But I was wrong, so wrong.

Here’s the rundown:

Setting: Snow Like Ashes takes place in an alternate universe (read: fantasy), consisting of the season kingdoms and the rhythm kingdoms. While the different kingdoms and their domains occasionally confused me (because it seemed like there were just so many!), Raasch actually does a great job of putting them all together and making a new universe for readers to enjoy.

Characters: Meira‘s a kick-ass heroine. She’s loyal enough to know when to obey orders and feisty enough to let you know what she really thinks of said orders. She’s also vulnerable enough to be real. I loved that, despite her difficult upbringing and severe training, she’s still your average girl who notices cute boys (sidenote: average girl = teenage angst. Expect it, maybe even enjoy it!). Seeing her grow up throughout the novel was interesting, mostly because you’re able to see both subtle and overt changes that occur in her way of thinking.

Sir was a good character as well. Despite having a supporting role, he was multidimensional, and occasionally, even surprising. He’s goal oriented to a fault, which often leads to conflict with the other characters, but ultimately has everyone’s best intentions at heart.

now, about those cute boys…

There are two, which means yes! Love Triangle

Note: Technically this is a no for me. I despise love triangles. But anyway…

The first is Mather the King of Winter and Meira’s first love. He’s pretty typical as far as the “first crush” and “longtime friend” goes, but there’s more to him than just that. Raasch doesn’t really delve into his persona in the novel because it’s all in Meira’s perspective, but it’s pretty clear that Mather has his own issues that he needs to deal with. Then there’s Theron, prince of Cordell. His entrance is a little more out of the blue, but he’s actually quite refreshing. He’s actually quite different from Mather in that he doesn’t seemed as weighed down by the responsibility he’s bound to face in the future. Both characters show a great deal of caring for Meira, and although there’s a good deal of (relationship) development that occurs in Snow Like Ashes, I’m hoping that the next installment of the series will show more.

Story: Snow Like Ashes moves quickly, but the events that unfold feel natural, not forced. There’s quite a bit of action ( i.e. battle scenes) and a number of plot twists in the story, which makes sure that there’s never a dull moment. It’s high fantasy, so there’s magic in every corner of the story, but it’s done in a unique manner and this theme is actually explored instead of simply existing. I will say that i was initially wary because so many places seemed to be involved in the story. Luckily though, the story eventually focused only on three: the Kingdoms of Winter, Spring, and Cordell.

The one thing I didn’t like is that there’s a love triangle brewing. I just…. can’t.

My personal preferences aside, Sara Raasch is a wonderful storyteller. Her debut novel is wonderful!

Writing: Snow Like Ashes is a pretty easy read. However, if you’re like me and get confused by made-up places pretty quickly, it would be a pretty good idea to look at the map (it’s in the book!) every now and then.

Etc: Snow Like Ashes is the first book in a series, and is the only book of the series so far. The next book is set to come out next year. That being said, it makes for both an exciting introduction and a great standalone book!

There are 4 season kingdoms and 4 rhythm kingdoms each with people dedicated to their ruler and kingdom as they can be. Magic is an underlying theme of the book like most YA fiction but this book manages to capture hope, wanting a sense of belonging and love for home. The motivation of the antagonist is rather sketchy but the twists and turns in the story will keep you captivated throughout.
Meira is enough to carry the book through, her feelings and thoughts pull at your heart. The characters around her are vibrantly portrayed and you can picture them with very little effort.
Strong lines and clean language. It is a book worth reading

The high fantasy world that Sara has created is truly remarkable and unique; there are eight kingdoms in Primoria, four Rhythms with changing seasons, and four Season kingdoms. During the novel's time, one of the Seasons, Winter, has been sacked by Spring and its ruthless ruler. The story follows Meira, an orphaned girl that is one of eight surviving Winterian refugees; eight people who have devoted their lives to freeing Winter.

The world building was done wonderfully and it was very interesting to learn more about each kingdom. I thought it was interesting how Sara chose to make Spring the destructive, deadly force and Winter the victim since normally we associate winter with death (such as of trees) and spring with new life and new beginnings. The world building was perhaps the best and most unique of all the YA high fantasy novels I've read.

However, I thought the book started a little slow and took some time to get into, but at around 40-50% through, it started getting really good and after that, I finished it in about two days. The drag in the beginning is the reason why I didn't give this five stars.

In terms of characters, Sara does an amazing job making Angra, the ruler of Spring, a truly detestable villain with no redeeming qualities. Normally, I'd find something good about the villain that makes him or her remotely redeemable, and sometimes I even like the antagonist, but Angra is someone that I loved to hate throughout the entire story. The love triangle between Meira, Mather, and Theron adds a nice spark of romance to the otherwise action packed novel and I jumped from both guys throughout. At first I rooted for Mather, then when I found out what Sir and Mather did, I was Team Theron and remained that way for most of the book (he gets bonus points for being so selfless!), and sort of went neutral at the end, mainly because I felt so bad for Mather.

Overall, Snow Like Ashes has a slow beginning but the fast paced nature of the second half makes up for that, and the world building and characters are truly amazing. :-)

Snow Like Ashes was a hot mess. The synopsis promised a heartbroken girl, a fierce warrior, and a hero in the making. I read the entire book and didn’t read about any of these things. Instead what greeted me was an impulsive main character that was a sub-par fighter who might be able to win back a kingdom.

My first inkling that something was wrong in Snow Like Ashes was the world building. The quick run down is that there are eight kingdoms, four of them are the four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and autumn) and then there are four other kingdoms, the rhythms. My take away was that the rhythms are cool but not as cool as the seasons. The world building was all over the place and I never got a good sense of place. All of the scenes and character interactions felt free standing rather than having a good sense of place.

My second inkling that something was terribly wrong was Meira. The main character had a death wish. She was a poorly trained fighter who was constantly ignoring orders and putting herself, and those around her, in danger. I’m not a fan of fight sequences and there were a lot of them. In more than one of these fights Meira ended up passing out or being knocked out by her opponent. I’m not a trained fighter or anything but if I kept getting knocked out by my opponent I would eventually expect to be stabbed, or at the bare minimum I would probably start re-evaluating my career choices. But not Meira!

I think my last straw with Snow Like Ashes came when Meira who desperately wants to be taken seriously as a fighter suddenly has a love triangle form around her. A love-triangle which consisted of her, a king, and a prince! I’m not a fan of love triangles generally but I can put up with one. The problem with this triangle was that it had no love. I couldn’t get a sense of Meira’s feelings for either boy and thusly didn’t care about them.

Overall, Snow Like Ashes confused me. From the shoddy world building, to the loveless love triangle I was lost. I’ve looked around and a lot of other readers seemed to enjoy this story, which makes me wonder if I read the same book as everyone else. But hey, if you like high fantasy and fight sequences this might just be the book for you even if it wasn’t my thing.

Beautiful world building, a spunky heroin that modern reads will love, magic, battles, secret plots, romance - Snow Like Ashes has everything you could want in an epic fantasy.

Snow Like Ashes reminds me of Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, which I loved. It shares that same basic plot line - a kingdom destroyed and a group of survivors searching for a way to save their fellow refugees from work camps and poverty and to return to their lost kingdom. The action in this book is beautifully written and the romance is a sweet undercurrent to the main story of our heroine learning to find and value her worth. I saw the main plot twist coming (no, I'm not going to tell you want it is), but that didn't detract from this wonderful book. If you're not a fan of long fantasy series, you could easily leave this book where it finishes, but I for one can't wait to see where the story goes next.

Highly enjoyed and highly recommended.

I was surprised at how wonderful this book is! I love a book that immediately catches my attention, makes me love the main characters, and pulls me completely into the plot. This is one of those books! I loved it. I got lost in it. I couldn't put it down! I dreamed about it when I fell asleep! LOL I guess this is how caught up I was in the story. Meira is a wonderful female heroine! She is strong, intelligent and realistic. She is so likeable that I felt myself cheering for her to succeed. This story has a LOT of plot twists that kept me interested and separated it from just another fantasy/dystopian novel. This story is better than the Throne of Glass Series and I LOVED that series. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the perfect balance of fantasy, adventure and a little bit of romance. This was a great escape!

This made for a really fast paced read. I usually hate love triangles, and this book does have the potential of that, but I have to say, overall, the romance was really non-existent. Which, in this stories case, seemed to really help the character and plot development. It was definitely young adult. No sex, profanity etc. Some violence, but I never found it to be overly brutal. I liked all of the characters, and the world that was created. The "fantasy" elements were pretty tame. There wasn’t an abundance of magic, etc. I liked that the heroine was strong willed and independent as well. I'm still undecided if I will continue this series. My main complaint is the price. Its currently listed at $9.78 and I feel that is WAYYYYYYYYYY overpriced. I would more readily recommend this book if fairly priced somewhere around $3.99, which is what I feel it was worth.

In the world of Primoria, the land is divided into four Seasons and Rhythms, and Winter’s citizens have been forced to be slaves in the Winterian labor camps. Winter is now a crumbling Kingdom and the only hope for saving it are the eight Winterians who escaped on that fateful night. Winter’s conduit has been split in two, and it might be the only hope for them.

Meet Meira; a training soldier who uses a chakram who is dying to fight in a real battle and is passionate about restoring her world to the way life was before. Mather, who she has fallen for, will be the future king of Winter, and the slaves will be rescued. In truth, it’s not as easy as it seems. In this lush, high fantasy world, the stakes are high and the action is higher you will be siding with Winter and cheering them on. This unique debut, Snow Like Ashes will captivate fantasy lovers and keep them needing the next book.

My thoughts: DUDE. This BOOK. This high fantasy and the world it was set in was one of the most unique fantasies I’ve read in a while. I loved the settings and I am very interested to *hopefully* see the other Seasons. I loved the action and Meira’s choice of weapon: who else uses a CHAKRAM?!?!?

I want one of those RIGHT NOWWWWW. The twist in the middle of the story turns the tables and leaves you going like this:

All of a sudden, the stakes are higher, and action is abundant towards the end. Meira reminds me of Tris a little: she’s a bada**, and she fights for what she knows is right. Props to you, Meira. The cover of SLA is GORGEOUS as is Ice Like Fire’s cover. I really liked the writing and just the atmosphere of the story. You could really imagine the story play out in your head, and it was so much FUN reading this. The map is awesome too, and the idea for the conduits is so cool. Let me give you the rundown-each kingdom has a conduit, or a symbol of their land. Each conduit is the magic source for the kingdom, and it can be harnessed but ONLY in that kingdom. SO, in conclusion, Snow like Ashes was an AWESOME, original fantasy that I recommend for any fantasy lover or someone just looking for an enthralling story.

I had so much feels in this book. This is now my favorite high fantasy book, the only one that I wish I could crawl into and live there. Only a handful of books made me wish that since I have always been pretty satisfied to see the characters living in their own world, but Snow Like Ashes made me want to not just see it in my mind, but to feel it as if it is my own.

I love the world-building of this one. I'm in love with Sara Raasch's brain, and her talent in weaving words together and make them appear magical, and with her world that takes me back to my childhood where I wished there was magic--but this time so I could live in Primoria.

Meira, the Winterian girl who tells the story of her kingdom, is just what I want when it comes to female characters. She has a backbone as firm as a steel, and a personality that somehow remind me of my own (though she's more badass than I can only hope to be). Her fears, doubts, selfishness, and immature thoughts felt genuine--so genuine that even though this is a fictional book and a high fantasy at that, her character felt realistic. Meira is more realistic than many other female characters I have read in contemporary books. The thing that made me like her more is her flaws. It's very amusing to know that she's weak when it comes to handsome guys getting in her line of sight. In all her badassness (I firmly believe this should be a word), she gets weak in the knees when there is a hot guy around. It should be annoying, but the way it is written made it amusing instead. It'sa good thing she didn't wallow in girly, dreamy thoughts over hot guys when they are not around--out of sight, out of mind.

This book awakened my enthusiasm and violent reactions when I'm reading. I didn't just breeze through the whole thing like I always do recently. Snow Like Ashes actually made me scream in frustration, straighten my spine in excitement, kept me on the edge of my seat in anticipation, punch the air and squeal in delight when something good happens, made my heart thunder in my chest as if there was a battalion of horses beating against it, made me heave a huge breath of relief, and even proved that I'm not completely numb to emotional pain that stirs a few tears. I used to do all that once upon a time, but too many dull books and bad plots/character developments have dampened that enthusiasm. In Snow Like Ashes, though, my reactions flew out of me as if they were never snuffed out at all.

Sara Raasch's magical talent in forming words that drip with emotion also helped restore that enthusiasm. I didn't just read those words--I felt it. I didn't just read the characters and sympathized with them--I felt them. I felt their desperation, their victory, their loss as if I was one of them. I didn't even mind the love triangle, and that's saying something.

Snow Like Ashes is an action packed, thrilling, and haunting read. It's perfect in its own way. It is worth every minute of precious sleep I lost because I couldn't put it down. It is an experience I want to live, a world I wish could be my own.

This was a 3.5 star read for me. This is a slow start book. It took me over fifty pages just to get into it and then the next 200 pages were fantastic and then by around 280 it slowed quite a bit and was a slow finish. Also frustrating, if this a series why not put that on the cover, book one of the Snow Like Ashes trilogy? I was trying to figure out while reading it whether it was part of a series and no where does it say that it is. You have to go to the Goodreads page for the author to figure that out. Speaking of the cover, not a fan. Looks like a steering wheel or a worm rolled up. As far as YA fantasy it's good but not a stand out. Maybe I've read just too many lately like Midnight Thief or Death Sworn and their storylines are starting to blend and sound familiar when reading.

Snow Like Ashes is Sara Raasch's debut novel, and the story of Meira was beautiful, tragic, and action-packed. She lives as one of Winter's refugees until she steals one half of the magical locket and is thrown into a life she never dreamed of. Between kings, princes, and fiery army generals, Meria must decide who she wants to be as well as who she really is before she has to prove herself to everyone around her.

Meira is a lovable character, but to me she seemed to act younger than sixteen in the early pages of the book and matured well beyond her years in the second half. Of course, war will bring out the best and worst of people, and that's most likely what happened to poor Meira. The most heart-wrenching part of the novel is when she constantly strives to impress and gain the affection of those who clearly will not show her any, although the reasoning for each person is drastically different.

Between Mather and Theron, there is no love triangle in my eyes. I loved Theron from the moment I met him, and if Meira doesn't end up with him I will be very upset! My preferences aside, the dynamics Meira has with Mather and then with Theron are so unique to each boy that it's easy to understand why she keeps them both around. Just like you can't help who you love, you can't help who your friends are (especially when they're as trustworthy as these guys).

The writing style is intricate for the fantasy setting, and each palace and new city is explained in such straight-forward detail that I could actually envision each scene. My imagination sucks in terms of forming pictures, but these impressions were great. While I would recommend this writing style for a younger YA audience (13-17 years old), I enjoyed the novel and I'm an old 22. Whatever your preference, it's something you could keep in mind.

Snow Like Ashes is a great novel, and I recommend it for anyone who is a fan of fantasy or simply YA books.

This book was everything I could have hoped for and more. Good story, good characters, good relationship speed.

If only it had been just one relationship and not two.

I probably could have even dealt with it if one was obviously the loser, if I could have hated one and loved the other. As it stands, I just want both the guys to win.

If not Theron slightly more.

Man, I just wanted to love this book so much. I love YA Fantasy in this kind of setting: a new world to get absorbed in that's obviously had so much thought behind it. I was enjoying the beginning so much that I didn't even realise it was written in present tense, which I normally despise.

As it stands, I just have no desire to actually read the second book because of the romance. I live for the romantic subplots in books and if you're into love triangles, then this book is perfect. Personally, I don't think I could survive seeing Theron hurt, and so I'm going to have to pass and pretend that he just lives happily ever after.

I loved this book, it was so engaging and thoughtful and the story was so fun! This book would have still been amazing and I would have still rated it five stars even if the writing wasn't the quality it was, but this writing really took my breath away. It was filled with insightful phrases and beautiful description and it gave me a feel for the main character Meira's situation. I swear this book was so good, it was one of the only single debut's this year to give me a major case of feels. I loved the characters in this story because they were so well developed and I loved the non-stop action that disabled me from putting this book down. I blew through this debut, it's officially one of my favorite reads this year!

I ended up really liking this, even though it was a little slow to start. It kept me guessing the whole time. Meira is a great heroine, and Theron was perfect too. I liked how this didn't really end on a cliffhanger, this part of the story was resolved but I can't wait to see what happens with Angra in the next one.

I've been on a little bit of a fantasy kick recently so, with a gap in my heart left by the endings of An Ember in the Ashes and Crimson Bound, I went in search of something equally amazing to fill the void. I didn't know a whole lot about Snow Like Ashes other than that I haven't seen many (possibly any) negative reviews in my circle of bookish friends. With a free Audible credit on hand, I decided to give this one a try. I went in with very high expectations and came out, well, a little disappointed.

---Characters---
Snow Like Ashes is a story of eight kingdoms: four Seasons and four Rhythms (more on that later). Meira is a refugee of Winter, having escaped with a handful of others when Spring attacked sixteen years ago. She has been raised alongside Mather, the future king of Winter, and their only goal is to reclaim two halves of a locket that hold all of the kingdom's magic. Of course, Meira is held back where Mather is allowed to go out on dangerous missions and she doesn't like that. In fact, Meira pretty much doesn't like anything from the very beginning of the book and that's kind of my problem with her.

From chapter one Meira goes on and on about how she wants to matter. We're reminded of this over and over (and over and over) throughout the book. Meira wants to MATTER, dammit! While she wants you to think that all she wants is what's best for her people, what she really wants is to do whatever she wants. I hate to tell you, Meira, but that's not how being a soldier works.... She doesn't want to do anything her superiors tell her to do - she does everything her way. She doesn't want to stay at home and let the more skilled soldiers take on the Big Bad. When she is told she must form a marriage alliance for the good of the kingdom, she doesn't want to do that either. And even in the very end when she gets what is arguably exactly what she wants, she finds a way to complain about how maybe she doesn't want to do that either. Meira was whiney and selfish and kind of a brat and I feel terrible for saying so because I know that pretty much everyone loved her and thought she was super amazing!

Mather and Theron are the two love interests (there always have to be at least two, you know!) and both are future kings. Meira has a tough life. Like I've already said, Meira grew up next to Mather, so it's not surprising that they feel romantic attraction towards each other. I actually did like his character a lot more than I liked any of the others. I really sympathized with his situation. It seemed like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place and my heart went out to him. Theron was a little more difficult to wrap my mind around though. Their "romance" seemed a little instalove-y, although it was not at the forefront of the story. The romance overall was just okay. I didn't feel anything strongly for either of the two guys in the way of romance, although if I had to pick one it would probably be Mather, just because they have history together.

The secondary character in Snow Like Ashes were pretty unmemorable, to be honest. Sir is the biggest of these and, while I felt a little twinge for him now and then, he wasn't especially likable. I felt similarly about the Winterians in the work camps.

Angra, the Big Bad, along with Herod, his minion, were... meh. They were largely absent from the story and never really did a whole lot of anything that would make me really too worried about them. A lot was -told- about Angra and the terrible things he did, but not much was shown to me through the events of the story. I feel like he definitely should have been a little more of an imminent threat.

---Setting---
The world building in this book was interesting, I'll give it that. Sara Raasch has definitely tried to create something unique and interesting in the eight kingdoms and their distinctive settings. I enjoy reading their initial descriptions... but that's about as far as it went.

Here's what I feel I've learned about these kingdoms: Winter = cold and snow + white hair, Summer = really hot and uncomfortable, etc. I didn't feel like I was there. I love it when an author is able to transport me into their world and make me feel like I'm experiencing everything right along with the characters. Unfortunately, I didn't get that feeling here.

I also thought the naming of the Season capitals were a little... silly. Jannuari, Abril, Oktuber... I don't buy it. I'm going to be really honest here: at the beginning of the book the author says she wrote the first draft when she was 12. I feel like these names were probably part of the first draft and should have been changed. It was unique, yes, but not necessarily in a good way.

---Plot---
This is my absolute biggest problem with Snow Like Ashes. If the story had been super awesome I could have overlooked the silly names of the capitals and maybe even Meira being way too into herself. But the plot ruined it for me.

First and foremost, everything was just dumped on me. Info dumps everywhere. That speaks for itself. More importantly though...

At maybe 20 minutes into this 10+ hour audiobook, when the magic of the conduits was first being explained, I knew what the big twist would be. I hoped I was wrong. I hoped it SO HARD! I mean, I'm usually pretty slow when it comes to figuring these things out. I'm usually completely blindsided! But this one was just so blatantly obvious. She basically tells you what's going to happen in the first couple chapters! But I thought that surely I was wrong. That couldn't be it! But it was. Still, when the big reveal happened at 9 hours in, I thought maybe something else would happen! Something even more HUGE! But no. Nothing really did.

Not only that, but did no one else find it super convenient how these characters just squeak past death over and over and over? Things just keep going right for them even when it shouldn't have. I definitely wasn't on the edge of my seat. Ever. Because I knew no one was going to die.

---In Closing---
I wanted to like this so much. I wanted to LOVE it! I even passed up reading Throne of Glass in favor of listening to this first. But, after reading multiple AMAZING fantasies back to back to back, this was a pretty big letdown. I did enjoy Mather and I can appreciate that the world was unique, even if I didn't love it. I'd still recommend it to fans of YA fantasy because this is one of those cases where I am definitely in the minority. Literally all of my Goodreads friends gave it a 4+ rating! Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

The concept of Snow Like Ashes is very interesting and fun but it doesn't stand out to me as a innovating and standout story.

I feel Snow Like Ashes may be more enjoyed by people who are a bit younger than 15 and/or need a book to introduce themselves to the YA Fantasy genre. The book covers all the basics of a YA Fantasy story; romantic triangle, clear good guy vs. bad guy, a world in dismay, and an "unexpected" plot twist. Besides a few original ideas, the whole book feels like something I've read before.

That isn't to say nothing about this book was enjoyable. I enjoyed the marriage plot, the mysterious history of magic, and really adored the ideas of there being kingdoms based on the four seasons (especially since Winter is the good kingdom, my favorite season). The book has a lot of good points to it and I can see why so many people have enjoyed it.

However, as mentioned, for more experienced YA Fantasy readers, I believe you'll be like myself and find the presentation of the book a bit bland and a little confusing. If you've spent many years reading YA stories to the point of practically studying them nothing in this book will come up as original nor surprising. It feels like it is following the basic YA story line and I knew what the ending was almost instantly. I will say in the middle with the whole "marriage scheme" it made me doubt my original guess because of how thing were done during this part. I'm happy it led me a bit astray there. However, I do have mixed feelings about this scheme because it feels like it takes up the majority of the book which feels a little misleading from the summary. Though there is a lot of fighting and some fantasy-magic elements, this majority of the book felt more political to me. Which is fine, but it wasn't the image I got from the summary.

The characters were decent enough, though the main two of the three weren't stand out. The main girl, Meira, who tells the story throughout is decent enough. She's spunky, intelligent, impulsive, and ready to help her cause. She also gets blinded by the idea of glory and acceptance that she is brash and can be a bit selfish. But I was never in love with her to be honest which I will explain below. Mather, a love interest, is nice…but he is boring beyond all reasons. I kept forgetting about him. Despite Meira being in love with him for so many years I couldn't see why other than he was attractive, kind, and the only person she's known that's her age. There was nothing about him that was interesting I'm afraid. Now, he is a very kind young man…but I feel like I get kindness and something else with other characters in YA stories. Mather just doesn't have much of a personality. Now, the other love interest, Theron was much better. Some might find him boring still (or at least very cliche) but he probably had the most standout personality out of everyone in the book. He actually felt like a person to me; someone who moved, thought, acted, and breathed.

Sadly, the writing didn't sing to me. The world-building was a bit fast and confusing. I kept having to go to the map to figure if things were actually places or people. The use of magic came out of no where that it wasn't shocking but awkward. And what's what (the chasm, conduits, royals, etc.) didn't flow in my head well. I was honestly confused throughout most of the book's world-building parts that I either had to re-read something a few times or just make-up something that was hopefully close to what the author was going for.

I think my biggest complaint was that I felt like the story was hurt by being written in first person narrative. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of first person POV, however I know there are wonderful stories that really succeed in this narrative style (Percy Jackson and Red Queen). If you write a story from one character's point of view, it needs to feel like we're listening to their voice 24/7. I need to have her personality, the way she talks, moves, and thinks constantly there--otherwise it feels like someone going "I did this…and then this…and then I reacted like this". I feel like third person point of view can be more forgiving for the "show vs. tell" factor. There are times you actually can tell because it's not necessarily in someone's voice. In first person, it stands out when you start telling the story rather than have the character show it. And I feel Snow Like Ashes is very guilty of this. I didn't feel like I was in the head of a girl experiencing a lot of misery and self-awareness. It felt like she was simply telling me she was wrong or that she was selfish or that she was angry rather than showing it. I 100% believe this should not have been first person point of view not matter how popular that style is.

There was some great moments in the book, I don't want anyone to get me wrong. It was a decent book. The ending, before the "plot twist" was actually one of my favorite parts. Thats where Meira really became a human character to me and grew interesting. Theron and his role felt a bit refreshing in comparison to other parts of the book and though a romantic-triangle is a big player in the book (sadly) I did feel like there was a greater sense of family relationships. Of people just simply loving and supporting one another for something other than romance.

So, to sum it up: it was a decent book but nothing original and the writing felt off to me. So 3 out of 5 stars.

I really how strong and independent Meira is, and how she didn't get captured whenever one thought she would and she proved that she can do stuff by herself. Mather at parts disappointed me but I like him way better than Theron. I think that the powers that come from the conduits should have more magic than healing or adding strength. But help her save Winter. It was a really good book.

I love the word building in this story and the concept of 4 kingdoms based around seasons with the balance of rhythms. I really liked that i was caught up in the plot that i was not even second guessing what was right in front of me the whole time. This story has adventure, twist plots, no love triangle but still a romantic element. I also love how we have a nice strong female lead that in reality becomes exactly what she needs to right at the very end. Their was no lagging, no really we are going to go over all of this again, i really loved it.

I loved this story about finding strength and believing in yourself. Meira and Mather are the two main characters and your hear from both points of view. Both are living a lie they don't even know about and when the truth is finally revealed everything is such a mess. Meira is a strong willed young lady and Mather is amazing. The surrounding characters are interesting as well and I love where the story went. I was also grateful to discover the second book is out so I went directly there.

Given the extolling reviews, I had pretty high expectations for this book. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed when the book did not live up to its reviews- to be honest the book didn't even live up to its promising storyline.
The idea behind the world in Snow like Ashes is innovative: 4 Seasons and 4 Rhythms. Each kingdom has a ruler that possesses a magical object in order to help their people. It was such a promising, different idea, but Raasch failed to develop the world to its full potential. You get a bit here and there about the history of the world, but most of the important stuff comes at the end.
The exposition felt slow, especially because I couldn't form an attachment to ANY of the characters. Meira, the main character, is annoying. How do you root for an annoying protagonist? She was constantly doing stupid things that worked out ONLY because she was the protagonist. The loveline presented has no substance; it seems as if Meira only loves Mather because of his looks (she literally drawls on about his smile every time he smiles). Mather himself is no more lovable. Although he does possess king like qualities, he just comes off as a coward. In fact, both of the main characters come off as cowards because of they have grown up together for what- 14 years? and they still shrink from their "love" for each other. The chemistry between them seems forced (probably also due to the fact that they are the only 2 adolescents for a major part of the exposition). Tensions were always present between them and not the suspenseful sexual kind. It was the awkward kind that made you wonder if they even had any smidgen of a relationship at all. The love triangle thing didn't work out either. It was the typical "love at first sight" thing with Meira and Theron. Although he also had likable personality traits, Meira's main focus is again on the boy's looks.
Furthermore, none of the characters had motive. Sure they did things because they were loyal to their country, but where did that loyalty even come from? Even the villains (who should always have a motive) had no motive whatsover. They were simply painted as one-dimensionally evil characters; they committed despicable actions just because. However, EVERYONE is shrouded in a non-compelling, mysterious web of a past that Raasch tried waaaaay to hard to weave. She crafted the intricate details of each character's history only to dump it out in a few pages toward the end.
I read a review that praised Raasch's writing style, and thinking back on it, I feel even more cheated. Her writing style was nothing special. There was no descriptive imagery. It was a straightforward type of prose that drabbled on and on about unimportant details.
All in all, the whole book was very static and predictable. The "plot twist" at the end was not predictable, but it wasn't satisfying either.
I was left wanting a lot development from the characters, especially Meira whose role definitely should have induced a lot more growth maturity wise.
I was left wanting more about the magic (how does it work? is there any limit to it?).
And most of all, I was left wanting my money back.

Why I chose this book:
A friend highly recommended this book to me. I originally got it as an eARC and then received it as a Secret Santa gift, while I read it as an eARC, I DNF’d it about 20% through, but after a friend, whom I trust greatly where books are concerned, recommended I keep at it, I continued, and in the end I’m glad I did.

My Bookish Likes:
I really liked the premise of the story. The kingdom of Winter trying to reclaim their people and homeland, while trying to get their magic conduit back makes for an overall exciting read. The concept of it all was awesome, and I really thought it was rich and complex.

My Bookish Mehs:
However, that complex concept was poorly conveyed to the reader. The first 28% of the book was full of long and monotonous info dumps. I seriously thought I would DNF it about three times, but only continued because my friend promised I would regret it later if I stopped. Also, Raasch’s info-dumps were needlessly complex. Yes, Raasch has a pretty complex world makeup, but I don’t think it was so complex as to need absolutely every one of those info-dumps. She could have spaced them out more fluidly, but she didn’t, and that made it hard to keep with it.

Apparently Raasch created the idea for this book when she was very young. I’m talking elementary school, young. Knowing that while reading, I could actually see that. This is a story that has been percolating for a while, almost to the point where she had so much world building and was so excited about it all that she couldn’t help but dump it all on the reader in one fail swoop. She easily could have separated bits of vital information throughout the novel where it was needed and throughout her next installments, but in trying to create a complex elaborate world, she confused me in the beginning with the names (which I generally am fine with) and places and kings and queens that almost didn’t even matter at that point in the book.

My Bookish Loves:
Theron. I LOVED that guy. Mather just was not doing it for me. He was nice and all, but I really like Theron as the love interest. I’m very leery about how the next book will be in terms of the romance, because I really don’t want it to turn out to be a terribly executed love triangle.

I also really really liked her time with a certain group of people come the end of the book. I don’t want to say exactly who these people are because I don’t want to spoil anything, but those few chapters really brought on another dimension to the story. And it was done very well. In my opinion, it was probably the best part of the book.

Final Thoughts:
I was glad I finished this book. It’s most definitely a debut novel, but it had its merits enough to warrant pushing through the info-dumping exposition.

I gave this book 3.5-4 stars (I can’t make up my mind)on my Goodreads.

Check out more of my reviews at ofspectaclesandbooks.com

What an exciting, epic, little masterpiece of a fantasy. I’m a sucker for maps, so this book had me from hello, and I enjoyed the history of the kingdoms and the magic. Raasch does an impeccable job of including information without overwhelming the reader because of the action involved: missions, secrets, persecution, and war.
And without spoiling anything… I just need to fan my face and say, “THERON!”
I loved Meira, a strong, capable (badass of a) heroine who isn’t perfect but makes realizations that make her completely human and easy to root for.
Readers are going to love this one.

I will be anxiously awaiting the next book by Sara Raasch and hope that the story continues on like this novel did. Snow Like Ashes is a great first novel that reminded me of Graceling and Girl of Fire and Thorns. The protagonist was strong and believable; an excellent young female role model who is willing to fight for her people and world she doesn't really remember. The passion and drive she has come from her "family", the remaining "Winter" people. The story is beautifully written by Raasch and I couldn't put it down.

I think most would find this a chick book but as a guy I thought it was nice also. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a unique adventure to follow with a twist at the end you won’t see coming. I will continue to read the rest of the series and I suggest you to also!

Oh man. This book was so wonderful. Since the first chapter I was captivated in this story. The scenes felt real, the relationships and the character developments were phenomenal. AND THE PLOT TWIST WAS SHOCKING. I'm berating myself , HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED IT. Guys, you need to grab this book and read the heck out of it because lord Jesus it it amazing. The writing is superb and the world Raasch made is beautiful. I NEED OCTOBER HERE.

I wanted to read this one because I enjoyed Throne of Glass and have been looking at other YA fantasies that catch my interest. The forbidden love aspect as well as how hardcore and strong Meira sounds. The cover also caught my eye, and then I read more of the synopsis and liked the way the world building with the different kingdoms and their quest to restore a broken one and regain their magic sounded like an adventure that I could get into.

I liked Meira right away and identified with her trying her best to impress as well as make a difference. Now, I am not a strong warrior or very brave, but I enjoy reading about characters who are. The political aspect got started pretty quickly and we saw the kingdom of Winter, where Meira is from broken, but fighting hard to restore their name. After a victory though they are left still wondering how they will complete the rest of their mission of restoring magic and gaining back their land.

Enter Cordell, where alliances will be made, but Meira will be put into a position that she never thought... But still in a position to help her people the Winterians. She just has to figure out how to accept her new place and how she can achieve the goals of the people without losing herself.

So... There is a setup for a love triangle of sorts, and while I won't talk much about it, I am less than halfway through when writing this paragraph so I will discuss a bit without being spoilerish. I obviously don't know how this will play out and if one of the legs of the triangle may end up being a non-issue in this one or future books. But right away we see how she is attracted to Mather, the next in command after his father and the one who has had a hand in raising Meira. Mather is a nice guy, and he is strong and kind. But I only ever got the attraction and the forbidden draw. I didn't have a good feeling of how deep the attraction between them went before Theron entered the scene. I ended up really liking what I saw of him because he is the one that shows Meira how while he feels like a puppet at times, he manages to do his duty, but still cultivating the parts of him that he would rather do instead of battle and history and leading... art and reading and writing. He does it, maintaining who he feels inside with what he must do. He always treated Meira with respect and kindness, and he let her into his beneath the surface. The royalty who talks to the servants and cares about their day to day. The man who trains and fights, but also writes poetry. I feel like I got more of his depth, and I feel like them being together is something that seems like it has to happen, but there is also attraction between them.

So much happened after the setup that I didn't take another break to write anything down until I was finished. Meira grows a lot in this one and the visions that she has developed into something that I started to suspect. It didn't take away any enjoyment that I saw it coming, I still had to see how Sara would write it and how it would play out.

Duty and loyalty and sacrifice are all huge themes in this one, and we get to see quite a few young selfless leaders in this one following an example of a surprise character in Meira's dream/visions. This is in sharp contrast with some of the leaders that are currently in place, they are all worthy of some beat down and eye opening on how they are really acting.

I enjoyed where this one ended, but I am surely excited to keep reading this series, because I know of several threads that while wrapped up for this book, I can't wait to see how they are going to progress and play out.

Bottom Line: Great beginning to a new YA fantasy series with a great main character and interesting set-up for the romance.

My Thoughts: I wasn’t sure I would like this one when I started but I ended up really loving it!

We are introduced to Meira and Mather. Meira has been raised alongside Mather by a man named Sir. At least that is what she calls him. There are also different people in different regions. At first their names (the way they were described) was a little bit confusing. But I picked it up quickly. I wanted Meira and Mather to be together so bad but Mather is going to be kind someday, or so they think so Meira is always too low for him according to others. Of course they still have feelings for eachother.

Meira also meets another boy along the way. He was a Crown Prince! Talk about a crazy love triangle! A future king and a crown prince. Lucky lucky girl! But her luck changes even more later in the book! That surprised me quite a bit but I should have seen it coming!

I also loved all the magical elements of the story! I loved that this one felt like more fantasy than anything else! I loved the plot and the characters.

I really loved all the characters and even though it had some sad moments, it was redeemed pretty fast and made me smile!

Meira is a great character to root for! She’s brave but also thinks pretty straightforward. She wants to do the right thing but she also knows she has a real soldier inside her and will fight right alongside everyone else. And Mather, oh Mather! Loved him!

I don’t want to say much about this one because I want you to go out and read it yourself!

Overall: Great debut! Can’t wait to read more! Loved the character development!!!! AMAZING!!!! A favorite of the year!

Cover: Love it! It fits perfectly! If I saw this in a bookstore, I’d have to pick it up!

What I’d Give It: 5/5 Cupcakes
_________________
Taken From Princess Bookie

A striking fantasy tale of dark magic, dangerous politics, and discovering your true self—perfect for fans of Game of Thrones, An Ember in the Ashes and A Court of Thorns and Roses.
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. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, Winter's future king—she would do anything to help Winter 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—only to find 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
THE FEELS ARE SO REAL.

I just finished this book last night and I’m still not over it. Oh my word, does Sara Raasch know how to write a book.

I only bought this book because of all the great things my friends Lia, Liz, and Mar (@three_bibliophiles on Instagram) have told me about it. They single-handedly supply me with a never ending TBR list.

In the beginning, I was sorta bored with it and I wasn’t really feeling it. But I kept reading and it just got better and better. Sara Raasch had wonderful story building. She made the world and the characters really come to life. I haven’t read a book this good in a while.
Her writing and the whole book really reminded me of the Remnants series by Lisa T. Bergren.

Let’s talk about the characters.
Surprisingly, I think there was only 1 character in the whole book that I didn’t like. That’d be Herod. Other than him, I liked, loved, or felt something other than hate for all the characters. They were all beautifully written. Sara created a perfect personality for every character.

I think there was only 1 thing in this book that I didn’t particularly enjoy. At times, it just felt overly descriptive. I felt like some description was unnecessary.

As for cleanliness…
This book was surprisingly cleaner than I was expecting. Only a few uses of profanity, and all of it was minor and infrequent. Nothing suggestive happened. There was 1 instance where Herod was assumed to be trying to force her into intimacy, but it never happened. Another scene had Meira thinking about Theron naked, because he was changing in a room next door. But nothing was elaborated from that.

Overall, I am considering this one of my new favorite books. I am so excited for the sequel to come out soon, and I will be reading it asap.

-Lilian-

*Check out my blog, liliansbookstuff.wordpress.com*

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch is a fantasy filled with beautiful words describing the world and its people; a twist on seasons and nature. I cheered the characters on and I laughed out loud at the wonderful dialogue. The author brings everything into this book-adventure, action, magic, a sense of humor, a dark evil and a brave protagonist. I am so very happy that there are going to be more books added to Snow Like Ashes to make it a series. I absolutely love this book!

Tackling SNOW LIKE ASHES was hard at first—it’s very information heavy and I’ll be honest, confusing. My head hurt trying to keep up with the kingdoms, the capitols, the kings and queens, the alliances, and the magic rules. But once I started to catch on, the story had me. Raasch has written some kick-ass characters and put a lot of thought into her plot. I LOVED the twists (I want to gush about a particular one, but I don’t want to spoil!), LOVED the action and LOVED the character growth. And there is no love tringle… there’s only Theron ;) Can’t wait for ICE LIKE FIRE.

I almost stopped half way through this book. It is very wordy and you sometimes feel bogged down by the history of the world the author has created. Thankfully I made myself continue and for that I found a satisfying story and a well developed society built on magic and power. Its characters are memorable and likeable. Overall, a substantial read filled with loyalty, love, and mystery...

I was so surprised by how much I loved Snow Like Ashes! I went into this novel knowing very little about it and I really enjoyed the whole storyline. The world building was great, and I really loved the concept of the world Raasch created. Can't wait to continue this story in the next book!

I love absolutely everything about this book!! Right from the start the action sucked me in and then the world and the characters kept me reading through. One of the things I loved most about this story was the incredible world. It was unlike anything I've read before, which is rare when reading an epic fantasy. Each kingdom was diverse and authentic and engrossing. I wanted to call a travel agent book a vacation because they felt that real!!

Then there were the characters. They were so vividly described and easily imagined. Meira was strong, but flawed in all the right ways and don't even get me started on Mather!!

My heart belongs to Snow Like Ashes! It was the best high fantasy I've read since Brandon Sanderson. SLA is proof that YA encompasses quality genre fiction!

Wow. This book is incredible.

I've had the pleasure of getting to know Sara Raasch over the past year, as we both worked on marketing our YA debuts together in the YA Valentine's Group. It's always scary, reading a friend's book, because you don't want to hate it. You're afraid they'll ask, and you don't want to have to tell them the truth.

The good news is, SNOW LIKE ASHES rocked. The story is so incredibly unique, set in a fantasy world split into literal seasons. I loved that on concept alone. The characters were wonderfully done, and the fact that Sara Raasch had been working on this story since she was a little girl made it that much more interesting to read. She knows this world, and these characters, inside and out---and it shows. The writing style really flows, something that I always love to see in a debut!

I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series. I especially can't wait to see the next cover, as the one for SNOW LIKE ASHES is beautifully done.

This book was one of the best I've read in a while. It can be really hard to find an author who really connects you to the characters and also writes a really great story, but Ms. Raasch really brought me into this world, I loved the new IDE of the seasons and rhythms and I cant Wai to see what she does next, I'll definitely be reading her next book!!

"All these little pieces combining to create one giant, volatile snowstorm, something beautiful and dangerous and epic. "

A line I have read in the book that would be the best description for the book itself. Snow Like Ashes is a debut novel of the author Sara Raasch, and it’s now on my top favorite fantasy read for this year.
This book is WOW.

It’s so great I’m having a hard time to find for the right words to describe how much I liked this book.

The world building is something beautiful that you would really love, it's amazing how flawless, it was created. I loved how the realm of Primora is divided into eight kingdoms, four Season namely Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter ((Winter's my favorite, just because I want to be called Winterian!!!!) which experience eternal seasons based on their kingdom's name sake. Four Rhythm kingdoms which cycle through the seasons namely Cordell, Ventralli, Yakim, Paisly. And some of our months were used as main city of each kingdom like Januarri and Abril which is very creative and lovely btw.

It's something dangerous, some chapters would make you hold your breath and gasp for air for a moment, some are heartbreaking and some would just send a cold chill down your spine. And so as its characters, some are dangerously deadly and I mean this literally, and some are just dangerously hot. (If you know what I mean) My favorite character is Meira and I'm still undecided between Theron and Mather.

It's epic, this book should be known and read by everyone. If you haven't read this book just yet, you really should because Ice Like Fire’s coming, soon!!!!

(Originally posted at my blog http://hercoffeeinkedtales.wordpress.com)

I've been putting off reading this book because everywhere I went everyone said it was wonderful and, honestly, I was afraid it would let me down. I am happy to report - it didn't. Not. At. All. Raasch weaves a fantastic world full of characters that I feel in love with. I can't wait for the next book!

I'm not usually a fan of high fantasy. I prefer my readings to be... simpler. But my sister recommended this book to me and I was hooked. Actually, no. I had trouble getting into the first chapter, but I can't put my finger on WHY. If this happens to you as well, just keep reading. The rest of the story is more than worth it.

If I could it more than 5 stars, I would.

This turned out to be a pretty good fantasy. I had it marked as a maybe, but that cover... I just can't help myself when there is a pretty cover involved. It took me a while to get into this completely. And even after I was invested, there were parts where I wanted it to hurry up, but overall I really liked it.

I'm not big into fantasy books but Snow Like Ashes had me hooked from the very first chapter. Once I had a chance to read, I could not put it down until I finished it. I need to get the next book so I can get reading it.

Specifically it seemed like a mixture of Graceling and Throne of Glass but with the worst possible aspects making it a very weak book. Between the un-originality and the underdeveloped characters I can't believe I wasted my time reading this book. It made me so angry. And after all the hype that this book received! It was a complete and total let down.

I thought the storyline was predictable but it was still a worthy read to find out how it would all come together at the end. I liked the character of Meira and felt she was "real" in the fact that she was willing to do what needed to be done even if it wasn't what she would have chosen for herself.

Horrible just horrible! I got maybe 50 pages in and was bored so I skimmed. Plot is good and if anyone else had written the book then it would be great. Too much drama and not a whole lot of action. Characters aren't all that outstanding but the whole four kingdoms each one being one specific kingdom the four other kingdoms each experiencing all four seasons is a great idea. None of the characters stood out and nothing in the story leapt out at me. Nothing special. The leader, Sir, is just a mean bastard always growling and barking and snarling at Meira. One of those typical books that is 3/4 drama and then the last 1/4 is action. The main characyer, Meira, whines and throws tantrums too much. She's immature for someone who is on the run since she was a child. Shouldn't one who has been on the run her whole life be more mature?
The author hints at romance but nothing happens at all which is a total disappointment. Something like a love triangle is formed which was a major turn off for me.
The "voice" of the author is boring. The way she writes I don't feel like I'm in the story like with many other books. I feel like I'm watching an indie film when I read this book. Just drama, little to no action and whatever action their is in the first 3/4 of the book was short lived and nothing creative. Their is too much growling and snarling from the characters. Too much conversation and feelings, not enough action. It's suppose to be a fantasy book but doesn't hold a torch to other books like the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare or Eragon.

The character development is excellent. Better than the early Marion zimmer Bradley books. An addictive summer read. The only disappointment ? The next installment in the series is not Scheduled for publication until October.

Love the story. A new author with a wonderful young adult novel that adults will find excellent as well. I did not want to like it at first then about a third of the way through it just grabs you and you can't put it down. I can't wait for the next one!!

At first the story seems a little slow and cliche but it ramps up the drama and action as it goes. I like how there was some romance, but it wasn't too prominent. Too many heroines in books today focus on their love and suitors rather than what's really at stake. I liked it and will definitely read the second book.

Overall this book was pretty amazing. The writing style was smooth, and transitioned nicely, and it does not hurt that the cover is beyond epic. While it was a little info-dumpy to begin with and has inconsistencies, it quickly gets better after the first part of the novel and has a lot going for it. I am truly excited about where this book is headed. I cannot wait for book 2 and some more Theron time….!!

Read my full review: http://readingtilltomorrow.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/snow-like-ashes/

I was a bit torn between wanting more romance and liking it the way it was. It took me a while to get into the book because at the beginning a lot of information is thrown at you. I loved Theron. He will be a great king one day, and is just a good person. What I love most about him is he allows Meira to be herself, even as a warrior. I will admit that certain parts of the book were predictable, but overall it was a very enjoyable read. I am very excited for the sequel. Hopefully, there will be some more romance *fingers crossed!*

It's been a long time since I read a book with a love triangle as I tend to avoid them like a plague. However, the reviews for this book have been so great - a cross between GoT and Graceling? Nope, totally wrong advertising and hype. This book neither has the expansive world-building and political stakes of GoT nor the strong characters found in Graceling. It just reminded me why love triangles are horrible - not only because they are cheap plot device to drive tension but also because of how they degrade character and drag out plotlines.

The beginning was promising. The world is definitively unique where there are eight kingdoms, each with a magic conduit with which the ruler can use magic to enhance advantages specific to the kingdom - from superior soldier to more efficient mining or farming. The story follows a group of survivors from the conquered kingdom of Winter. It was invaded overnight by Spring, its people enslaved, its conduit broken in half and the ruling family murdered except for one male survivor. The generated conflicts are interesting: the need to find the conduit, the need to overcome the fact that even if the magic through the conduit is restored, the user has to be female and not male, the need to re-establish a kingdom. On top of it all, there is the element of forbidden love as the heroine Meira is a orphan who is in love with the male heir, Mather. Theirs is a relationship built on years of shared hardship. I rather think Mather is a very interesting character because he seemed to see deeper into the world; he sees the inequality in not only among classes but also in those with magic and those without. In the first pages, he shares his desire to establish a "new balance". That is a love I can get behind, a love not only between two people, but a legendary one that can conquer class lines and instigate change.

What happens next? The book turned a 180 from a plot with real stakes to a frivolous direction of arranged marriage, heavy-handed angst love and all things juvenile (ie balls and clothing). I get that Meira's arranged marriage to Theron, prince of the rich kingdom of Cardvell,is a good political and necessary move. Unfortunately, there was just too much time spent on "does he [Mather] really love me to use me like this" and "he [Theron] is so hot". Theron is definitely a likable male but her attraction to him is so physical. There is really no tension between the two; Theron can be straight-shooting in his pursuit of Meira because he is assured in his position as the approved suitor with a rich and powerful kingdom as backup. There is no stake to their love.

Moreover, Meira turned from a strong-willed girl to one who is not only indecisive in her feelings but also contradictory in her goals. There was incessant inner monologue from Meira of how she wants to prove herself not as a marriage tool but as a fighter. She is too slow to see that she can be both. She is immature in her thought process and her attitude is shockingly brazen and rash at times. As an orphan she realistically has no social standing; yet she gets into willful fights with the leader of the group and storms into king's chambers to demand things. There are just too many inconsistencies. The author finds a way to explain this by a plot twist (a birth secret) but I felt that it only further undermined what started as an interesting plot.

Overall, this book held a lot of promise in the first 100 pages but perhaps because of editing pressure to sell, the author chose plots lines of well-traveled roads that dragged the plot and the characters to the level of juvenile fanfiction.

It's a fun new story that doesn't disappoint. The words never felt clipped or choppy; everything flowed together to create an exciting adventure filled with emotion and action from a brand new perspective. Great read! Loved it!

Overall this book was pretty amazing. The writing style was smooth, and transitioned nicely, and it does not hurt that the cover is beyond epic. While it was a little info-dumpy to begin with and has inconsistencies, it quickly gets better after the first part of the novel and has a lot going for it. I am truly excited about where this book is headed. I cannot wait for book 2 and some more Theron time….!!

Read my full review: http://readingtilltomorrow.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/snow-like-ashes/

I was a bit torn between wanting more romance and liking it the way it was. It took me a while to get into the book because at the beginning a lot of information is thrown at you. I loved Theron. He will be a great king one day, and is just a good person. What I love most about him is he allows Meira to be herself, even as a warrior. I will admit that certain parts of the book were predictable, but overall it was a very enjoyable read. I am very excited for the sequel. Hopefully, there will be some more romance *fingers crossed!*

It's been a long time since I read a book with a love triangle as I tend to avoid them like a plague. However, the reviews for this book have been so great - a cross between GoT and Graceling? Nope, totally wrong advertising and hype. This book neither has the expansive world-building and political stakes of GoT nor the strong characters found in Graceling. It just reminded me why love triangles are horrible - not only because they are cheap plot device to drive tension but also because of how they degrade character and drag out plotlines.

The beginning was promising. The world is definitively unique where there are eight kingdoms, each with a magic conduit with which the ruler can use magic to enhance advantages specific to the kingdom - from superior soldier to more efficient mining or farming. The story follows a group of survivors from the conquered kingdom of Winter. It was invaded overnight by Spring, its people enslaved, its conduit broken in half and the ruling family murdered except for one male survivor. The generated conflicts are interesting: the need to find the conduit, the need to overcome the fact that even if the magic through the conduit is restored, the user has to be female and not male, the need to re-establish a kingdom. On top of it all, there is the element of forbidden love as the heroine Meira is a orphan who is in love with the male heir, Mather. Theirs is a relationship built on years of shared hardship. I rather think Mather is a very interesting character because he seemed to see deeper into the world; he sees the inequality in not only among classes but also in those with magic and those without. In the first pages, he shares his desire to establish a "new balance". That is a love I can get behind, a love not only between two people, but a legendary one that can conquer class lines and instigate change.

What happens next? The book turned a 180 from a plot with real stakes to a frivolous direction of arranged marriage, heavy-handed angst love and all things juvenile (ie balls and clothing). I get that Meira's arranged marriage to Theron, prince of the rich kingdom of Cardvell,is a good political and necessary move. Unfortunately, there was just too much time spent on "does he [Mather] really love me to use me like this" and "he [Theron] is so hot". Theron is definitely a likable male but her attraction to him is so physical. There is really no tension between the two; Theron can be straight-shooting in his pursuit of Meira because he is assured in his position as the approved suitor with a rich and powerful kingdom as backup. There is no stake to their love.

Moreover, Meira turned from a strong-willed girl to one who is not only indecisive in her feelings but also contradictory in her goals. There was incessant inner monologue from Meira of how she wants to prove herself not as a marriage tool but as a fighter. She is too slow to see that she can be both. She is immature in her thought process and her attitude is shockingly brazen and rash at times. As an orphan she realistically has no social standing; yet she gets into willful fights with the leader of the group and storms into king's chambers to demand things. There are just too many inconsistencies. The author finds a way to explain this by a plot twist (a birth secret) but I felt that it only further undermined what started as an interesting plot.

Overall, this book held a lot of promise in the first 100 pages but perhaps because of editing pressure to sell, the author chose plots lines of well-traveled roads that dragged the plot and the characters to the level of juvenile fanfiction.

It's a fun new story that doesn't disappoint. The words never felt clipped or choppy; everything flowed together to create an exciting adventure filled with emotion and action from a brand new perspective. Great read! Loved it!

This was such a great read! I finished it one day and loved Sara's world-building as well as her main character, Meira - strong and interesting and not willing to back down on what she thinks is important. Enjoyed all the imagery/descriptions of the kindgoms as seasons and rhythms. Way to go Sara - loved that you started working on this at a young age and were able to see it in print as an adult!

This book was recommended to me because I read Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and I wasn't disappointed. Both books feature a female warrior, royalty and an enslaved/decimated people but that is it. Very enjoyable and nice twist at the end- you see it coming a bit but it was still very satisfying.
P.S. Please don't get put off by the 'winter' stuff and some of the descriptions in the beginning, it's not another book trying to be GoT. Enjoy!

I read this on a suggestion from my roommate. The way she described the world of Primoria was similar to Pixie Hollow. The story took a very long time to kick into action and, had I not been determined to finish it, I'd have chucked it in the bin before chapter four. I would not take the energy to recommend this book to a mature reader.

This was a pretty good book. I liked the twist in the story. I did figure it out, but it was well written. Hope this continues for the next book. Don't like series that I love the first book, then the second one is trash. Hopeful.

THIS BOOKS IS BRILLIANT AND I LOVED IT AND BREEZED RIGHT THROUGH IT! WHY IS IT OVER BUT I CAN'T WAIT TILL THE SECOND BOOK OH MY GOSH I WANT TO CRY.
Sara Raasch is an amazing author and I recommend this to every single person. The imagery and description was perfect, and I am just in awe. I haven't read a fantasy book in forever, but this makes me want to read more fantasy. The context and the words and just everything. Read this!

Overall a good series. However the words "snarl" and "growl" were overused to an irritating point throughout the series. Read by an adult, the frequent use of those two words have the potential for a drinking game.

Snow Like Ashes has a cover that does not grasp its true essence. This book is GREAT. In honesty, I wanted to give it 4 and 1/2 stars because it took me a few chapters to be truly intrigued, but once I was, I had to finish it. The story itself is good and the adventure and courage that Meira shows is inspirational. A definite buy. If you enjoy books by Sarah J. Maas, Victoria Aveyard, Kristin Cashore, or Kiera Cass, you are guaranteed to love this book!! Don't hesitate to get it, you won't regret it.

I had fairly high hopes for Snow like Ashes due to the great reviews and the fact that it's high fantasy. I love me a good fantasy novel. However, this book was not good. The world-building was lacking, the characters were obnoxious and two-dimensional, and the writing was bad. The pacing was super slow, and this book should have been at least 100 pages shorter. The author just kept rambling on and on about useless crap instead of explaining what needed to be explained, though.

Meira was a super annoying character. She whined constantly, and she was extremely immature. She also didn't grow at all, which made the book really boring. Mather had no personality in my opinion. He was an okay character, but he was just really dull. Theron was at least likable, but he was so stubborn. The other secondary characters didn't stand out, and I've already forgotten most of their names. None of the characters had any personality whatsoever.

The plot was pretty straight forward, and none of the "surprises" actually surprised me. The pacing was torturously slow, but that could have been because I didn't give a crap what happened to Meira. I actually wanted her to die so she'd stop her whining. The love triangle was typical and annoying. The idea itself was a bit interesting, but due to the lack of world-building, it fell flat. A lot could have been done with the four seasons kingdoms and the rhythms kingdoms, but all that potential was wasted. The writing itself was just flat and awful. There were tons of info dumps and certain parts of the setting were overly described, but the rules of the world were never discussed. The ending tied up everything nicely and left room for the sequel, but I wont' be reading it.

Overall, I'd recommend skipping this one. It does not live up to the hype.

This whole trilogy was amazing! All of the characters were well-developed and the world-building was absolutely beautiful. This may not have all the hype of other YA series, but it is well worth reading all three!

It was good and I enjoyed it because it was different from some of the other books that are coming out nowadays! I would also recommend if you liked this book, Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton and also An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. Both of these other books were phenomenal!!!!!!

ive been into fantasy books for a while now but reading this book made me feel let down about the story. I was told it was such a great book and really its just a average book with below average writing. im not trying to be a total hater of the book or anything but it was not what i was looking for. The girl is selfesh and honestly really stupid. The book has good creativity in it just the charactors and what happened did not satisfy me. She loves people JUST because of how they look. its nt what i hoped

Amazing read! One of those books that forces me to put aside anything else and read in every spare second I can get. Great characters and storyline. Only problem is - I have to wait for the next book in the series!