Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

"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."

Snow Like Ashes has been on my radar for a little while, but I finally got around to reading it because of The Summer Reading Book Club! It was the choice for fantasy, and I'm really glad it was, because this book brought me through a whirlwind of emotions.

Honestly, when I first started reading this book, the main thoughts that were going through my head were "hold up i'm hella confused what is going on???" The world building was not a strength in this book. Raasch attempts to explain what is going on, she really does, but each explanation kept barley breaking the surface, and I still don't have a reasoning of what was really happening in the book besides the fact that Spring was evil, Winter needed rescuing, and the Rhythm kingdoms were assholes. I honestly don't know if this was done purposefully, to keep us in the dark about what was actually going on to help with the plot twist at the end of the book, but regardless, I'm severely hoping the next books clear up some things. I have no idea how the magic works in this series, which is a little frustrating, because the plot basically revolves around the magic.

Combine the above feelings with my iffy feelings about the characters, and I honest to god thought I was going to hate this book, and the hype train would let me down (again). The first, ten or so chapters were spent with me wanting to hit my head against the wall. Meira wasn't a bad protagonist, she really wasn't, but certain things she did (mostly pertaining to boys) just itched me the wrong way. I did like how Raasch did build her character through the final chapters of the book, which is actually what turned my whole viewpoint of the book. When the plot twist came and launched itself into gloriousness, I was so, so on board. Meira seriously turned the book around for me at the end, because she came into her own right of being a BAMF essentially, and pretty much decided she didn't need any love interests help.

Now onto the other characters: Mather annoyed the hell out of me, surprise. It was very understandable that Meira would have a crush on him, he's attractive and also the only other guy around who is her age. However, his whole demeanor just rubbed me the wrong way, and his little to none character development didn't really help either. Theron surprisingly didn't annoy me, and I loved his failed rescue attempt (which reminded me of Hook's failure to rescue Emma because she did it herself in OUAT). It was hilarious, I loved it so much, especially because Meira just turned around and was like "yeah nope saving myself you gonna help?" His characterization also reminded me a bit of Dorian from the Throne of Glass series, which is a-ok, because I love that series, and princes who rebel against their fathers just like in 90's and early 2000's movies (No dad, I'm giving up your dream) is possibly my favorite characterization of all time.

The only other thing that bothered me about the book was about how short it seemed. The chapters weren't very long, and overall the book felt a little rushed to me. I think a lot more things could of been explained if the book had, like, five more chapters, or if five more pages were added to every chapter.

All in all, a decent book. Final rating is 3.5 stars, and I'll probably read the sequel just to see how the story progresses.