Review: Snow Like Ashes

Snow Like Ashes
Author: Sara Raasch
Publication Date: December 4th 2014
Publisher: Harper Collins
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

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

The similarities to the Throne of Glass series are there, I'm not going to lie. But it's the same with other genres, things are always going to be familiar, and I guess with Snow Like Ashes and binge reading the Throne of Glass series over a week ago, It took me a good 30% to get into it. I wouldn't say it's better or less than Throne of Glass, because in a way they are similar, they're also not.

Whilst I'm mentioning the similarities  am a little disappointed with aspect of the plot, the twist that you can see way too early on in the book. All I'm saying is, I didn't guess with Throne of Glass, it came as a complete surprise, with Snow Like Ashes however, did not. It didn't ruin the reading experience, as you can tell with my rating and what I'm going to be gushing about in a minute, it was just a little setback that if were merely hinted at later on in the book instead of being so early on, it would've made it perfect. But, once you do know for sure, one relationship between the two characters makes complete sense.

Despite that, Snow Like Ashes does stand out on its own, because the characters are completely different, yes, some titles and aspects of certain characters are there, the essence of the characters are different. Take Meira, who only wants to prove herself, to be someone, and while for a while she wanted to prove herself for selfish reasons, she's easy to like, and sees her faults and wants to do better, she resonates with herself and do what needs to be done for Winter.  Compared to Celaena, who really doesn't give a fuck and whose badass from the beginning. See? Different. The growth of Meira's character though was done right, sometimes with character growth it's hard to do gradually, that when a character does something, you can see that change. The Meira we have in the end is still Meira, but a stronger character than in the beginning. It's funny though, because though there are other multiple important characters, it still felt like they were more supportive characters, and in a way, I did like that, since we got right into Meira enough to understand her. I do hope to learn more and go a little deeper with the others in the next one though.

I love magic in books, and I've probably already previously said this, but there is so many things you can do with it and it never gets old. There are different types, different ways, different why's and worlds, and Snow Like Ashes isn't an exception. It brings something new to magic, of magic being too powerful that also become Decay, 4 Kingdoms and 4 Kingdoms (you'll understand that after) had to bind magic into objects that became their Conduits as a source of focused power when needed. It. Along with Seasons as Kingdoms, and some months working the way in there spelt differently, made it a little jarring at first, but once you get into it, it's a pretty interesting set-up.

Snow Like Ashes lived up to expectations, and even though it was tough going for that 30%, the rest of it completely made up for that, and honestly I got lost and loved it, and I might have bitten all my nails off..

Rating: 4.5/5