Ice Like Fire Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway

I adored Snow Like Ashes, so I am so excited to be part of the UK Ice Like Fire Tour, thanks @Harper360UK for letting me be a part of it! I'm reviewing Ice Like Fire, and don't forget to check out the awesome giveaway (with signed bookplates) below!

Ice Like Fire
Author: Sara Raasch
Publication Date: November 19th 2015
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins UK
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~ 

 It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell.

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves?

Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats?

As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

Let me start by saying that Ice Like Fire is vastly different from Snow Like Ashes. If you're expecting a lot of action, strong, bull-headed- and frankly, badass characters, you'll be sorely disappointed. You see, you'll be frustrated at the characters, especially our main three, they all have their reasons why they act like they do, but they're different from who we met in Snow Like Ashes.
 
But.

Yes, but.

It's a necessary adjustment. Meira finding out who she really is, Mather finding out who he thought he was, and Theron (well, I'm keeping my mouth shut on him), they're going to be different. They're facing the truth and the lies and what it means, fighting and hiding from it at the same time. Of course they're going to be different. Meira's adjustment is realistic. She's just been handed a kingdom on her shoulders and has no idea how to be Queen other than trying to do what's best for Winter. Which is a lot harder when she's fighting being Meira, and trying to be Queen Meira, which ultimately leads to mistakes and stupid decisions as she's struggling to piece those two halves together.
 
Mather...Mather has all of those things taken off his shoulders-officially, but they're still there, and he doesn't have a choice or voice for Winter, he's angry, angry at that and angry at the parents he's suddenly got that don't feel like parents. He has two halves of himself struggling. Prince

Mather and Lord Mather, just like Meira.
 
It's the same for the relationships that leave the love triangle strained on all sides. Meira and Mather. Queen Meira and Prince Theron. The choice between what is wanted and what is best for Winter, and the blurred lines between that and betrayal.
 
Although Ice Like Fire very much feels like the Middle Book syndrome, meaning not a lot happens for most of it because it's reeling from the first and setting up the third, I wasn't bored. And that's down to the writing for me, it's easy to read, flowing and kept me reading.
 
We get to explore different Seasons and Rhythms, and discover more of the world Sara Raasch created, and strengthens the building. Which is also why we have two perspectives this time. We have Meira's perspective in first person present tense and the other (I’m pretty sure you probably know who the second perspective is, but I won’t spoil it in case.) in third person past tense, which I thought would've been my issue, which it was in the beginning, but I got used to it.
 
Ice Like Fire wasn't what I was expecting, but it's a great set up for what feels like a badass conclusion to the trilogy.

Rating: 4/5

       

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For my monster from his slab, began to rise, and suddenly to my surprise..

 

This Monstrous Thing
Author: Mackenzi Lee
Publication Date: October 22nd 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

In 1818 Geneva, men built with clockwork parts live hidden away from society, cared for only by illegal mechanics called Shadow Boys. Two years ago, Shadow Boy Alasdair Finch’s life shattered to bits.

His brother, Oliver—dead.

His sweetheart, Mary—gone.

His chance to break free of Geneva—lost.

Heart-broken and desperate, Alasdair does the unthinkable: He brings Oliver back from the dead.

But putting back together a broken life is more difficult than mending bones and adding clockwork pieces. Oliver returns more monster than man, and Alasdair’s horror further damages the already troubled relationship.

Then comes the publication of Frankenstein and the city intensifies its search for Shadow Boys, aiming to discover the real life doctor and his monster. Alasdair finds refuge with his idol, the brilliant Dr. Geisler, who may offer him a way to escape the dangerous present and his guilt-ridden past, but at a horrible price only Oliver can pay…

This Monstrous Thing is a hard one to review, mainly because it's down to it not being what I thought it was going to be. In some ways, it was great, especially in the way that attracts me to certain books and keeps me reading, which I'll get to in a minute. But, in other ways I felt it let me down because it just...lacked something for me. So I'll get that bit out of the way.