Snow Like Ashes - Sara Raasch
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/ Young Adult
Edition: http://tinyurl.com/l3sywpo
Synopsis:
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.
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.
Summary:
A brilliant debut that far outshone my expectations. A thrilling fantasy adventure with a strong and striking female heroine at the fore surviving in a war stricken world, where magic divides the nation.
My thoughts:
It's no surprise that this book was THE book of the year for me.
It's gripping, it's enticing and it's ripe with non-stop action, surprises and strangely likeable characters.
Snow Like Ashes has an incredibly well-developed setting and a completely engrossing story which is unique and breath-taking. The land is split between four Rhythm Kingdoms, kingdoms with seasons, and the four Season kingdoms, kingdoms that remain in their season respectively.
Winter lies in ruins. The few that survived were shipped off to work camps under the watchful eye of Angra of Spring - the one who brought Winter to it's knees.
Meira and her companions are the few who managed to escape the city before it fell and escaped Spring's clutches but only just. In a constant state of motion, Spring is hot on their snow boots and is desperate to find and end the Winterian line.
At the head of the group is Sir, Meira's saviour and her father figure that has both cared for her and trained her to be a resilient soldier.
Mather is the king of Winter but is ultimately useless. He has the confidence and the likeability to lead but lacks the necessary means to empower Winter - access to their conduit.
Each kingdom owns a conduit with which they channel their magic from, Spring's is a staff, Winter's is a heart locket, however each conduit is either male or female-blooded. And unfortunately for Winter, theirs is female-blooded, therefore Mather cannot possibly muster Winter's much needed magic in order to rebuild or defend without a female heir, whom would take years to master the conduit and its magic.
Despite all that's stacked against them, Meira, Mather and the others have a deep rooted responsibility to their people and will not give up until Winter is free.
Winter lies in ruins. The few that survived were shipped off to work camps under the watchful eye of Angra of Spring - the one who brought Winter to it's knees.
Meira and her companions are the few who managed to escape the city before it fell and escaped Spring's clutches but only just. In a constant state of motion, Spring is hot on their snow boots and is desperate to find and end the Winterian line.
At the head of the group is Sir, Meira's saviour and her father figure that has both cared for her and trained her to be a resilient soldier.
Mather is the king of Winter but is ultimately useless. He has the confidence and the likeability to lead but lacks the necessary means to empower Winter - access to their conduit.
Each kingdom owns a conduit with which they channel their magic from, Spring's is a staff, Winter's is a heart locket, however each conduit is either male or female-blooded. And unfortunately for Winter, theirs is female-blooded, therefore Mather cannot possibly muster Winter's much needed magic in order to rebuild or defend without a female heir, whom would take years to master the conduit and its magic.
Despite all that's stacked against them, Meira, Mather and the others have a deep rooted responsibility to their people and will not give up until Winter is free.
Raasch has built entire civilizations and cultures around the four seasons, Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter so perfectly that it makes you want to live there. I personally fell for the Winterians striking white hair and blue eyes. The many aspects of Winterian culture, such as frozen berries and the tradition of cradling a baby in snow after birth is just perfection. The harsh conditions of the season are reflected in, not only Meira's but, everyone's relentless mental and physical strength.
The characters are possibly the most well-rounded I've seen since Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy. Meira is frighteningly complex, fighting against her head and her heart in a constant battle of emotions. The side characters feel like anything but, each of them stand well on their own, their history and their opinions making as much of an impact to the plot as Meira's do.
Each one of them is well-developed and worth encountering even the villains, a perfect example being Angra, he made my skin crawl but I craved each and every scene with him.
And although there is a love triangle involved, I didn't think it in anyway stripped the story of it's appeal. For once, the love and romance didn't affect Meira's decisions, she is and will be very much her own person and I relish the fact that Raasch has decided to focus on this aspect, as many stories fail to empower their heroines in such a way.
Snow Like Ashes is a fantastic start to what is sure to be a new favourite in the reading world. Refreshing and magical much like the Winterian's frozen berry treat, I really cannot wait for more in the trilogy and will certainly keep my eye on Sara Raasch in the foreseeable future.
Final Word: Breath-taking and fast paced, Snow Like Ashes will stay with you well after the last page and leave you craving more of Meira, of Winter, and of her journey to reclaim what is rightfully hers.
Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
Buy: This one is a must have on your shelf.
Borrow: Did you not READ me? (see above)
Further Reading Suggestions:
Sarah. J. Maas' Throne of Glass Series,
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.
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