Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Title: Snow like Ashes

Author: Sarah Raasch

Publisher: Balzer + Bray (Imprint of HarperCollins)

Release Date: October, 2014

Genre: YA Fantasy

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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, 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.

Review:

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.