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. (Goodreads)
Like a lot of books, I have had this on my TBR for a while (surprise surprise!), I just somehow never got around to reading it. I have been meaning too, but it just turned out to be one of those books in which, it kept sliding down the TBR list until I had completely forgotten that I had been meaning to read it! When I saw it on Amazon, I just went for it! I wish I had read this book sooner!
I am not going to lie, it took me a while to actually get into this book. I felt that the beginning of the book was slow and I was worried for a while that I was going to end up DNF-ing the book! However, having said that, I managed to get into the book when Meira went through the rigmarole of getting half of the locket back!
I really liked Meira in general as a character. She had her flaws and she second guessed herself a couple of times, but she was still her own person – despite what everyone was saying to her. She did her own thing, whether she was allowed to or not! She also took a lesson from Theron and managed to stay true to herself throughout the entire events.
Is it wrong of me to say that I totally shipped Theron and Meira? I loved their chemistry together and the fact that they didn’t know each other – but got to know each other as the story went on. It made it more realistic for me. Plus, Was it just me, or did other people find Mather as irritating as I did? I don’t know what it was, whether it was his constant moaning or what not, but I just found him to be a difficult character to like and to relate to. Maybe he will grow on me within the next book?
I had already sort of guessed what was going to happen. Half of it at least. I had guessed from the ver beginning that she would end up having magic – it is one of those plot lines that is unavoidably predictable. I was not expecting her to turn out to be who she was!! I think I am happier that she is who she is rather than Mather – that probably would have bugged me!
Could I also say that I would hate to live in perpetual winter… or perpetual any season for that matter!!! I think I would suffer a lot in this world?? Was it just me, or did it seem like the author couldn’t think of a name for an imaginary place, so she took something from the real world?
I was worried about this book falling into the whole hype monster trap, but I was happily surprised when it didn’t!! I gave this book 4/5 stars.
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