Book Review: Snow Like Ashes trilogy by Sara Raasch

Even the strongest blizzards start with a single snowflake

I’ve been wanting to read the Snow Like Ashes trilogy for years now. I had the entire series already on my shelves, but each time I started on Snow Like Ashes, something came up and I never finished. Then I found them as audiobooks in my app and I finally couldn’t find a reason to put it away if something came up. I listened to all three of them in just a few days.

Book Review: Snow Like Ashes trilogy by Sara Raasch

Rating:


Title & Author: Snow Like Ashes trilogy by Sara Raasch
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Release date: October 14 2014
Series: Snow Like Ashes
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Synopsis

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, 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.

I give the entire Snow Like Ashes trilogy by Sara Raasch four out of five hearts, but this is because the first novel received five hearts and Ice Like Fire and Frost Like Night received four hearts. I found the later two books just less good then the first. Also the last book was less good to the one previous.

Snow Like Ashes is a well rounded book. Meira grows from a girl who wants to be a soldier into a real soldier only to find out the biggest secret in her life. She works hard, which makes her grow and the story is really carried by her. I loved it and thought the world was well thought out and written well.

Ice Like Fire happens three months later and Meira is working towards becoming the good queen her people need. The evil of the previous book is gone and a new story is started. The story is still written well, but I found it became more confusing after the introduction of Mather as a narrator. I do think it is a necessity, but I didn’t like Mather as a narrator. I wanted to give Ice Like Fire five hearts, but couldn’t because of the annoyance of Mather.

Frost Like Night had even more narrators, making it even more confusing and annoying when it switched to Mather. I did like the addition of Ceridwen as a narrator, but her pov felt a bit random. This made me hesitate between giving this novel three or four hearts.

In total I think the entire trilogy is great, but it did slit down of it pedestal while it moved from one story to the next. The last two books should be read one after another, because it really feels like these two are actually one. It is a bit weird to see, but I do feel like Sara Raasch had already planned everything before writing the first novel.

Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

Snow Like Ashes
Ice Like Fire
Frost Like Night
Author

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