Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch – Book Review

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: Fantasy, YA

First published: 2014

Author: Sara Raasch

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 and she would do anything for her kingdom. So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself.

Book Depository | Goodreads

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I was kind of disappointed by this book. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t that good either. It was very predictable and it also didn’t really seem to know what it was doing. It was like the author started out writing one story and then decided at some point to write another one, but didn’t bother to change the first part. For a 400-something page book, there wasn’t really anything going on.

Another thing that really annoyed me and made me just skim the last half of the book was Meira whining all the time about how much her life sucked. Which is one of my biggest pet peeves. I really didn’t like her as a character. I actually didn’t really like any of the characters. I didn’t dislike them or anything, I just didn’t care about them. Except for Meira, who annoyed me. And of course, there had to be an unnecessary love triangle that didn’t make me feel anything other than an intense desire to roll my eyes.

What I really enjoyed about the book though, was the setting. It’s a really cool world. I love the idea of season kingdoms and it’s an interesting magic system as well, in which the magic linked to one kingdom can only affect the citizens of that kingdom. I feel like this could have been a much better book if it had been better written, better planned out maybe? Because the idea was cool.

All in all, this was one of those books that will look really pretty on my shelf, but that will probably soon fade out of my memory.