Snow Like Ashes by Sarah Raasch

I am so joyful to have read this novel. It was refreshing because of it's creativeness and it proved that there's still room for originality in the high-fantasy industry.

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

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.

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 basically this novel revolves around a Winterian girl, Meira, who alongside a handful of other refugees are trying to free their enslaved kingdom from the mad king of Spring. One particular person that she's with is called Mather, who is Winter's king, and they're kinda in love but they're also kinda not because they can't be together because he's royalty and blah blah. You get the drill.

The first topic i'd like to touch is how nicely written the whole thing was in general. It felt so poetic yet simple and I just enjoyed this novel so much for just that fact.

Of course  being written awesomely isn't the only reason why I recommend this to all YA High-Fantasy fans. The world of Primoria is so peculiar and awesome. When I turned the first few pages and observed the map I noticed the seasoned kingdoms and... that's just so cool! I adore that idea. One thing that I was a bit disappointed by though was the lack of information of other kingdoms in Primoria like Praisly, Summer and others that I don't even remember the name of... But I suppose that can be justified by the fact that this is only the first novel in the series.

But seasons aside, the magic was also portrayed in a lovely manner. Not the clearest magic I've seen but just original enough to be intriguing.

Meira. She. is. infuriating. I get that she's only a 16 year old girl in her adolescence and that she's trying to find herself and who she wants to be... but come on girl. get your stuff together. 

Don't get me wrong, she was WAY better than most YA female main characters. Meira was actually productive and toed the line of being clever at times.. but yikes, sometimes the little girl just shone through and I couldn't stand her. Like when she started stating and repeating the obvious over and over again.

And the weird-ish love triangle. Like guys guys GUYS. What was going on with that? Both Mather and Theron (Prince of another Kingdom, he gets introduced about midway through the novel) weren't very straightforward and stuff was a mess. Especially Mather was annoying. 

Now that we're speaking of His Highness, let me rant here for a bit. He was all over the place and nowhere at the same time. Like... his whole existence was useless, the novel could have worked just fine without him being a part of it at all. Except for the ending thingy which I won't spoil... but yeah. Mather was a no for me.

Also, the first few pages were pretty good, but around page 40 it started to go downhill and towards drama town. only at page 214 (Yes, I put a note on that page) shit started to go down!

What I found very disappointing was the plot twists. I guessed all of them. And I supposed they weren't that obvious... but my mind always wanders to worst case scenarios and you know. I almost always guess endings of novels; it's hard to surprise me. Still, that was a bummer.

Last thing is the cover. Now I agree with all the fangirls that are commenting on how beautiful it is, but there's something not quite right. It bothers me to no end that I can't figure out what the circle means! Like, I have no idea whatsoever what it could be. A conduit? Don't think so. Spring and winter? Maybe, but why in a circle? So many questionss.

Fear is a seed that, once planted, will only grow bigger

Lots of Luck,

Bee