So, hey, everyone. It’s been a while…
I’ve been dying to write up this review ever since I finished this series maybe a month ago. I would’ve written it then, but I haven’t had time because I was busy planning my wedding and then getting married! 😀 Meet me and my new husband, Juan:
But now that wedding planning is over and I’m home settled into this new wife life, I can also go back to my old book life, which is pretty exciting! (Update: got another rejection today, one day after I got back from my honeymoon. Perfect timing, book world!)
But anyway: SNOW LIKE ASHES trilogy by Sara Raasch.
I was really, really excited about this series when I discovered it last year. I read the first one (SNOW LIKE ASHES), and then finally got my hands on the last two (ICE LIKE FIRE, FROST LIKE NIGHT) this summer. Meira is everything I need a leading lady to be: funny, badass, and believable. Her reactions and way of going through her life seemed real to me, and that’s super important to me while reading a book. Does anyone else act out parts while they’re reading? Or is that just me? Well, it ruins my scene when characters are unrealistic! I never had that problem with this series.
Since I’m doing a whole series review and don’t want to ruin it for anybody who hasn’t even read the first one, I’ll make sure I don’t do spoilers. Because I want you guys to go read these books. But I will say that out of the three, the first one was my favorite.
In SNOW LIKE ASHES, we’re introduced to Meira, a girl from the kingdom of Winter who has been in hiding with the rest of her kingdom’s inhabitants since Winter was destroyed years ago by Angra, who is basically trying to take over the world. With magic. Nbd. Meira, her best friend/crush Mather, and the rest of the Winterians are hunting for two halves of the deceased Winter queen’s locket, which holds Winter’s magic.
Without giving spoilers, basically everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and we end up with Meira in a love triangle for the rest of the series. Let me tell you something: I HATE love triangles. I think the TWILIGHT series turned me off to them forever. But Sara Raasch made me care about this one. Meira, Mather, and Theron are all great, deep characters, it’s easy to care about each person and what they represent.
It’s really hard to write a review on a series, let me tell you. So that I don’t give any spoilers to make you not want to go through the whole series I’m just going to do this:
THINGS I LOVED: The characters. This is a huge one for me. Bad character development will make me not even finish a book, let alone a series. These are real people with real problems and feelings and my heart hurts for each and every one of them. I also loved the world building. I’d almost go so far as to say she rivals the great J.K. Rowling in how she mastered her entire world and its multiple kingdoms and made it real. I do not give this honor lightly! (P.S. Hufflepuff for life.)
THINGS I DIDN’T LOVE: The second book in the series was a little slow for me. I felt like I was just waiting for the third one, which definitely picked it back up! You may feel differently!
I want this series to become a movie so badly. Come see it with me if it does and we’ll throw popcorn at Herod whenever he shows up on screen (you’ll feel it with me, TRUST ME). I’ve been using this series as a comp title for my own book because I feel it so much. Sara Raasch, you’re awesome, looking forward to seeing your new series come to life! ❤ ❤
Coming up next: Review of THESE THINGS I’VE DONE by Rebecca Phillips
Grievances of Grammar 