Snow Like Ashes

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch is a book I've had recommended to me more times than I count. I,

however, had so many amazing sounding books sitting in my TBR pile, that I just hadn't gotten

around to reading it. Then my husband surprised me with bringing it back with him when he'd been

 away on a business trip. He had told me that he wanted to surprise me with bringing back a book,

 and when he saw this one in chapters he remembered me telling him about it many, many times, so

he grabbed it and I couldn't wait to start reading it.

Here is the goodreads blurb for anyone unfamiliar with the 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, 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."

When I first started this book, I'm not gonna lie, I found that I could just not get into it. I was

dragging on reading it, as I found the first sixty or seventy pages to be really slow moving. After I

finished the first seventy pages though, wow I could not put this book down and it completely blew

me away. It reminded me a little of both The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Shadow and

Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Both of which I absolutely loved. Set in a dystopian world, the main

character Meira has grown up as a refuge. Her and twenty four others were the only ones to escape

imprisonment, the night that Spring attacked her kingdom of Winter. Through the years, this number

has dropped to eight, and they all carry huge burdens on their shoulders, as the people's only hope.

Meira's closest friend is Mather, another refuge who's special in the sense that he is the future king of

 Winter, and has huge responsibilities if their kingdom is even reunited.

Sir, who's in charge of the refugees, tries to keep Meira from accompanying the others on the risky

 missions, but she's not content to play the part of lady in waiting. And throughout the novel, she is

determined to carve a place for herself in the quest to save her kingdom. Towards the end of the

book, their is a huge reveal that changes a lot. (And that's all I'm going to say, as I hate spoiling

things for my fellow readers), but I actually guessed what this was long before it was revealed. I don't

 think that this was a revelation made obvious by Sara Raasch at all, I think I just happened to have a

really good guess this time.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. I gave it five stars on goodreads, and I can't wait to

pick up the next book in the series, Ice Like Fire. I believe it's going to be a trilogy, but I could be

wrong on that. My favorite quote from this book was: "Even the strongest blizzard starts with a single

snowflake." I loved that quote, and I think it sums up so much about this book perfectly. It also

reminds me of "If we burn, you burn with us," from Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. This book was

an amazing read, and I look forward to reading more of Sara Raasch's work in the future :)

I'm also unfortunately still having technical problems with my camera and laptop, so while I do have

 a few posts planned, until I can get the pictures uploaded that are currently sitting on my camera, I

 will simply be posting book reviews with stock photos from google images.

Disclaimer: I take no credit for the photos included with today's blog post. They were used from

 google images, and belong to the respective owners.

This is not a sponsored post. This book was purchased for me as a gift by my hubby, and I received

no compensation for writing this review.