A review by mewsie
Lord of Snow and Shadows: Book One of the Tears of Artamon by Sarah Ash

5.0

This is book one of the Tears of Artamon series, which is about Gavril Andar, a painter living with his mother in the sunny paradise of Smarna. One day, after the murder of the father he never knew, Gavril ascends to the throne of the snowy and barren land of Azhkendir. What he does not know is that to rule as the country's leader, he must become Drakhaoul, a human possessed by the spirit of an evil deamon dragon. The Drakhaoul is an incredibly powerful being that can fly and burn its enemies to a crisp but at a very high cost: to retain his human appearance, he must consume the blood of innocent girls. Gavril is not willing to force this type of sacrifice and attempts to find the cure that his father had been working on before his death. While all this is going on, Prince Eugene of Tielen, a neighboring country, wants to invade Azhkendir and place his own puppet on the throne. Gavril is forced to make the toughest decision of his life: save his own humanity or the lives of his people.

This book was great. At first, the names confused me a bit but once I got into the story I was sucked into it. I truly felt sorry for Gavril throughout the book (but not in a "he's pathetic" sort of way) and understood the conflict going on inside of him. Also, Ash does a beautiful job of describing the different localities throughout the book. I'm looking forward to reading the second book in the series now.