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A review by ihateprozac
Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
5.0
Snow Like Ashes tells the story of Meira, a refugee who fled when Spring’s tyrant used magic to destroy the kingdom of Winter. 16 years later, Meira joins the fight to reclaim Winter and locates a magical conduit object that just may be the key to turning the tables.
I let this book stagnate on my shelf for close to a year because I’d bought it and then prompty convinced myself it’d be your typical generic YA fantasy.
BUT IT WASN’T AND NOW I AM FULL OF REGRET THAT I WAITED SO LONG.
This is genuinely one of the most refreshing and unique YA fantasies I’ve read in ages, managing to seamlessly blend so many themes and elements in a truly unexpected way! It’s a high YA fantasy set in a feudalist world with magic/magical talismans, yet elements of the Meira’s storyline read almost like a western.
The mythology and magic system are suuuuuuper interesting. We have the four “season” kingdoms of Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn - and as the name suggests, Winter is home to snow and ice, Summer is eternally hot, Spring is full of warm and renewal, and Autumn is home to cooling weather and orange leaves. Then we have four “rhythm” kingdoms which are essentially typical feudalist societies who experience all four seasons. Each kingdom - whether rhythm or season - has historically had a magical conduit (object) that channels a magic unique to their kingdom.
I was overwhelmed (in the best way) by how much plot there was to this story! I’m so used to generic fantasy stories stretching out their shitty plots, and yet Sara Raasch manages to do in one book what lesser authors have done in 6! It’s action-packed and cohesive, with so many different settings and yet it never feels rushed. We have romantic development, character development, and plot development, in a time where publishers only like to feed us one at a time. It simply feels like Sara Raasch grabbed the story by the balls and absolutely n a i l e d it!
The only reason that I've rated this 4.5 stars and not a full 5 stars is due to a) the love triangle and b) the writing style. While the love triangle is a lot better than others I’ve read, I’m majorly over this as a trope. Writers, STOP PLZZZZZZ. And the writing style definitely isn’t awful, but I want more atmosphere for a story so deeply steeped in nature.
Overall: I am SCREAMING at myself for taking so long to read this because it was such a refreshing action-packed fantasy! There are so many elements here that shouldn’t work together and yet Sara Raasch has blended them masterfully. I genuinely don’t know where the story can go from here as Raasch took us on a crazy whirlwind of a journey, but I am so damn keen to pick up the next one!
I let this book stagnate on my shelf for close to a year because I’d bought it and then prompty convinced myself it’d be your typical generic YA fantasy.
BUT IT WASN’T AND NOW I AM FULL OF REGRET THAT I WAITED SO LONG.
This is genuinely one of the most refreshing and unique YA fantasies I’ve read in ages, managing to seamlessly blend so many themes and elements in a truly unexpected way! It’s a high YA fantasy set in a feudalist world with magic/magical talismans, yet elements of the Meira’s storyline read almost like a western.
The mythology and magic system are suuuuuuper interesting. We have the four “season” kingdoms of Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn - and as the name suggests, Winter is home to snow and ice, Summer is eternally hot, Spring is full of warm and renewal, and Autumn is home to cooling weather and orange leaves. Then we have four “rhythm” kingdoms which are essentially typical feudalist societies who experience all four seasons. Each kingdom - whether rhythm or season - has historically had a magical conduit (object) that channels a magic unique to their kingdom.
I was overwhelmed (in the best way) by how much plot there was to this story! I’m so used to generic fantasy stories stretching out their shitty plots, and yet Sara Raasch manages to do in one book what lesser authors have done in 6! It’s action-packed and cohesive, with so many different settings and yet it never feels rushed. We have romantic development, character development, and plot development, in a time where publishers only like to feed us one at a time. It simply feels like Sara Raasch grabbed the story by the balls and absolutely n a i l e d it!
The only reason that I've rated this 4.5 stars and not a full 5 stars is due to a) the love triangle and b) the writing style. While the love triangle is a lot better than others I’ve read, I’m majorly over this as a trope. Writers, STOP PLZZZZZZ. And the writing style definitely isn’t awful, but I want more atmosphere for a story so deeply steeped in nature.
Overall: I am SCREAMING at myself for taking so long to read this because it was such a refreshing action-packed fantasy! There are so many elements here that shouldn’t work together and yet Sara Raasch has blended them masterfully. I genuinely don’t know where the story can go from here as Raasch took us on a crazy whirlwind of a journey, but I am so damn keen to pick up the next one!