Q U I C K S T A T S
Characters- ⭐. 5
Setting- ⭐⭐⭐
Writing style- ⭐⭐. 5
Overall rating- ⭐⭐⭐
// Content Warning: Blood / Death / Grief / Murder //
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Age rating: 13+
Genre(s): Fantasy
Pub date: October 14th 2014
P R E M I S E
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 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, 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.
M Y R E V I E W
In the most basic sense, Snow Like Ashes is a typical 'let's save the world' YA fantasy featuring 3 tropes I hate the most: chosen one, dead parents and a love triangle. I'm going, to be honest; the chosen one trope was written quite well but in terms of the love triangle... I just know the nice guy is going to betray them all or turn out to be the main villain to fulfil the childhood friends to lovers trope. I would agree to this pairing had the guy's name been Arthur because I kid you not, I spent the entire book pronouncing his name as✨ m a y t h e r ✨ until my sister informed me that it was probably meant to be pronounced as /mah-th-er/ ('ma' as in Martin and 'ther' as in Arthur').
Firstly, to start off this review, I would like to say I had intended to read the Avatar Airbender retelling (Set Fire to the Gods) before this one and how that order got mixed up, I don't know.
Meira was as plain as a Meira could get and gave off typical YA fantasy protagonist energy; 'I just want to save the world,' 'How am I to choose between these two hot men (even though I know I'm going to end up with my childhood friend who's got no more personality than a wooden plank but who cares),' and of course the infamous 'but I don't want to be the chosen one.' Girl, if I was the chosen one, I'd be up in everybody's fucking faces about it. You've got a whole kingdom kneeling at your feet and the stars know your name. This is why I need to run a kingdom; I'll show them how it's done.
Mather was... the one with no more of a personality than a wooden plank. Like, we get it, you're in love with your childhood best friend. Cut the melodrama and no, don't walk around shirtless while carrying a huge ass sword. Make yourself presentable. You could start with a shower because, at every mention of you, you're covered in dirt or blood, or even better, both. I've got so many questions for you, the first one being how are you still functioning even after losing all that blood? Did you turn out to be a magician or something?
(Me editing this review: Meira's a healer you dumbass).
And of course, the other guy in the love triangle was none other than the prince himself; Theon. He's the most intelligent and wittiest out of the two (I could go on with more positive adjectives of this guy but I know that the author is going to make him evil at some point). Since we're on that note, I have a statement to make; Sara Raasch ships Alina and Mal (characters from Shadow and Bone) with all her heart. In that case, ma'am please get one of your eyes checked because the darkling's left ear had more flavour than our man Mal (what about the other eye? you might ask. Well, that eye works completely fine because I despise the darkling with all my heart <3).
I feel like this is going to be a Grayson-Avery-Jameson situation (characters from The Inheritance Games) because when Meira is with one guy, she can't stop thinking about the other. A similar and more accurate representation of this case would be the Keefe-Sophie-Fitz thing (characters from Keeper of the Lost Cities). And if you're here to ask me who I ship Sophie with, just know that I don't. Keefitz supremacy <3
In terms of plot, the pacing was medium and the storyline was fine? I guessed about 3/4 of the "plot twists" but to give credit where credit is due, I was quite surprised at the revelation relating to royalty and... ghosts?
T R O P E S
Chosen one
Love triangle
S I M I L A R B O O K S
The Kiss of Deception (trilogy) by Mary E. Pearson
Ash Princess (trilogy) by Laura Sebastian
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