Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

22 February, 2015 Reviews 19 comments

I tried really hard to like Snow Like Ashes. Really hard. There are a lot of things a person might try to do. You can try to ride a bike. Try to draw. Try to, I don’t know, jump off a cliff. And that’s when I realized I was being completely ridiculous. You can’t force yourself to like something no matter how hard you try. So I stopped trying and just continued reading, mostly because I really hate DNFing books, and took the pressure off of myself. Needless to day, Snow Like Ashes never improved for me.

Be warned that this review will be full of spoilers, but not really since you can figure everything out by the second chapter. But I thought I’d at least throw it out there.

The basic premise around Snow Like Ashes is one you’ve read before. There’s a kingdom that has been ruined by an evil king of another kingdom, imprisoning its subjects and killing the queen. However, a few survive, including a knight, an heir to the throne, an orphaned girl and a bunch of other people who serve absolutely no other purpose other than existing. For 16 years, this group seeks a magic locket that will somehow help free their people and restore the magic of the Winter kingdom.

The story is told from Meira’s point of view, a girl who was orphaned during collapse of Winter. She’s just a normal girl trying to fit in and belong to the cause. A girl who prefers combat over dresses. Meira is not a terrible heroine, but one I had zero emotional connection with. If you are like me, you’ll probably start wondering from chapter one why the author decided to tell this story from Meira’s point of view. And by chapter two you’ll notice a few things:

– Mather, the heir to the Winter throne, flinches when he is referred to as the king
– Sir told Meira from a young age not to call him “father”
– The magic of Winter is always passed down to a female
– Sir never lets Meira go on the dangerous missions, but somehow it’s a great idea to send their heir, Mather…
– Mather feels bad that he won’t be able to use Winter’s magic even after they get the locket back

And if that’s not enough to persuade you that something fishy is going on there are these clues by 40%:

– Of course Meira would be betrothed to a Prince and promised a title after Winter was restored
– The Cordellan king calls Mather king in italics
– Hannah, the dead Queen of Winter, appears in Meira’s dreams all the time

Am I being subtle enough for you?

[spoiler]Meira is the heir of Winter and she’s one hell of a hipster princess.[/spoiler]

Unfortunately for me, that killed most of the enjoyment I might have received from Snow Like Ashes. Knowing the big plot twist from the very beginning diminished my anticipation of getting to the end and having that “AH HA!” moment that I love so much in stories.

The world in Snow Like Ashes is a basic one. There are 8 kingdoms: 4 Seasons and 4 Rhythms, each with their own conduit filled with magic. Spring is ruled by Angra, a dominating and oppressive leader hell bent on destroying Winter. The reason why he’s so focused isn’t very clear and I’m thinking that might be part of the deeper plot of the trilogy. The issue I had is how the world is described to the reader. Info dumps plague Snow Like Ashes in the worst possible way. But then it’s taken a step further with Meira giving explanations of the info dumps.

Just as Winter focused its magic on mining, Coredell focuses its conduit on opportunity–on helping its citizenswork a situation in their favor so they get the most out of it. Opportunistic, resourceful, swindlers: whatever they’re called, they can make “leaves turn to gold”–a Cordellan phrase Sir explained in our many lessons, referring to the fact that they’re so good at turning a profit it’s as if they make leaves on a tree turn into gold coins. That explains Captain Dominick’s curse earlier–golden leaves.

Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t need this explanation and many times it felt like Meira over-monologued her monologues and talked her way into complete circles. This coupled with a plot that felt very contrived, especially in the beginning, didn’t always make for an enjoyable reading experience for me.

– Meira is allowed to go on a really dangerous mission to collect half of the locket because Mather lies to Sir about her besting him in close range combat. A lie that was not at all convincible.
– This is Meira first dangerous mission and she just happens to overhear where the locket is located by people who were warned not to speak the location out loud.
– After 16 years of trying to get this half of the locket, Meira succeeds because this really dangerous villain put her on a horse, conveniently, without checking her first for weapons, and she gallops away.
– Shockingly, no one pursues her.

I just don’t buy that. Just like I don’t buy the names of the Seasons’ capitols: Juli, Ocktuber, Jannuari and Abril. Sure these may seem like great obvious choices to play off months in which these seasons flourish if you live in the Northern Hemisphere of the world. But if you perhaps live in Australia or Asia, January is the exact opposite of winter… it’s summer. It was little things like this that left Snow Like Ashes feeling very unpolished.

And now I feel bad because I haven’t exactly said anything good about this book. But the thing is, nothing really sticks out for me. Snow Like Ashes failed to completely capture my interest and, therefore, is more of a meh read. One that isn’t terrible, but that I won’t remember much about to actually recommend it to someone.

But there was one scene that stuck out: the dick fight. Prince Theron and Mather just had to flex their muscles at each other over Meira. I understood Mather’s reaction because he’s in love with Meira and doesn’t like the idea of her marrying Theron. But what about Theron? Pride maybe? Is he territorial? All I know is that, Mather started beating on his chest and Theron thought that was a great time to start comparing dick sizes.

“No matter what I use, I always hit my mark.”

Things just start getting more and more ridiculous from there with Meira’s monologuing.

No man can refuse to answer that call.

bear fight

It’s the kind of sword fight Sir has told stories about…

Sir, has warned Meira of these Mythical Fights of the Dick.

Meanwhile, I was all…

So yup, that was the best part of the book and then it got boring again. I find out the big plot twist and discovered… oh wait… I already knew the plot twist and that made that little scene really anticlimactic. At that point, I was just waiting for the book to end. I had gotten that far and refused to give up because I’m really stubborn and I enjoy torturing myself. Though, in hindsight, I probably should have stopped.

Basically, this book just wasn’t for me. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out, but if you do decide to give it a go and you aren’t impressed by chapter 5, chances are it isn’t for you either.

19 Responses to “Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch”

  1. Hannah

    Personally, I feel like Mather and Theron should just hook up while Meira rules the world. But really, that’s just me. 😛

  2. Lena Marsteller

    Do you think you will try to read the second book?
    I still haven’t read this one yet. I kind of want to… but maybe I will wait a little more.

  3. Jennifer @ BookShelfery

    Hahaha. OMG you hit so many point that I also had contentions with. Everything was very obvious, but I did like the world as it was described (however, I admittedly didn’t think about how peeps in the southern hemisphere won’t feel that same connection). The names were all very “America Singer”. We can make that a thing, right? She America Singer’ed her seasons.

    I gave it 3 stars, I think. It wasn’t terrible, it was a fast read, but I never felt invested. Probably younger YA fans will really like it though.

    PS: diggin’ the new blog layout, this is exactly what I have been wanting (for all the visuals and incentives to click)

    • Steph Sinclair

      The biggest reason why I thought about the Southern Hemisphere was because that’s where Kat is. When we first started blogging together, I legit never thought about seasons on the other side of the world! Now I’m always thinking about stuff like that.

      Bahaha @ America Singer. It’s so true tho! It’s certainly not a terrible book. Like, I can totally see the appeal.

      And thanks! We love it too!

  4. Carina Olsen

    LOL 😀 Gorgeous review Steph. <3 Now I'm kind of sure that I don't want to read this book anymore, lol :p But it is so gorgeous.. sigh. I'm sorry you had so many issues with it :\ But I very much understand you. I HATE triangles. And this one sounds annoying. Hmph. And the plot "twist" that you say was spoiled for you, sort of, that you knew from the beginning.. well. I sort of knew it the moment I heard of the book, because Fantasy books with a castle and lost princess or whatever ALWAYS ends up that way, hah. It happens all the time, at least the books I have read :p A bit annoying, actually. Anyway. Thank you for sharing sweetie. <3

    • Steph Sinclair

      The cover is one of my favorites of 2014. So pretty. I’m sad I didn’t connect more. Almost all the reviews I’ve read, even the ones that loved the book, saw the plot twist coming from the beginning. So I’m wondering if it was meant to be obvious? Either way, not my kind of thing.

  5. A. P. Bullard

    I love the amount of snark in this post!

    I have read a lot of positive reviews about this book, but I’ve also read a lot of negative reviews. Yours pretty much sealed the deal, considering how thorough and entertaining it was to read. This sounds like a book that would greatly annoy and, even worse, bore me. I would regret this purchase.

    This was a fantastic review, and I look forward to reading more from you.

    http://www.triskelereviews.com/

    • Steph Sinclair

      Thank you! I was actually trying really hard not to be snarky. >_< But if these seem like things that would annoy you, then it's probably not your kind of book.

  6. Andye @ReadingTeen

    Oh Steph!! I actually DNFd this one. Like you, I wasn’t connecting and things seemed a little to simplistic and obvious. I gave it to Elisa, though and she loved it. I’ve been trying to get Reagan to read it because I think it might be more her speed, being younger.
    The beat pic tho…

  7. Claire

    I’m glad to see a less than perfect review of this book, because so many have lauded it for it’s greatness, but I just wanted to see something a bit more nuanced?

  9. JoLee

    This review is such a nice affirmation for me. I STRUGGLED with this book–picked it up three different times. I eventually got about halfway through and decided I was done. And I hardly ever DNF books. At the time it seemed like everyone was loving it, and I was thinking, “what am I missing?” I just didn’t feel like there was anything fresh or new about it. And, like you, all the repetition drove me bonkers.