Sara Raasch's Blog, page 317
August 5, 2015
August 4, 2015
shaelit:
razmatazmaz:
katiecotugno:
winchester-with-a-wormstac...
In love with this video
I actually cried from happiness watching this. HUMANS! MOVIES! THE INTERNET! DANCING!
Seems like something that would be up @shaelit’s aisle.
HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?!
Seriously, I watched the video before I saw your comment. Loved it. (Also, makes me a bit sad, because I can’t dance.)
Okay this is just like insanely happy and we all need that in our lives
August 3, 2015
August 2, 2015
stardustbooks:
So what I’m seeing here is that THE ROSE SOCIETY and ICE LIKE FIRE both release on...
So what I’m seeing here is that THE ROSE SOCIETY and ICE LIKE FIRE both release on October 13th…
What am I supposed to do with this? Stay up for 24 hours to finish both of them? Which one do I start with? Why can’t I read two books at once??
This sounds like an issue epicreads needs to tackle in a Book Nerd Problems video…
akzfineart:
Book Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch5/5...
Book Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
5/5 Stars
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo.ca | B&N | Kobo
Synopsis on Goodreads:
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, 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.
Review:
Sara Raasch’s Snow Like Ashes was an unexpected gem for me. I was confident I’d enjoy it, but there were definitely some elements that bumped it up to a five star rating. To be honest, my first impression of kingdoms named after seasons felt cheesy, but after reading there’s absolutely nothing cheesy about it. Raasch has this skill to take wholly original ideas, add in incredible writing and create a novel I was hooked onto from the first page. I went into this knowing it was a series and Snow Like Ashes has fixed me onto it; there are a select few books that can do this! Make no mistake, if I enjoy book one, I’ll definitely continue with the series, but I’m not usually fully-engrossed until book two or three.
I loved the writing! Snow Like Ashes was a very fine example of 1st POV; the quality reminded me of Blood Red Road or The Hunger Games. I actually felt like I was in Meira’s head or even that Meira had a camera because everything she saw or experienced was described. I read an article by Rachel Starr Thompson called “How Writers Can Be Storyshowers instead of Storytellers”. To paraphrase, humans used to be storytellers so stories were told, with the majority summarized and action happening from a long-distance view. We really need to be storyshowers; writing in scenes and having our novel rely heavily on scene rather than summary (Thompson). Through talent and hard work, Raasch proves to be a storyshower.
World-building and plot. I felt having ‘winter’ as the protagonist and ‘summer’ the antagonist was an interesting twist. I generally find winter is associated with bleakness, cold and long nights, and in some fantasy worlds winter is not something you want; the protagonist may even be fighting against winter/a winter-themed villain. Raasch provided a refreshing twist on this archetype. Additionally, whenever I had a question about the fantasy world (ex. which kingdoms have female blood-heirs and which have male), it was immediately answered on the next page or chapter. Using the example above, I wasn’t sure whether the Season Kingdoms had all female blood-heirs (as I knew Winter did) and the Rhythm Kingdoms had all male blood-heirs (I knew Cordell did), but this was quickly answered.
Onto our main character, Meira. There’s always something about the protagonist that makes them extraordinary, but a lot of the times it can feel like they were born with this “something”. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I sometimes feel like the main character is a hero/heroine before the novel begins. Lineage-wise Meira is ordinary - her parents were peasants, which is about the only thing we know about them (at least in Meira’s POV) - and it’s amazing to observe her go from ordinary to extraordinary. The back of the copy I read described this book as, “a hero in the making” and as I read I could actually believe this. As Meira builds her own destiny, her actions make her extraordinary. Moving on, Meira is a very conflicted character. Her country was destroyed when she was an infant, so she doesn’t feel any emotional attachment to it. This in turn created guilt, and character development like such was just as important as freeing the Kingdom of Winter.
I really truly loved this debut! Tons of action, a conflicted but strong heroine, and great writing had me falling in love with Raasch’s fantasy world. There were some plot twists I did not expect - I’m usually pretty good at figuring out any/all foreshadowing - and there was one type of scene that had me pondering the dynamics/how it could be happening. I couldn’t decide if it was a dream, memory, or some kind of magic involved, but it stood out a lot to me! I’m extremely excited for the sequel, Ice Like Fire and what sort of challenges lie ahead for these characters!
August 1, 2015
Snow Like Ashes!
So, I bought this book because it had a lot of good reviews and I will just let you know now that all of those reviews are TRUE. This book was a roller coaster that never slowed down. The description on the book jacket doesn’t even begin to describe it, (Actually it is basically a summary of the first four chapters, but that’s it). There were multiple climaxes which eventually lead to the real climax and everything about everything was just inexplicably RIGHT.
So, basically Sara Raasch has given us this super cool sort of dystopianesque fantasy where there are eight different kingdoms divided into two different realms all existing on the continent of Primoria. The two realms are known as the Rhythms and Seasons and each of those realms is home to four kingdoms. Now, what would a good fantasy book be without some super awesome magical power to make everyone just that much more epic? Each kingdom has a conduit, an object infused with magic that only a person with royal blood can use. As if that wasn’t enough, the conduits were made even more complex (and kind of cooler) because four of them are female blooded, and four of them are male blooded, (meaning their power can only be harnessed by one gender or the other). The MC, Meira, is a Season, or, more specifically, a Winterian. Winter, along with Spring, Autumn, and Summer, is part of the Seasons realm. We join the story sixteen years after a major war between Spring and Winter, a war that Spring won. Twenty-five Winterian refugees managed to escape but the rest were forced into slavery by Spring. Now for the plot…(If the book jacket was not sufficient and you want to know a little bit more, like me).
We learn that Meira is an orphan who was saved during the war by the super intimidating, yet somehow very lovable, Sir. The original twenty-five refugees has dwindled down to eight and includes one super gorgeous future king, Mather. Miera, understandably, has a bit of a crush on our white-haired boy king but is unable to do anything about it because of the class difference (dramatic sigh). On top of that Sir refuses to let Meira go on any recon/spy missions to collect information on the whereabouts of Winter’s conduit, a locket (which Spring had destroyed). In an amazing display of epicness Meira ends up going on a mission to the capital of Spring. Using her general bad-assness and her insanely cool chakram she retrieves one half of the locket. However she also unwittingly leads a few Spring soldiers straight to the refugees’ camp. They are forced to flee to one of the Rythms, Cordell, to seek help there. This is where things start to go awry and Meira is thrust into a world she never dreamed she’d be a part of. Intrigue, romance, deception, and biting sarcasm ensues.
***!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!***
Well if you are reading this far then I am going to assume you read the whole book because I have a few things that I need to get off of my chest. First thing’s first…THERON! I just loved him from the minute he was introduced and I was honestly okay with whatever relationship ended up forming between him and Miera. He was an ADORABLE friend and that poem…I mean can we just talk about that poem?
Words made me.
They shifted over me from the moment I took breath;
Little black lines etched into my body as i wriggled and screamed
And learned their meanings.
Duty. Honor. Fate.
They were beautiful heart tattoos. (BEAUTIFUL FREAKING HEART TATOOS!!)
This is what did me in, from this moment on Theron was my favorite (Sorry Mather). The best part about this book is that you can’t not get invested in the characters. Sara has constructed this amazing world where feelings are amplified ten thousand times and then set on fire. I also loved the descriptions of the citizens of different kingdoms in the seasons. It was cool to see the distinctions between them not just in looks but in attitude and demeanor as well. It added a whole new complex layer of different races and how they interact to the story that made it just that much harder to put down. I have so much more that I want to say but most of it requires discussion. So, if you’ve read this far first of all, thank you (hope you liked it), and second of all PLEASE talk to me about this book!
<3
July 31, 2015
korolwhitethorn:
“So,” I start as we pull to the left in the...
“So,” I start as we pull to the left in the hall, “you’re the King of Cordell’s son. How’s that?”
Theron chuckles. “Beneficial sometime, horrible others. You’re beautiful – how’s that?”
Love thissssssss
