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
