Scan barcode
neeuqdrazil's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a bit to get into this, but once I was in, I was hooked.
The 'twist' was relatively predictable (although I wasn't sure it would happen, since it was so obvious.)
The 'twist' was relatively predictable (although I wasn't sure it would happen, since it was so obvious.)
panaceareads's review against another edition
4.0
I might have found a great new fantasy series so fangirl over! Snow Like Ashes took me by surprise because I didn't expect it to be this good.
After reading Red Queen (read my review here) I needed a fantasy book to 'wow' me and Snow Like Ashes did exactly that. I feel like everything Red Queen lacked was in this book. But enough about Red Queen, this review is about Snow Like Ashes.
The pacing of this book was perfect and the action scenes were long enough and described very well. I always have a hard time imagining a battle or fight scene, I don't know why. I also thought everything (the world, the people, the kingdoms, the magic system, etc.) was very well explained. The author spent enough time giving us the background information we needed to understand this world she built and imagine what it looks like. Overall I thought the book was just really well written. There was action and suspense. Maybe a little romance but not too much. It had everything I look for in a good YA high fantasy series.
I loved the plot twist that changed everything. I was already speculating at one point that maybe... but I couldn't figure it out until it was explained. The other twists and turns were really well done as well.
Meira is a great heroine. She has goals in life but she isn't afraid to change them. She isn't afraid to change for the better or to stand up for herself and her position as a woman in a world where basically everything is ruled by men.
I would compare this book to Falling Kingdoms, Finnikin of the Rock and even The False Prince (even though this is considered a middle grade). I got the same vibe/feelings with this book like I did when reading these other three. The plots of all these books aren't necessarily similar. If you've read these books then I'm pretty sure you will enjoy Snow Like Ashes too.
After reading Red Queen (read my review here) I needed a fantasy book to 'wow' me and Snow Like Ashes did exactly that. I feel like everything Red Queen lacked was in this book. But enough about Red Queen, this review is about Snow Like Ashes.
The pacing of this book was perfect and the action scenes were long enough and described very well. I always have a hard time imagining a battle or fight scene, I don't know why. I also thought everything (the world, the people, the kingdoms, the magic system, etc.) was very well explained. The author spent enough time giving us the background information we needed to understand this world she built and imagine what it looks like. Overall I thought the book was just really well written. There was action and suspense. Maybe a little romance but not too much. It had everything I look for in a good YA high fantasy series.
I loved the plot twist that changed everything. I was already speculating at one point that maybe... but I couldn't figure it out until it was explained. The other twists and turns were really well done as well.
Meira is a great heroine. She has goals in life but she isn't afraid to change them. She isn't afraid to change for the better or to stand up for herself and her position as a woman in a world where basically everything is ruled by men.
I would compare this book to Falling Kingdoms, Finnikin of the Rock and even The False Prince (even though this is considered a middle grade). I got the same vibe/feelings with this book like I did when reading these other three. The plots of all these books aren't necessarily similar. If you've read these books then I'm pretty sure you will enjoy Snow Like Ashes too.
bookswithnopictures's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 🌟
I wasn't surprised by anything that happened, but I liked the flow of the plot and character arc of the protagonist. I would have liked to see more detail in building the relationships between the main characters.
I wasn't surprised by anything that happened, but I liked the flow of the plot and character arc of the protagonist. I would have liked to see more detail in building the relationships between the main characters.
airamavitok's review against another edition
2.0
Καλή αρχή και προσπάθεια για τη συγγραφέα. Ωραία πρόσχαρη και εύκολη ιστορία. Θα την έβαζα 3 αστεράκια, αλλά η μετάφραση σε διάφορα σημεία μπάζει αρκετά. Και η συγγραφέας (κατεπέκταση η μετάφραση) χρησιμοποιεί πολλές λέξεις για να δείξει έμφαση και στόμφο και "το υπέροχο επικό τέλειο σκηνικό".
clazzi's review against another edition
4.0
I hate that it took me so long to finally read this! I had a lot of fun with it and can't wait to get into the next book.
darkestdreamer's review against another edition
3.0
I started reading this ages ago. I should have finished it much sooner because once I got started, I couldn't stop. This might be influenced by the fact that I'm on a serious Skyrim kick right now and this book just set me in the right kind of mood.
You have this girl Meira who can kick ass and actually kill people without making the biggest deal out of it. She doesn't want to but it has to be done. She is a soldier and most times she is acting like one, except when following orders and the like.
Overall, it wasn't much of a deep book. There are plenty of things to question. Like how the Cordall armies managed to win against Spring (whose soldiers everyone described as the vicious monsters who could literally turn into monsters) in that short time. Why was everyone so scared of Spring when it was so simple to get to the capital with little trouble and face off with this king who hasn't been seen in years? Everything seemed too convenient and easy. They were no plot twists that were even remotely surprising. And I find it hard to believe that winter was just left empty with no people there.
It was an easy read and I'll continue with the series.
You have this girl Meira who can kick ass and actually kill people without making the biggest deal out of it. She doesn't want to but it has to be done. She is a soldier and most times she is acting like one, except when following orders and the like.
Overall, it wasn't much of a deep book. There are plenty of things to question. Like how the Cordall armies managed to win against Spring (whose soldiers everyone described as the vicious monsters who could literally turn into monsters) in that short time. Why was everyone so scared of Spring when it was so simple to get to the capital with little trouble and face off with this king who hasn't been seen in years? Everything seemed too convenient and easy. They were no plot twists that were even remotely surprising. And I find it hard to believe that winter was just left empty with no people there.
It was an easy read and I'll continue with the series.
maggieha's review against another edition
3.0
*2.75/5 stars*
This book is the definition of MEH. Nothing new in this one.
This book is the definition of MEH. Nothing new in this one.
paladinphantom's review against another edition
2.0
1.75 stars.
This book had a fantastic premise, and the writing for the summary was snappy and enticing. I was so excited for this book. After finding out about it, I put on my Christmas list, and I was so happy when I received it. I expected to fall in love with this book.
And I...didn't. Not in the slightest. As I kept reading, I found more and more things to disappoint me. Meira, while not an unlikeable protagonist, was almost impossible to relate to. There just seemed to be this wall between what she thought and experienced throughout the book and my ability to care about it. For most of the book, I just could not make myself care. She whined about never being allowed to go on missions, and I just sat there thinking, "Well, yeah, you suck at close range fighting. No fucking wonder they won't let you leave. You're a liability. Boo hoo. Keep practicing." She was betrothed to the Cordellan prince without her knowledge or consent, and yeah, that sucked and I felt bad for her, but also she wasn't really in a position to bargain much and it would get their nation a military ally, not to mention that Theron was actually a good guy and trying to make the most of the situation too. So...yeah. Boo hoo. I honestly couldn't find it in me to care about what happened to Meira or really any of the characters until the battle of Bithai. Everything that happened afterward, I cared a bit more about. Not significantly, because Meira was so hard to connect with and Theron was really the only character I found enjoyable and interesting, but I did sometimes care when something went wrong for Meira after Bithai.
My second complaint is the world-building. It's extremely shoddy and handled so poorly. There are info-dumps everywhere. Freaking. Everywhere. There's an example fairly early on in the plot, when Meira and Sir first meet a bunch of Cordellan soldiers. When the soldiers discover that they are Winterians, one of them swears, "Golden leaves!" And Meira is confused but concludes that it's some Cordellan idiom. Then they go to the Cordellan capital and see a fancy gate covered in golden leaves. This is fine. If we'd been left with that, we could figure out for ourselves the meaning/origin of the expression "golden leaves." But nope. Ms. Raasch instead decided to write an entire paragraph of Meira explaining how Noam, Cordell's king, is so good at farm magic that Cordell can practically make leaves out of gold, which explains the soldier's earlier swear--"golden leaves."
These types of info-dumps are abundant throughout the book and frankly, they're insulting. Readers are a lot smarter than that. We can figure this kind of shit out by ourselves. We don't need Meira to explain everything in several paragraphs every time something fantastical happens. This was the biggest issue I had with the book. I constantly felt like I was being talked down to, like the author thought I couldn't handle basic fantasy culture. This book was written for a young adult audience. The people reading this book know how to use context clues and critical thinking to understand the cultures you make up and the phrases you give them to make them feel more real.
My third complain is about the characters. Theron was really the only one that stood out to me. Meira could get quite whiny at times, but was otherwise an alright narrator, if a little bland. But the other Winterian refugees? They all felt so two-dimensional. They didn't get enough development to feel like they were actually even there. I only remember half of their names and I just put the book down two minutes ago.
Oh, and let us not forget the "big plot twist" we discover when Meira is in Angra's palace in Spring. Yeah. I figured that out probaby in chapter two. It wasn't that difficult, it wasn't remotely surprising, and it was handled terribly. Frankly, it would have been more interesting if Meira knew that all along and we had the suspense of whether she could keep her secret or not.
I just...could not find many redeeming qualities about this book, aside from the fact that the plot from the entrance into the Winterian work camp until the end was better than the rest of the book.
Unfortunately, when it came down to it, this book failed to meet any of my expectations for it. I will not be continuing the series, and I will look forward to the day when I can get rid of my copy and get something better suiting to my tastes on my bookshelf.
This book had a fantastic premise, and the writing for the summary was snappy and enticing. I was so excited for this book. After finding out about it, I put on my Christmas list, and I was so happy when I received it. I expected to fall in love with this book.
And I...didn't. Not in the slightest. As I kept reading, I found more and more things to disappoint me. Meira, while not an unlikeable protagonist, was almost impossible to relate to. There just seemed to be this wall between what she thought and experienced throughout the book and my ability to care about it. For most of the book, I just could not make myself care. She whined about never being allowed to go on missions, and I just sat there thinking, "Well, yeah, you suck at close range fighting. No fucking wonder they won't let you leave. You're a liability. Boo hoo. Keep practicing." She was betrothed to the Cordellan prince without her knowledge or consent, and yeah, that sucked and I felt bad for her, but also she wasn't really in a position to bargain much and it would get their nation a military ally, not to mention that Theron was actually a good guy and trying to make the most of the situation too. So...yeah. Boo hoo. I honestly couldn't find it in me to care about what happened to Meira or really any of the characters until the battle of Bithai. Everything that happened afterward, I cared a bit more about. Not significantly, because Meira was so hard to connect with and Theron was really the only character I found enjoyable and interesting, but I did sometimes care when something went wrong for Meira after Bithai.
My second complaint is the world-building. It's extremely shoddy and handled so poorly. There are info-dumps everywhere. Freaking. Everywhere. There's an example fairly early on in the plot, when Meira and Sir first meet a bunch of Cordellan soldiers. When the soldiers discover that they are Winterians, one of them swears, "Golden leaves!" And Meira is confused but concludes that it's some Cordellan idiom. Then they go to the Cordellan capital and see a fancy gate covered in golden leaves. This is fine. If we'd been left with that, we could figure out for ourselves the meaning/origin of the expression "golden leaves." But nope. Ms. Raasch instead decided to write an entire paragraph of Meira explaining how Noam, Cordell's king, is so good at farm magic that Cordell can practically make leaves out of gold, which explains the soldier's earlier swear--"golden leaves."
These types of info-dumps are abundant throughout the book and frankly, they're insulting. Readers are a lot smarter than that. We can figure this kind of shit out by ourselves. We don't need Meira to explain everything in several paragraphs every time something fantastical happens. This was the biggest issue I had with the book. I constantly felt like I was being talked down to, like the author thought I couldn't handle basic fantasy culture. This book was written for a young adult audience. The people reading this book know how to use context clues and critical thinking to understand the cultures you make up and the phrases you give them to make them feel more real.
My third complain is about the characters. Theron was really the only one that stood out to me. Meira could get quite whiny at times, but was otherwise an alright narrator, if a little bland. But the other Winterian refugees? They all felt so two-dimensional. They didn't get enough development to feel like they were actually even there. I only remember half of their names and I just put the book down two minutes ago.
Oh, and let us not forget the "big plot twist" we discover when Meira is in Angra's palace in Spring. Yeah. I figured that out probaby in chapter two. It wasn't that difficult, it wasn't remotely surprising, and it was handled terribly. Frankly, it would have been more interesting if Meira knew that all along and we had the suspense of whether she could keep her secret or not.
I just...could not find many redeeming qualities about this book, aside from the fact that the plot from the entrance into the Winterian work camp until the end was better than the rest of the book.
Unfortunately, when it came down to it, this book failed to meet any of my expectations for it. I will not be continuing the series, and I will look forward to the day when I can get rid of my copy and get something better suiting to my tastes on my bookshelf.