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A review by paladinphantom
Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
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.