Snow like ashes

Linara K.S

I bloody love 💕 this book so so much !!! When I was reading this I felt strong emotions that captivated me ... I won’t say that this is better than Six of Crows but it isn’t far behind .

Anna 

Jarní království před šestnácti lety dobylo království Zimy. Jedinou nadějí zničené země je osm přeživších Zimanů, a Meira je jednou z nich. Celý život prožila jako uprchlík, nepoznala své rodiče a vychovali ji jako válečnici. A ona udělá cokoliv, aby její království získalo svobodu. 
. 
K této knize můžu říct opravdu jen pár věcí. Autorka zřejmě vůbec neměla promyšlený svět, spousta věcí mi tam přišla nedomyšlených a zmatených. Občas bylo vidět, že původní verzi napsala v nějakých 13ti letech. Romantická linka v knize na bodu mrazu, navíc vynucená. 
Ale abych tady jen nepsala, jaká byla o ničem, můžu s klidem říci, že to je oddechová YA fantasy, která nikoho neurazí. Pokud tedy máte všechny dobré fantasy přečtené, ale pořád chcete víc, Sníh nebo popel je něco pro vás. 
Pokud se stále chystáte číst ty nej nej fantasy, které každý vychvaluje, jako to mám v plánu já, na Sníh nebo popel si raději počkejte, až opravdu nebudete mít co číst. 
. 
Knížce dávám 4*/5*
Místy zmatená, svět nic moc, láska vynucená, ale byla to oddechová fantasy.

Vicky  Nuñez 

Rating: 2.5 stars

Snow Like Ashes is the story of a fallen kingdom and the quest of a group of refugees to return it to its former glory and save the citizens who have been enslaved by an evil King.
Meira, a young girl, is hiding along with the refugees and is trying her best to prove her worth and save the kingdom she never knew.

I enjoyed the story, it had interesting characters, it just fell victim to the usual tropes.
It was just too predictable, the twist in the ending wasn't that shocking it starts dropping hints very early in the book.

Really good for those who are new to fantasy. 



Popsugar Reading Challenge 2017 - A book recommended by a librarian. 7/52.

Probably one of the best writer books I have read in a while. The story constantly keeps you guessing what is next to the point you cannot put the book down. Definitely recommend.

Ksenija 

Audrey Lord

This book is beyond amazing. One of the best young adult books I have ever read. The main character is so well written and the book just keeps building and building. At one point my heart was beating out of my chest. It really is an amazing book. Also this book is so incredibly well written. It has everything you want and need from a young adult novel. Love interests that aren't toxic and forced. Suspense. I highly recommend it seriously. It's so good. I can't wait to read the second book.

Stephanie Bredin

soph <33

Julia Lotz

Inhalt: Sechzehn Jahre sind vergangen, seit das Königreich Winter in Schutt und Asche gelegt und seine Einwohner versklavt wurden. Sechzehn Jahre, seit die verwaiste Meira gemeinsam mit sieben Winterianern im Exil lebt, mit nur einem Ziel vor Augen: die Magie und die Macht von Winter zurückzuerobern. Täglich trainiert sie dafür mit ihrem besten Freund Mather, dem zukünftigen König von Winter, den sie verzweifelt liebt. Als Meira Gerüchte über ein verloren geglaubtes Medaillon hört, das die Magie von Winter wiederherstellen könnte, verlässt sie den Schutz der Exilanten, um auf eigene Faust nach dem Medaillon zu suchen. Dabei gerät sie in einen Strudel unkontrollierbarer Mächte … (Quelle: Verlag)
Meine Meinung: Schnee wie Asche habe ich in seiner englischen Version (Snow like Ashes) schon bei unzähligen Instagramern und Goodreadern gesehen. Ohne den Klappentext überhaupt zu kennen, war ich schon vom ersten Anblick an verliebt in das Buch mit diesem wunderschönen Cover. Nachdem ich dann gesehen habe, dass es im Deutsch mit gleichem Titel und gleichem Cover erscheint, war ich natürlich sofort ganz wild auf das Buch und dann habe ich natürlich auch den Klappentext gelesen und wusste sofort: Dieses Buch brauche ich. Wenig später habe ich es dann auch in den Händen gehalten und vor drei Tagen habe ich mit Kücki angefangen es zu lesen.
Es war wirklich von vorne bis hinten durchgehend spannend. Das ist aber ja eigentlich bei den meisten Fantasy Büchern so. Dennoch hat Sara Raasch es geschafft eine gute Balance zwischen spannungsgeladenen Szenen und anderen, etwas ruhigeren, Dialogen und Konflikten zu finden. 
Diese ganze Handlung findet innerhalb eines atemberaubenden Settings statt. Der Weltentwurf ist einer der tollsten, die ich je gesehen bzw. gelesen habe. Vier Rhythmus-Königreiche mit Jahreszeiten, wie wir sie kennen, teilen sich das Land mit Frühling, Sommer Herbst und Winter. Vier Königreiche, in denen das ganze Jahr über nur eine Jahreszeit herrscht. Zwischen den Königreichen herrscht kein Frieden. Alle sind irgendwie miteinander verfeindet. Aller Frust richtet sich allerdings auf Frühling, seit es vor 16 Jahren Winter überfallen und ausgelöscht hat. Wie ihr seht ist das eine tolle und interessante Welt, aus der unglaublich viel herausgeholt werden kann. Allerdings muss ich sagen, wurde dieses Potential nicht so ganz ausgeschöpft. 
Mit Meira, der Protagonistin, konnte ich auch gar nicht wirklich warm werden. Fest davon überzeugt stark und eine gute Kämpferin zu sein stürzt sie sich einfach in so viele Situationen, aus denen sie zwar mit viel Glück wieder herauskommt, von Können kann hier aber nicht gesprochen werden. Vielmehr bringt sie durch unbedachte Aktionen ihre Mitmenschen eher in Gefahr. Wer es mir im Gegensatz richtig angetan hat war Sir, der mich irgendwie ein bisschen an Brom aus Eragon erinnert hat und so wirklich mein Lieblingscharakter war. Und außerdem bin ich ein ziemlicher Fan von Theron. Der lässt vielleicht auch eure Fangirl-Herzen höher schlagen.
Mit dme Schreibstil von Sara Raasch kam ich wieder sehr gut klar. Er ist ein wenig anspruchsvoller als in vielen anderen Jugendbüchern, was Schnee wie Asche für mich fast schon zu einem Junge Erwachsene-Buch werden lässt. Gerade das hat mir einfach sehr gut gefallen. Irgendwie braucht dieses Buch so einen Schreibstil.
Letztendlich steckt für mich hinter Schnee wie Asche ein Buch mit sehr viel Potential, das leider nicht vollständig genutzt wurde. Perfekt wäre für mich ein wirklich abgeschlossenes Ende, was das Buch zu einem Einzelband machen würde und dann noch 300 Seiten mehr, mit denen man ein bisschen mehr Potential nutzen könnte um der Idee so noch gerechter zu werden. Das ist es aber leider nicht und deshalb bleibt mir nichts anderes übrig als auf Teil 2 zu warten und mit ihm auf eine Steigerung der Geschichte.
Bewertung: Schnee wie Asche ist ein Buch mit einem unglaublich tollen Setting hinter dem sehr viel Potential steckt, was aber leider nicht genügend umgesetzt wurde. Dennoch beinhaltet Schnee wie Asche eine gute Geschichte sowie ganz viel Spannung. Ich gebe dem Auftakt der Trilogie 3,5 von 5 Füchschen, die ich auf 3 abrunden werde und hoffe, dass die Folgebände sich so noch steigern werden.
Vielen herzlichen Dank an cbt für das tolle *Rezensionsexemplar.

Menna Khaled

Snow like ashes was like a breath of fresh air out of all the YA books I have read so far. This book is written in a way that I felt like I am reading a great second book of a great normal YA series with a touch of originality. I had to recheck 3 times that I am reading the first book in the series and didn’t end up buying the second book by mistake.
This book is set after the destruction had already happened to WINTER, the evil king hs won 16 years ago and overruled WINTER. Now the remaining runaway survivors are fighting with all their might to get their kingdom back.

This book has another original idea in which the power is finally controlled by a female. Only females of the royal family can use the magic from the conduit. So all equalists and feminists out there this book is for you.

Sara Raasch has a great writing style. It is very easy and enjoyable to read, very compelling and interesting that it grabs your attention from the first sentence. One great aspect in her writing style is that it is very clear, simple and easy to follow (especially during battle scenes) so no confusion in events is expected. 

The world and the magic aspect is very well portrayed and maintained throughout the book.

Great character development is seen in the book from beginning to end, starting with Meira who have come to know and trust herself and her choices better. I connected with Meira as I have felt that her emotions and insecurities were very realistic and very much present in everyone’s life. Meira faced the greatest challenge of all in my opinion which is learning that proving your worth to others is less important and almost insignificant to proving your worth to yourself. 

Between Mather and Theron, a woman can go wild ;). I am team Theron since the moment he appeared in the book. 



Mather is a great soldier, with great personality and qualities. He faces similar characteristic challenges to Meira thus he understands her pain. Meira and Mather love each other in the sense of acceptance and normalcy and understanding. They are each other’s safe place for almost 16 years since the invasion on winter. Thus I think that the only reason Mather made a move on Meira was because he felt that Theron will take away Meira and he will no longer have his safe place. It’s like he was grasping for his last chance at the normalcy and bless he knows.

Theron; however, faces the great challenge of self-worth just like Meira but in a different manner. Theron needed to feel and see that he does care about his future kingdom (Cordell). To understand that he can do extraordinary things for Cordell and that he will not be a copy of his father and his ruling time. Besides Theron is quite the smooth talker and very much literate in all types of arts.



I love that the romance aspect in the book didn’t overcome the real purpose, it was enough to clench our thirst but still keep us wanting more.
That plot twist at the end of the book I honestly didn’t see it coming; however, I very much liked it and enjoyed the turn of events.
 
 

All the other characters like sir, Dendra, Alisson, Finn, Angra, Noam …etc. played great roles in the book and had amazing developments as well. especially with SIR throughout the book you go through many emotions ( some of which I am listing now :* )
1) 
 
2) 
 
3) 
 
4) 
 
5) 
 
6)
 
7) 
 

For all the people reading this and still haven't picked up the book, I can only tell you one thing





Ps. I wouldn’t have minded if Meira married Theron, helped overcome NOAM and ANGRA, helped rebuild winter. Be a reason that a rhythm and seasons are in a real friendship and alliance.

All in all, this was a great book, 5-star deserving, written beautifully and has so much originality. Very refreshing indeed. 

This book choose for itself two songs 
1.	 WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE By ADELE. This song is the best representation of what Meira unconsciously wants to tell Mather. 

2.	  RISE UP By ANDRA DAY.
This is a great song about rising up and to continue and fight over and over again till all our dreams come true. This song really signified the whole book but specifically the last half of the book. Because winter will rise up.


  “ WE ARE WINTER "


 Xx Menna Khaled Xx

Nicole Dykeman

3.75 stars. I love Meira, I think she’s a great character, but some of the other characters were a bit underdeveloped, like Sir, as well as Nessa and her brothers. I want to see lots more of them in the next book. I’d also like to see Angra get developed a bit more, too. Right now, he seems like a villain just for the sake of being a villain. What are his motivations???? 

I would have loved to see more of Theron and Mather too, especially since they’re supposed to be the potential love interests here. I did like that this wasn’t romance-heavy though. I appreciate it when authors give romance a bit of time to develop. I’m not sure whose side I’m on at the moment. I’m assuming the relationships are explored further in the next books. 

I will say that this was SO predictable for me. I knew after the first five chapters what the big plot twist was going to be, but I could still appreciate it because I thought it was done tastefully. 

Though the beginning of this is a bit info-dumpy, the rest was action-packed. There wasn’t a moment of rest during this book. Fans of YA will definitely enjoy this; I do think I would have enjoyed this even more if I were younger when I read it.

Shereen Evans

I almost DNF'd this book. At the beginning I was not drawn into the story. I pushed through about half the way through the story got better and I was able to finish the book. There were times where the storyline was predictable. I probably won't pick up the remainder of the series.

Livia

*rubs forehead* i think i need a break from ya fantasy with the typical royalty plot twist and predictable love triangle and since it's october, time to read spooky and thriller books ✌

Michal Stone

I thought it was alright…..I am not sure I’ll end up reading the rest of the series, which is the main reason I only gave 3 stars. 
I thought the plot was good (I loved the twist at the end!) and the general idea was interesting. The main problem for me is that a lot of the plot based off Meira learning things about magic, when as a reader I knew almost nothing, and it all seemed really haphazard. I was pretty confused the whole time on what was true about magic and what was new and shocking. I think if that had been flushed out a bit more at the beginning, I would have been more shocked when we learned things at the end. 
I liked Meira, she seemed like a very strong and capable woman (and not driven by her own pride, which many heroines are!), but I did feel like she built really strong connections a little faster than I thought made sense. I think a little more time passing would have strengthened my commitment to these other characters as well. 
Again: the twist at the end was my absolute favorite.

Steysha

Once upon a time, there was a great Kingdom of Winter. It was full of magic, rich, gorgeous with its sparkling ice, soft snow and blinding whiteness. But the Kingdom of Spring decided that Winter didn’t deserve what it had and conquered it. The Kingdom was ruined; people were killed or taken into slavery. Spring had no mercy for his captors or their home and queen. But 25 winterians were able to run away—to survive. And one of them was a child of the queen… the future ruler. 

Meira, the main heroine, is a sixteen years old girl who was orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat by the queen’s general, who was saving his prince. She was growing as a fighter; a warrior who, one day, must save her Kingdom and its people, and help the future king to take back his throne. 
Unfortunately, only 8 from 25 winterians survived. They’re the only hope of Winter. The problem is, the conduit that contained magic of their Kingdom was broken in two pieces and now is guarded by Spring. And even if they can get it back, the conduit is female-blooded, and their only heir is male. 

Meira has never even seen Winter, she was too small to remember anything, but now she is so ready to fight for it. And it’s not so strange, when you grow up in a company of patriotic warriors and the future king, who’s, by the way, also the love of her life her best friend. Meira desperately wants to prove that her Kingdom needs her and she can be useful. But what she wants to do and what she needs to do are two different things.

There are seven more kingdoms who clearly don’t want to mess with Spring and look at winterians like they are dirt under their nails. But Cordell, one of the four Kingdoms of Rhyme, has its own interest in Winter. In order to become Winter’s ally, they want to marry their prince with Meira – a representative of her Kingdom. It’s the only way Winter can get help in a war with Spring. But the girl dreams of fighting, not of the crown and noble title. 


  «And now this is it. This is how I will matter to Winter. As a marriage pawn.»


As a character, Meira is wonderful. I can’t say she’s smart, but brave and determined, loyal and strong. She is one of those warriors who doesn’t pay much attention to the strategy and logic, but who can die fighting for a stranger in need. Most of all, she wants to find her place in life and do everything to deserve it.


  «No matter what happens, no matter who turns on me, no matter what pompous swine thinks he has power over me, I am still me. I will always be me.»


Her character develops through the book. At the beginning I was a bit tired of her constant rambling about how she wants to matter to her Kingdom, how she wants to help. The deal is, her help often brings more problems. She seems to be just an ambitious child in desperate need of appreciation. But when there appears a real chance to help her people, just not the one that was in her ideal scenario, she begins to wrinkle her nose and spit her rage on everyone because of the injustice of her destiny. 
But then, when she happens to see how her people live in slavery, in what condition is her Kingdom, she grows some balls and starts to kick asses. After that she was a heroine I admired.

The world building was great, though a bit tough to understand at the beginning, too many kingdoms and detailed information about them. I also loved the writing style, the words were beautiful. Even I started to feel a bit patriotic toward Winter. What I liked the most, saving the kingdom wasn’t just a background plot to add a spice to the romance, but the main theme of the story.

Also, there is a love triangle, which, strangely enough, didn’t annoy me. Mather is the future king of Winter and Meira`s best friend. They grew up together and, naturally, fell in love. But he is a king with GREAT responsibilities, since he is a male with a female-blooded conduit and, technically, has no country to rule. He can’t be with a peasant girl, no matter what he feels. What he needs is to make a powerful alliance. He would be a great king, though his temper often takes the best of him. 
Theron is a prince of Cordell, his farther is a king who likes to push on his son and make him his little puppet. His mother was from kingdom known for art; he inherited her talent for poetry and love for books and paintings. While others 7 winterians try to use Meira as they need, he understands her wanting to be a hero, not just a pawn. After all, he is in the same situation with his farther. 

Both boys were good and had their pros and cons, I still haven’t decided what team to choose. Meira also thought more about her duty than about boys, which is one of the reason I want to shake hands with Sara Raasch, because god forbid YA authors to write about independent and strong woman! Though, the last statement isn’t very fair, because now we have more and more of such heroines. 
Overall, the book was very good, I was pleased with the plot, though the twist wasn’t surprising, with writing, with ALL the characters and I can’t wait to read the sequel!

Marissa Killian

I cried when it ended because I didn't want it to be over. This book is beautiful and such a refreshing change. I need the next one to be in my hands soon.

Madelynn snobl

Laura Kehoe

This was a fun, fast read! I've been hearing about this series for years and so I finally decided to give it a try. The world is really interesting and the characters are, for the most part, quite engaging. While there were a few things I wasn't as fond of, overall I had a great time reading this!

I loved the world that Raasch created, although I wish there would have been a few more details. The idea of having different countries representing the different seasons was really cool. I'm hoping we learn more about this world in the next books!

The characters were all pretty well-developed and entertaining. I appreciated that they all had their own histories and personalities. I felt like I really knew them all. There were a few character interactions that I didn't like as much (there is a small love triangle), but overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked these characters.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. It came with a lot of hype, and I'm always leery of books like that. But, I'm really glad I read Snow Like Ashes! If you like Young Adult fantasies with strong female leads, I would definitely recommend giving this a read!

Kayla

This review does have major SPOILERS for the plotline of this book. I have them hidden unless you click on them, but the review is much better if you have read the book and/or are not concerned about spoilers.

This review is late and it is a mess, and it is mainly just me complaining about this book until the end. Forgive me.

What can I say about "Snow Like Ashes?"

When I heard about this book, I was like, "Magic kingdoms? Heck yeah. Lost Prince? Heck yeah. Slavery? Heck y- no, actually, but I can deal as long as liberation of slaves is eventually involved." The cover was awesome, and I had heard some major hype about it on Epic Reads and other sites. 

All I can say is that my disappointment with this book is ALMOST covered up by certain events. 

Here we have YET ANOTHER typical YA book with a flighty, confusing heroine with a funny name, fuzzy past, daddy issues, and two very similar options in the love department. None of these are bad things, mind you; these are common aspects in books for a reason, after all. It just gets a little old after a while. 

Let's start with the main character, Meira. When she was orphaned as an infant during the war that ended in all of the citizens of her kingdom, Winter, either being killed or enslaved by a neighboring kingdom, she was taken into hiding with the 25 others who survived, including the dead queen's newborn son, Mather. Meira and Mather were raised together, lived together, and trained for battle together since they were both barely a year old, so, predictably, they become best friends. Then -just as predictably- she falls in love with him. Totally understandable. Kinda. However, their love is forbidden since Mather was destined to be king one day and she -despite the fact that if they got their kingdom back, she would be granted position of power for saving his life AND the kingdom- 
was a peasant.

The opening scene of the book finds these too would-be lovebirds sparring in a field while the others are off on a mission to recover the lost magical conduit of their kingdom. They laugh and joke, but Meira is knocked to the ground, claiming that hand-to-hand combat is not her area of expertise. While she is on the ground, Mather leans over her and she blushes and thinks, "No matter how many times he knocks me to the ground, he never looks anything but handsome." (2) I gagged a tiny bit at that one, but I can totally relate; being sixteen and in love makes you all mushy inside. Afterwards, she stutters and can't look him in the eyes. This is the outline of almost all of their conversations for the first two thirds of the book: joking and messing around to Meira blushing and not being able to form proper sentences around him.

(view spoiler)[Despite how flustered she gets on a regular basis around her long-time friend, Meira has no problem sneaking into enemy territory by convincing the guards she is a high-class prostitute meeting a man in a tavern for "business." (27)  (hide spoiler)]

Meira's fluctuating confidence continues up to the very last pages of the book. (view spoiler)[ One minute, she's almost crying with the stress of opening a door without being caught, and the next, she's waltzing into the sewer calmly demanding that the soldiers there hand the conduit over to her. One minute, she's slicing a man's head off without blinking, and the next, she is useless.  (hide spoiler)] Some of these things make her more human -only at times- but they quite frankly make her hard to like. If she was strong for a long time and then weak, or vice-versa, I would appreciate her character more.

As for Mather, I would love to love him, but he is such a baby that I can't. (view spoiler)[ He has been raised since birth to believe that he will be the king one day, and yet he is heartbroken when Meira chooses to carry out her own duty to her country -a duty he helped orchestrate- and marry Prince Theron of Cordell. I understand that he's young and in love, but seriously, man. This is your kingdom we're talking about.  (hide spoiler)] He is a teensy bit too immature to be raised to be king.

(This is a stupid comment, but I simultaneously understand and am completely annoyed by the names of the capitals of the Season kingdoms. Spring: Abril. Summer: Juli. Autumn: Oktuber. Winter: Jannuari. Why didn't you just name them April, July, October, and January?)

(view spoiler)[ Later in the book, when Meira is captured and taken to the Winterian work camp in Abril, her fellow inmates show her the only thing that keeps their hope alive: the tunnels beneath the camp where they record memories on the stone so they are not forgotten. I guess it makes sense to make your prisoners build their own camp (hello, free work; it's literally the entire plot of American history), but shouldn't someone be making sure they don't pull something like they did? How did the guards just NOT notice when some prisoners would disappear in the middle of the night? How did they not see the trap doors leading down into the hidden tunnels below the camp?  (hide spoiler)]

Despite all of my complaints with Meira, Mather, and pretty much the first 350 pages of the book (by the way, if you were following my Goodreads as I read this, you would know that several times throughout the book, I threatened quitting it) the ending sort-of redeemed it for me. I could feel the excitement in the characters. (view spoiler)[ (And I could just see them riding back into their lost country after 16 years, ready to live life again.)  (hide spoiler)] I believe this could have been a stand-alone book, (view spoiler)[ had Angry's -SORRY, "Angra's"-staff not been broken and Angra himself escaped in a cloud of ancient evil magic which is apparently the reason for the royal conduits in the first place. (Again, I don't understand why that was covered up for so long. It would have solved so many problems.)  (hide spoiler)]I won't say I wish it was a stand-alone until I read the sequel/rest of the series. I am hoping that in the next book, Meira will redeem herself (view spoiler)[ and be a strong, mature, realistic queen (plot twist that was totally predictable). Also, I NEED ANSWERS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE CONDUITS AND OF QUEEN HANNAH. (Is Hannah going to continue to talk to Meira through the conduit's magic in her? Can she talk to other former queens of Winter, or only Hannah?)  (hide spoiler)]

Don't take my opinion to heart. In the end, I enjoyed reading this book and I will read the next book. I was just not impressed with it.

Note to the author: I am sorry I had so many complaints about this book, but I really did enjoy it. I love the fact that you began writing this when you were twelve. I have been writing stories since I could hold a pencil, and my biggest dream in life is to have a book published. You inspire me, and I love the world you have created, even if its characters got on my nerves on occasion. 

Give me more, Sara Raasch. Give me more.

kes van leeuwen

Maria

Yeah. No.

It has an interesting premise but all the potential was wasted. The story is boring - "we go there from here and then to another place" kind of one. The characters are cartoonish (including MC). (I'd also add that the writing is primitive but I read it in translation so I don't actually know.)

I miss complex characters, morally gray villains and epic stories. Dear writers, please write something good this year!

Toni Turner

Oh. My. 
Well as you can see this baby ended up on my favorite series shelf, like I predicted. 
I want the best, prettiest cover and I want the whole series and I want multiple copies so I can tab them and fall in love and cry all over again. 
This book made me so emotional so fast!
I have never been so emotionally attached to characters so fast in my life and I don;t know what it was, but the vibe I had when reading this book sold me. I fell in love. 
Now I have to wait for the next one to become available on Overdrive. 
Off to find the best covers and put them on my wishlist.

Casey Stevens

I can`t decide whether I hate Mather or hate Theron....

Inês Santos

Why did I delay reading this book so much??? I love this book and this story. I am so excited to read the next books!

Snow like ashes

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