Snow Like Ashes Review

this past january i read a book called "snow like ashes" and let me tell you: i want to marry this book. 

published in october 2014, “snow like ashes” is a new ya fantasy novel by sara raasch. i can say with so much conviction that you need to read this book because it is everything you want. yes, you heard me right. i absolutely adored this book. it was a refreshing new story and it included a great new female heroine. 

oh that heroine! she is an exceptional protagonist. after having read so many book of the ya fantasy genre, a lot of the female protagonist come to have the same characteristics. i found that meira [pronounced as may-ruh?] wasn't like that from the start. she wasn't annoying or overbearing. i found myself connecting with her easily and feeling the strength she had echoing within me. meira is possessed by a strong need to prove herself. she wants to show that she is a worthy “winterian” fighter and capable of being a good soldier.

“But no matter how often I prove myself, I can never push beyond his restrictions—though that won’t stop me from trying. That’s what all of us do: keep trying to live, to survive, to get our kingdom back no matter what.” 

she was raised by sir, a general of the winter kingdom which has been conquered by the spring kingdom.  so she's been living in barren lands since she was a baby, along with other survivors from their fallen kingdom [there's only like 8 of them including king mather of winter with whom our heroine is totally in love with]. those who didn't manage to escape were enslaved by the king of spring. so on the run in a vacant land, meira is trying to learn to fight and to take a stand for her king *swoon* and for her kingdom that was stolen. 

“Even the strongest blizzards start with a single snowflake.”

and boy, does the blizzard get going! so many things happen! so. many. in order for meira and king mather to win winter back they have to find the locket- which is a conduit and can help harness magical powers. when their group finds the location of winter's locket, meira is determined to get it.

one of my favorite things about this book is the world. <3 my goodness, i love it. basically there are 8 kingdoms within the land of primoria. 

four kingdoms of eternal season: Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring.

since meira is a winterian, we learned a lot from that world and not so much about the others. [but that's okay because i'm sure we'll see them in future books!] winterians, like meira and mather, have pale skin, with white hair and ice blue eyes.  they have super crazy traditions like:

“All Winterians are cradled in bowls of snow on the fifth day after their birth.” 

“Winterian weddings are held during thirst morning snow. The bride and groom drink from a cup of water, and the water that remains is frozen in a perfect circle to represent unity. The circle is buried underneath the ceremony site.” 

isn't that just so adorable! these little traditions help make winter believable. i want to be a winterian! 

then there’s the other four kingdoms that cycle through the seasons: cordell,paisly, ventralli, and yakim. we only get to explore one of these kingdoms [i won't say much on it because i want you to go in blind!] but think of them like regular kingdoms we typically see in movies or other stories. 

i don't know what else i can say to convince you to read this book. if you own it, read it! put it on top of that tbr pile. if you don't own it, why? look at that cover! don't you want it on your bookshelf? you know you do.