Review: Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) by Sara Raasch

It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell.

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves?

Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats?

As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Well this book certainly lived up to my expectations! I LOVED IT!

This book has less action in it. It’s more about politics. Don’t let that stop you though. It was thoroughly engaging and never boring. I don’t understand how some people found some parts of this book boring. I was completely engrossed in it.

Meira feels like Winter still has not gotten their freedom; and she’s right. Winter was enslaved by Spring before, now they are enslaved by Cordell. Cordell does not see it that way though. They see it as payment for their help to free Winter. Noam wants to find the magic chasm, and he’ll stop at nothing to find it.

They find the magic chasm, but they still need to unlock it. That’s when their journey starts. They travel to Summer, Yakim, and Ventralli. In my opinion, this part of the book was essential. It was nice that I actually read about their culture, rather than Meira just mentioning unique facts about them.

Theron and Meira have different goals in mind while on this trip. It really puts a strain on their relationship. I still have not decided between Theron and Mather, so I felt sad about the distance between them, but not devastated.

I loved the new characters. Ceridwen was so cool and kickass. She and Meira really fit together as friends. They sometimes argued, because they were the same. Always kind but suspicious. Ceridwen’s story just made me really sad. It wasn’t even a big part of the book, but I’m such a romantic, so my heart was sad.

Mather was kind of emo, but I couldn’t really blame him. He’s been lied to his whole life. He took it better than I would have, that’s for sure. That’s like a huge bruise to the ego.

The last four chapters were insane. Twists were coming at me from all directions. I had a hard time catching up! I had to read sentences and paragraphs thrice, just to make sure what happened actually happened.

That betrayal though. Well I guess it was only about 25% betrayal.

The next book is going to be so freaking good. I just know it!

GOODREADS | AMAZON