Early Review – Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes, Book 2) by Sarah Raasch (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 496 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: October 13, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0062286956
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Snow Like Ashes series
Source: eGalley through NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the 2nd book in the Snow Like Ashes series, I got a copy of this book through NetGalley to review. This was an absolutely wonderful continuation of the Snow Like Ashes series; I absolutely loved it. We see so much of this complex world and learn so much more about these intriguing characters…I just adored it.

Meira’s people are free and safe and have been for the last three months thanks to Cordell. However now Cordell wants the Winterians to open more and more of their mines digging and searching for something. The result is that the Winterians aren’t that much more free than they were before. Things change when the Winterians stumble upon something in their searching, unearthing Primoria’s lost chasm of magic.

The King of Cordell immediately orders his son, Theron, and Meira to journey to the other Rhythms and Seasons in search of answers to how to open this chasm of magic. However, Meira is afraid…the last time the people of Primoria had access to this sort of magic they made Decay magic. So Meira has her own agenda on these visits; she wants to amass allies so that the Winterians can stand up to Cordell at last.

We get to see a lot more of this amazing world in this book. I am amazed and in awe of Raasch’s world-building skills. We journey through many more of the Seasons and Rhythms here and get to meet their rulers and citizens.

There are also many more new and amazing characters in this book. Some of them were incredibly fun to read about and I can’t wait to learn more about them.

Of course there is still a bit of a love triangle between Meira and Theron and Mather. I was a huge Theron fan last book, well let’s just say times are a’changing. Although I still enjoyed Theron as a character, he has an agenda of his own. Mather’s isn’t in the story much in the beginning but he makes his entrance in a big way later on. All of these characters just have so much depth and are so complex, they are incredibly engaging and interesting to read about.

There are a lot of politics, some magic and action and mystery in the story as well. The books take on a bit of a treasure hunting feel to it as Meira tries to track down these keys that are supposed to open the chasm of magic. We also see a lot more as Meira as a Queen in this book; she has grown and changed quite a bit from the first book.

Overall this was an absolutely amazing story that I really loved. This is fantasy at its best and is an excellent blend of awesome world-building, intriguing and engaging characters, and a plot that is so engrossing you won’t want to put the book down. This is a somewhat lengthy book but I read it in a couple days…just like the last one. Fans of this series will not be disappointed. I would recommend to those who enjoy fast-paced fantasy books featuring strong heroines. I would also recommend fans of this series pick up Sarah Maas’s Throne of Glass series or Rae Carson’s Fire and Thorns series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge