Review: Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

Snow Like Ashes #2

Publisher: Balzer and Bray

Publication Date: October 13, 2015

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: ARC acquired as a gift

Summary (from the back of the book): “It’s been three months since Winter was freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared. 

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth Primoria’s powerful — and possibly dangerous — lost chasm of magic. The last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay — so when the king of Cordell orders Meira and Theron on a trip across Primoria to learn the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to get support to keep the chasm shut. 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 Jannuari — leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s 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 is woven 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.”

I thought that this was a really good sequel. It was a little bit slow, but not in a bad way. Meira is forced to reopen Winter's mines to repay Cordell for their part in freeing Winter, and also to search for the lost chasm of magic which is quickly found. King Noam then forces Meira and Theron to go search for a way to open it. Theron wants to use the trip as a way to create peace between all the kingdoms and Meira wants to gain allies for Winter. 

This book is told in two points of view, Meira and Mather. I was firmly team Theron in Snow Like Ashes, but I think I've switched teams after hearing Mather's point of view. He's not such a bad dude.

I like Meira. She is trying really hard to do what she feels is best for Winter. She's trying to hold herself to the highest standards of queens that she can (if that makes any sense? I couldn't think of a better way to word that). She doesn't think that she can be both Queen Meira and Meira the orphaned soldier girl. She's struggling to find a balance between who she was and who she needs to be.

I quite liked Mather in this book as well. He seems to be struggling to find his new place in Winter now that he is no longer the king. Also, he seems to struggle to accept his parents and his feelings of betrayal after they made him believe he was the orphaned king of Winter for his whole life. He tries to help in little ways that no one really notices. When Theron and Meira leave on their journey, he stays behind and kind of does his own thing to help Winter against the orders of Cordell.

Now for Theron... I don't know. You can't really help but kinda like him because he seems like he's probably just totally adorable and he's so optimistic, but for most of this book I really just wanted to punch him in the throat. He kind of acts like he thinks his cause is more important than Meira's. He kind of uses Meira's search for allies to help his cause without consulting with her and it kind of undermines what she's trying to do for Winter and what he's doing doesn't really leave the impression that she would like with the kingdoms they are visiting... If that makes any sense either... He's just basically a pain in the butt.

I also thought that it was really interesting that you get to see so much of some of the other kingdoms. I feel like this is where the book felt the slowest. You get to meet Summer, Yakim, and Ventralli and learn about their conduits, rulers, ways, and other people of interest within the kingdoms. So after going through that three times, it did get kind of slow, but no less interesting. 

The ending isn't really a cliffhanger, but it leaves you NEEDING to know what happens next! I certainly was not expecting the betrayal and twist at the end!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it. And I plan on purchasing this book when it comes out in October (I have had it pre-ordered FOREVER)!