Meira wants to help save the kingdom of Winter more than anything. But the book was still written very well, so I liked it a lot. I was kind of disappointed when Meira was revealed to be the true heir of Winter, with magic inside of her because this is basically what happens in every YA book it seems. Sir and Mather secretly arrange for Meira to be married to Prince Theron for an alliance of their kingdoms, which of course makes Meira very upset. And so he and Meira can never be together, no matter how much they want to be. Mather is her best friend, but he is also the only heir to the throne of Winter, and therefore the future king. And so her weapon of choice is a chakram, which she uses instead of pretending she is good at swordplay. She hasn't beaten her best friend, Mather, in a fight once. Yes, Meira has grown up with sword fighting lessons, but she is awful at it. Yet despite this, Sara Raasch does not make her a heroine with unlimited skills and capabilities. She was raised by the commander of the Winter army and has been learning to fight for years. Meira struggles less with two potential suitors (whom she only kisses briefly) than she does with her sense of duty to her country and how she can matter to her people in a meaningful way. The romantic angle is much milder than the rest of the content. So with this heavy topic of ethnic cleansing and some other intense violence - rather bloody battle scenes, a scene of an attempted sexual assault, magical torture where ribs are broken and healed repeatedly - this fantasy read is definitely for the mature teen crowd. Except for a teen named Meira and seven others, all other white-haired, blue-eyed Winterians live in labor camps - many of them worked to death or dying there. It takes place 16 years after a kingdom called Winter is decimated by the kingdom of Spring. Parents need to know that Sara Raasch's Snow Like Ashes is the first book in a trilogy of the same name. Story of the main character stealing wine when she was younger, getting tipsy, and getting punished for it.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Snow like ashes