Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes Trilogy, #2)

by Sara Raasch

Game of Thrones meets Graceling in this thrilling fantasy filled with shocking twists and heart-pounding action, the highly anticipated sequel to Snow Like Ashes. This action-packed series is perfect for fans of An Ember in the Ashes and A Court of Thorns and Roses. 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 on using 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 Jannuari-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 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.

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

4 of 5 stars

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"Horrible things have happened to us, are still happening to us, will happen every day for the rest of our lives, probably. What defines us is not our ability to never let them break us--what defines us is not letting them own us. We are the Thaw, and we will not be defeated by memories or evil men."

See reviews first on my blog

The winterians are home at last! But with a whole kingdom to rebuild and very little protection or supplies, they have to accept the help from Cordell in order to survive. Accepting Cordell's help though also made Theron and his father have access to winter, and Theron's fathers ultimate goal to find the Magic Chasm.
The story really starts to take off though in Meira's point-of-view when her and Theron go off on the search to find out how to open the Chasm and in order to form an alliance with the other Kingdoms.
From Mather's point-of-view everything really starts to go downhill when his father accepts an order that is done by Theron's father that Meira doesn't know has happened. This is when Mather decides to take things into his own hands and creates the Thaw (a group of soldiers who continue to fight).

“The Winter we know has always been one of our own creation, a kingdom built on dreams. So you’re right, Feige. We’re all Children of the Thaw. Our own hybrid of the past and the future.”

Overall I really liked this book. Meira ended up growing so much in this book. She realized what she wanted to do and how she was going wrong with so many things. She admitted to her flaws, and was willing to do almost anything to save her people and the rest of the world as well.
We also get to see things from Mather's point-of-view throughout this book. We get to see whats happening in winter, and how things go from okay to horrible all without Meira knowing anything is happening. Because of this I felt like we also get to see more of the world inside winter which we didn't get in the first book.
As for Theron, well he's still the same in my opinion. He wants to do what he thinks is right in order to save the world, all while going behind his fathers back. What ends up happening at the end though I never thought he would be capable of.
Besides the characters we knew story lines we also get to meet multiple news ones as well. We get to see the Summer and Autumn kingdoms and what has been happening in them/ how they're government kind of works. I don't want to say anything more about these because I don't want to spoil anything because that is what really helped make the story for me.
The love triangle that started in snow like ashes, really seemed to end in this one as well at least for me it did. I feel like the choice between the two guys has been made and she might not even end up with either of them. (Wouldn't that be nice for a change.)

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 6 January, 2017: Finished reading
  • 6 January, 2017: Reviewed