Game of Thrones meets Graceling in this action-packed fantasy-the highly anticipated final book in the New York Times bestselling Snow Like Ashes series by Sara Raasch. Perfect for fans of An Ember in the Ashes and A Court of Thorns and Roses. Angra is alive, his Decay is spreading-and no one is safe. Meira will do anything to save her world. With Angra trying to break through her mental defenses, she desperately needs to learn to control her own magic-so when the leader of a mysterious Order from Paisly offers to teach her, Meira jumps at the chance. But the true solution to stopping the Decay lies in a labyrinth deep beneath the Season Kingdoms. To defeat Angra, Meira will have to enter the labyrinth, destroy the very magic she's learning to control-and make the biggest sacrifice of all. Mather will do anything to save his queen. He needs to rally the Children of the Thaw, find Meira-and finally tell her how he really feels. But with a plan of attack that leaves no kingdom unscathed and a major betrayal within their ranks, winning the war-and protecting Meira-slips farther and farther out of reach. Ceridwen will do anything to save her people.
Angra had her brother killed, stole her kingdom, and made her a prisoner. But when she's freed by an unexpected ally who reveals a shocking truth behind Summer's slave trade, Ceridwen must take action to save her true love and her kingdom, even if it costs her what little she has left. As Angra unleashes the Decay on the world, Meira, Mather, and Ceridwen must bring the kingdoms of Primoria together...or lose everything.
I kind of trudged through this book convinced I knew how it was going to play out in the end and just waiting for it to get there. Then it didn’t happen the way I thought it would. And then it did.
So I guess good job being surprising.
And not surprising at all. Because well it was only a matter of time before Meira snd Mather get together. And Cordell’s dagger saves them, which I have seen coming done book two. And Angra attacks before they expect so all their careful plans are wrecked. It’s an awfully big book for everything to be so expected.
The good thing is it wasn’t drowning in repetition or endless cycles of internal monologue. There were some slow sections, but for the most part things happened and the story moved forward—not quite fast enough for me anticipating the end, but not horribly either.
In the end, it as interesting world in how the seasons persist. And I liked that and the way it changed the people who lived in each. There’s decent characters that were enough to carry me through the books, perhaps just. (Rares calling her dear heart every other sentence was annoying). I ended up skimming through a good chunk of the setting description which made that lighter. Somehow though, it wasn’t bad but.... well that last line of Theron’s feels kind of exactly right for the series. I’m sorry I couldn’t be enough for you.”
