Frost Like Night by Sara Raasch

Frost Like Night
by Sara Raasch

Read: November 13-16, 2016
Published: September 20, 2016
Genre: Fantasy

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. (Amazon)

_________________________________________________________________________

Why did you read this book?
I honestly was considering not reading it. However, my sister borrowed the book from her teacher for me and I couldn't just not read it. So I read it.

What did you like about this book?
I was so impressed with the third installment of Raasch's series. There were so many aspects of this book that were much better than Ice Like Fire. The pacing of this book was closer to that of Snow Like Ashes. It sped up and slowed down in all the right places. There were only a few moments where I thought that the book might be dragging just a little. I also really liked Meira's character much more in this book. She was more dynamic and she felt more like she had in the first book. The addition of Rares was also a good one. He turned out to be a completely different character than I thought he would be (judging from the brief glimpses we got of him in Ice Like Fire). There were so many little things I liked about this book, but the biggest one would have to be how the love triangle was resolved. In most YA books, the love triangle is angsty and you don't find out who the protagonist ends up with until the end, when the protagonist makes the big choice between the two suitors. In Frost Like Night, it was fairly obvious who Meira would end up with right away. What I loved about this love story is that there were brief moments of angst, but in the end, there wasn't really a choice. It was two people who loved each other and there wasn't really any other way they could have gone without ending up unhappy. It was just a very well written conclusion to the love triangle that I initially disliked. (Side-note on the love triangle: Generally, when it comes to love triangles, I root for the original love interest, which doesn't work out well for me most of the time. However, in this case, I really liked both love interests. I would have been happy with whoever Meira ended up with...they were both characters that I liked to see on the page and I enjoyed their character growth.)

What didn't you like about this book?
I had a few character issues in this book. First, was Ceridwen. I expected so much from this character only to find she fell a little flat. She was a mysterious character in the second book, a warrior, but in this book it was as if her hardened attitude took a back burner to something more emotional and unstable. I'm not saying a person can't be vulnerable and tough at the same time. I would have preferred it if Ceridwen had been written that way. She wasn't written like a complex character though. Instead she was just written inconsistently to the point where she almost seemed like two different characters. Another problem I had with Frost Like Night were two of the character deaths. Don't worry, I won't say who they were. Anyway, these deaths felt like they were supposed to make me sad, but honestly I was just relieved that these characters finally died. The way they were written felt they should have been characters that I was emotionally attached to. I wasn't. 

Bottom-Line:
This book definitely redeemed the last one. I can safely recommend this book without a guilty conscience. My favorite parts of this book were the way the love triangle was resolved and how the main conflict was resolved. It was such a good final installment to the trilogy!


"You'll only regret the time it took you to make the decision." -Frost Like Night by Sara Raasch

Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

Ice Like Fire
by Sara Raasch

Read: August-November, 2016
Published: October 13, 2015
Genre: Fantasy

   

         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. (Amazon)

_______________________________________________________________________

Why did you read this book?
I read the first book in the series, Snow Like Ashes, and liked it well enough to read the sequel. However, it did take me a long time to actually pick it up and read it.

What did you like about this book?
I liked the introduction of Ceridwen. I have a feeling she's going to be an interesting character in the third book and I'm excited to know more about her past. This book also dove more into the world the Raasch created and we were able to explore more of the kingdoms outside of Winter and Cordell. I'm going to be honest, there wasn't very much about this book that I liked, but the last third of the book was very well written and fast-paced and all around enjoyable to read. The action all came together and just took off running. Once I got to that point in the book, I couldn't stop reading. I finished it and decided to be a burrito on the floor (because of course it ends in the middle of all the action). I wasn't sure I was going to read the third book, but after that ending I know I have to. It's hard for me to develop coherent feelings on the things I like just at the moment (other than the ending), but I do know for sure that I will eventually read it again and hopefully I'll like it better the second time around.

What didn't you like about this book?
I really wanted this book to be better than it was, but I'm afraid it suffered from second book syndrome. The first two-thirds of the books were politics and mind games. While that can be interesting, if written well, this was just dry and boring, especially after the excitement from the first book. I was also disappointed in the characters. I really liked Meira and Mather and Theron in the first book (so much so that I wasn't sure who I wanted to end up with Meira in the Meira-Mather-Theron love triangle. I'm usually pretty decided when it comes to love triangles, deplorable as they are). They were all so dynamic and interesting. In this one, they all felt kind of one-dimensional to me. Also, I understand why Raasch split this book into two points of view (alternating between Meira and Mather), what I don't like is that it also switches from first person (Meira) to third person (Mather). My last big complaint was that there were too many proper nouns (places and people) and they were all names that aren't common. It was very difficult to keep them straight and to try to remember who was who and what their role was in the first book. Overall, this book was just really boring.

Reminded me of...
...Cinder by Marissa Meyer. That book was also pretty slow and uneventful, but had a fantastic ending. And we all know how much I love the Lunar Chronicles now. So, because of that, I'll give Frost Like Night a chance.


Bottom-Line:
If you haven't read this first book, I don't think I'd recommend the series, just because of how uneventful most of this book was. I was disappointed in the pacing and in the characters that I'd grown to love in the first book. However, I will be reading Frost Like Night and I'll let you know if it improves.



"Horrible things don't happen in crowded place; they happen in the hollows of the world, where it's just a victim and an attacker and no one to hear any screams." -Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch