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)
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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
