BOOK REVIEW: Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) by Sara Raasch

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?

This was such a disappointing sequel. I am glad other reviewers warned me about the incredibly slow pacing of this one. I spent most of the book waiting for SOMETHING to happen. Meira was on the hunt for keys in different kingdoms that would open the magical chasm. For such an important mission, there was no action at all. Most of the book involved a lot of whining from Meira about being Queen. God, if I took a drink every time she referred to herself as two different people (Queen Meira and old Meira), I would have been drunk so fast. Yeah, yeah . . . I get it. You're Queen and you hate it. The ironic part is that I believe she spent most of the first book complaining to Sir that no one took her seriously and she wanted to help and wanted more responsibility. Then when she gets it, what does she do? Complain ALL THE TIME. I guess the grass is always greener and all that.

Also, I had trouble keeping track of all the characters. There were so many characters that were major players in this book and it was hard for me to tell the difference between the ones already in the first book and the new characters from this one. There were so many names thrown around and I was having trouble keeping track of the good guys and the bad guys. I do know that I loved one new character, Ceridwen. She is the Princess of Summer and I really wish we had gotten a few chapters from her POV. Meira was so freaking whiny and Ceridwen seemed like a total bad ass who did what was necessary without talking it to death.

Can I say how much I HATED Theron in this book?? Like seriously, hated him. And this is surprising since I like him so much in the first one. I thought the love triangle thing was kind of done because she was with Theron. But then she kept being torn about Mather (whom I loved). Theron was naive and I was so sick of hearing him defend his father. But what really irritated me was that when Meira was upset and they were fighting, he responded by kissing her. I freaking hate that. I feel like that is a condescending and patronizing way to try to end an argument with a woman and I really wish the author could have resolved their fights without that stupid ploy. Because of course, after Theron kissed her, Meira couldn't help but stop yelling at him . There were a few choices the author made about Theron at the end of the book that I just don't agree with. But I guess it makes for good story. I can try to reserve judgment until I read the next one. I will see where the author goes with it.

At around the 70% mark, that is when stuff finally started happening and that is when I actually became engaged in the book. There were quite a few twists and turns and so much violence. There were a few things I kind of expected, but most of it was somewhat surprising. Even though most of this book was a bit disappointing, I will still read the next book. The ending of this one was so good. The author succeeded in making me want to read more!

Buy/Borrow/Skip: If you feel the need to own the whole series just because, then I am sure you will want to buy it. But honestly, I would just recommend buying it.