Title: Ice Like FireAuthor: Sara Raasch
Page count: 479 pages
Date published: October 2015
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Hardback from local library
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars!
Summary (from Goodreads):
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 to use 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 Januari—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 weaves 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.
I felt a little off-put going into this book because of all the negative reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, and other blogs regarding Ice Like Fire. From what I had read, this book was nothing like the amazing first book. All of the elements that Snow Like Ashes had were lost at sea with this sequel. What had made Meira so strong and capable in the first book was all but gone in this one. The romance was awful. Meira was horrendous.
These were all of the things I had been hearing through multiple reviews. Needless to say, I was a little leery when I began reading this. I wanted this to be so good. I wanted this to be just as wonderful as its predecessor.
That didn't happen.
Ice Like Fire starts off with Meira and her people rebuilding Winter. Meira is stressed, as you can imagine. She's expected to run her country and keep her people safe all while trying to balance her new life as queen. She's never ruled before. She doesn't know the slightest thing about politics or diplomacy. All she knows is that she wants her people to thrive. That can't happen, however, with the kingdom of Cordell breathing down her neck. The idea is simple: Cordell provides Winter protection from others as long as Winter provides them with everything that Cordell wants, including getting the Chasm open. Meira knows that Cordell will not remain as an "ally" for much longer, and so she goes on a quest to Summer, Yakim, and Ventralli to procure an alliance. When the Chasm is opened and Meira sees the truth for what it really is - a danger to all she loves - she goes against Cordell and Theron to find the keys that will truly open the Chasm and destroy them. On Meira's way, she comes across many obstacles and dangers. Yada yada yada.
Meanwhile, Mather is back in Winter. His POV is much more interesting than Meira's. I disliked Mather in the first book but I kind of liked him in this one. He's the only character that I enjoyed reading about. Everyone else felt so dull. I couldn't get a read on anyone's personality in this book. It was like the author just snuffed out everything that made them interesting to me. The characters felt empty. Mather is the only exception. I felt that his story line had a point to it. Everything that happened in his POV built up nicely and created a nice place in the ending. I felt like he was the only one who was really taking a stand for Winter.
75% of this book was boring.
Like I said before, I wanted this to be as thrilling as the first book but when I finished three chapters and still felt like this book was going no where, I knew that this was going to suffer from second-book-syndrome. Meira is going off on this quest to save her kingdom - this should be interesting, right? There should be awesome battle scenes, mystery, the dangers of court, and daring romance. But instead I was left feeling disappointed. Nothing happened. Meira finds the keys to the Chasm easily and without any problems. This makes zero sense at all. If the Chasm is so important you'd think that the keys to opening it would be hidden very well and guarded. But, nope, Meira has no problem whatsoever.
Speaking of Meira, I have to admit that she wasn't as strong of a character as she was in the first book. She spends too much time worrying about the magic Chasm when she needs to be thinking about the situation right in front of her. She's so desperate to end all magic that she doesn't accept the magic that is within her. The magic is a part of her; she is a part of the magic. If she ever wants to keep her people alive, she needs to learn to accept herself for everything that she is and isn't. Meira felt so weak in this book. She's so different than the headstrong and fiery character of Ice Like Fire. I want her to be that character again. If she had, the devastating ending in this book might not have happened.
Now, For one of the major disappointments of this book. Theron. He's desperate to find peace with all kingdoms. He believes that Cordell can take the magic from the Chasm and make all people of the world equals. He thinks that doing so will stop all fighting. He makes rash and unwise decisions throughout the book and honestly got on all my nerves. But be forewarned, Theron has his own secrets that he's hiding. It will be revealed in the ending of this book. (It's also obvious that because Theron is being a total dickhead that the romance in this book is up and down. I really liked Meira and Theron together in book one but now I'm starting to feel like it shouldn't happen anymore. Besides, after the events that take place at the end of this book, I'm not sure there is a romance to save)
Remember how I said 75% of this book was boring? Well the other 25% is freaking awesome. The ending was how the book should have been all along - thrilling, page-turning, and full of plot twists. Because I totally did not see that twist coming. Now that I look back on it I should have. All the signs were there. But the ending hit me like a slap in the face and I was stunned. I actually put down the book for a second and thought through the emotions whirling in my head before reading again. Because of the ending I'm going to read the third book. I HAVE to know what happens now. I must.
And I'm also going to hope that Meira gets her crap together and that the third book doesn't spend 3/4ths of the story doing everything that is boring to me and nothing interesting. One can hope.
Until next time,
