This was originally posted on my blog With Her Head in a Book. 
 The world of Primoria is divided into eight kingdoms, the four seasons and the four rhythms. Life has been like this for as long as anyone can remember - even longer than what the history books tell. Peace can't last forever, though. Sixteen years ago Spring attacked and devoured Winter whole. Those who survive are enslaved in camps except for small handful of Winterians. And by small, I mean twenty-five and dwindling. 
 Two children, Mather the future King of Winter and Meira, his loyal solider (in training), managed to escape and are raised by the hands of the twenty-five. Mather is troubled by the responsibilities that simply come with being royal, even if there's nothing left of his court. Meira on the other hand wants to do more for her kingdom. She has a deep, desperate desire to aid the homeland she has no memory of which results in a few hastily planned turn-of-events. 
 Snow Like Ashes is very fast paced and rather action filled. When the action scenes are written as well as they are in SLA, it leaves me wanting more and more. Give me an entire book filed with non-stop action written by Sara Raasch and I'd be in heaven. While there is romance, the author strays away from a love triangle, for the better, and focuses more on what's truly best for Meira based on her own choices. 
 Speaking of, Meira isn't a perfect person. She's very real and she has personal issues like every other person out there. It's acknowledged and she makes up for all of the bad ideas and mistakes by always striving to improve and remedy what's wrong. She's very driven to do better, to have some sort of impact on the world, to mean something. Meira accepts her roles in life even if they aren't always what she wants. 
 The secondary characters are compelling and interesting enough on their own. They are who they are but they don't matter in the big scheme which is at the heart of it just a novel about Meira's tale. Mather is the king and aids Meira in some of her biggest times of need. He's her best friend and a great comfort. Theron, the Prince of Cordell, enters the scene a bit into the book and lemme tell you, he. took. me. by. surprise. He understands Meira and can relate to her on a level no one else can. I expected a typical love triangle type romance with two typical hot-headed boys which honestly, they are two hot-headed boys that partake in some testosterone inspired stupidity. After beefing their issues out a couple of times, the two come together for the main issue at hand - fighting against the Spring kingdom. 
 The world building in SLA is interesting, but a bit underdone. There's magic and very refreshing elements I've only ever seen in this series. Ultimately, it's a unique idea, but so much information is thrown at the reader in a short time frame (namely the exposition) that it's overwhelming and distracting from the story. But I do have to ask: how is even remotely possible for a civilization to live in continuous Summer or Winter? Especially when it's stated that crops don't grow well in either! 
 Overall, I didn't really like this book. While Snow Like Ashes did bring a few interesting ideas to the table, there wasn't enough compelling elements. I won't be picking up the rest of the series. I would only recommend this for readers that can't get enough of the fantasy and adventure (with some romance and action) genre and are desperate for any similar books. 
 Plot: 2/5 
 Characters: 4/5 
 Writing style: 3/5 
 All around idea: 3/5 
 Final Score: 3/5