The magic system is also unique and will be interesting to explore in future novels. It was shocking at first, but I found it to be pleasing and enjoyable. It is exceedingly rare to have a book where anyone associated with ice and winter is the protagonist, while people associated with spring are murdering everyone. The main arc of the story is, without a doubt, predictable, but the details make the plot new and exciting. The world building, alone, does an amazing job of describing the amazing and complicated world of Primoria, but it is poorly implemented and slows the plot significantly. This pacing problem is due entirely to the fact that Meira feels the need to explain everything about the world instead of leaving somethings to inference and speculation. It isn’t until halfway through the book where the pacing picks up again and the book becomes interesting. The book starts slow, then speeds up to hook you in before slowing down again. The plot of this book is very interesting, but is sadly, dulled by the poor pacing. Above everything, she remains loyal to the people and kingdom she holds dear. While she hates it at first, she is willing to put the welfare of her entire nation before herself. She trains her entire life to be a soldier, but soon finds out that physical fighting is not the best way to support her kingdom. Skilled in long-range fighting, she trains hard so that she can be of use to her kingdom and its heir.

These refugees live the rest of their lives trying to reclaim their lost kingdom. Only twenty-five refugees managed to escape the destruction, the others were enslaved in work camps. Before the story’s start, the kingdom of Spring invaded and destroyed the kingdom of Winter. Each kingdom possesses a magical object that the kingdom’s ruler can use to empower the people in his/her nation.

Yakim, Ventralli, Cordell, and Paisly make up the Rhythm Kingdom.

The four kingdoms of Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn make up the Season Kingdoms, each one forever locked in the season they named after. Sara Raach’s Snow Like Ashes is the first book in the Snow Like Ashes series.

Snow like ashes series in order