Winter By Marissa Meyer (Spoiler Free Review)

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Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fairytale Retelling

Pages: 827

Point of View: Third Person (Winter, Jacin, Cinder, Kai, Cress, Thorn, Scarlet, Wolf, Lavana, Iko, and one more)

Released: November 10th 2015

Series: Cinder 4

Predictability: 5 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Library

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

My Summary:

Winter is the beautiful princess of Luna. Since she refuses to use her Lunar powers of deception, she’s slowly losing her mind.

Cinder and her friends are on their way to Luna to stop the evil Queen Levana once and for all.

Spoiler free review! (Even if you haven’t read Cinder) You will be warned before the tiniest of spoilers! 

Click here to find out who dies in Winter! (This obviously has spoilers!)

My Review:

I am the oddball. Again. Everyone loved this book. Except me. I LOVED this series! It’s one of my favorites! I had such high expectations for this book! I was disappointed.

The Good:

It was nice to finally see Luna. The moon and the domed cites were cool! And the crazy Lunar fashions which incorporated their Illusion abilities.

I wasn’t sure if I’d like Winter based on her part in Cress. I was worried about the crazy thing, but I found myself wanting to get back to her parts! I especially enjoyed her banter with Jacin!

Iko got to narrate!!! It was great!! I need more! How about a whole Iko book, okay?

The Bad:

I know Snow White is the Fairest of them all, but it got annoying how often we were told. Winter is so so pretty. Her scars only make her prettier.

I read this 800 page book quickly, but it did feel a touch long. Some sections could’ve been tightened up a bit. (Like Kai’s parts. They were just boring.)

This series has been predictable, but it’s just been the major plot points. In this one almost everything was predictable! It felt like the author was just going through the motions to me.

The writing just wasn’t as good and the plot got repetitive.

If you want to go into this book blind, skip to the conclusion! (Small Spoilers!)

Which couple is going to be separated next, so they can be reunited and have a moment?

There were quite a few romantic moments. Maybe it’s because I just read a Rowell book, but none of them were that amazing. Big romantic scene and I’m all ‘meh, okay.’

Some previously smart characters acted idiotically! Example:

Your friend is fighting someone with mind control powers, you’re easily controlled, so what do you do? Go to ‘help’ of course! *facepalm*

It wasn’t only stupid good guys:

Levana left her top secret research center unlocked and virtually unguarded. Seriously?!

I am mostly mad about what she did to one of the characters! I was so angry with the book I set it aside for the day. I couldn’t believe she would do that! I could rant all day about how that ruined this book, but I won’t. (Click here to find out what I mean. Spoilers!)

Conclusion:
I’m glad I read Winter and it was a quick enough read, but it wasn’t great or amazing like I hoped. Iko’s first POV chapter was terrific! And there were a few good moments, (especially between Winter and Jacin) But it wasn’t half as good as the other books! They were just so fantastic! With some really great lines! This one? Not so much. It just fell flat for me.

What books are you wishing for for Christmas?

I asked for Winter, Magnus Chase, and the Copper Gauntlet. I obviously couldn’t wait to read Winter. (Oops!)

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

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author, book, book reviews, books, characters, fantasy, fiction, literature, magic, novel, plot, read, reader, review, Sara Raasch, snow like ashes, stories, story, write, writer, writing, young adult

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic

Pages: 422

Point of View: First (Meira)

Released: October 14, 2014

Series: Snow Like Ashes #1

Predictability: 2 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Library

My Rating: 9/10 Stars

My Summary:

Sixteen years ago, the kingdom of Spring attacked the land of Winter. Only twenty-five Winterians managed to escape, the rest were killed or enslaved. Their queen was killed and their locket conduit, the source of their magic, broken. The Winter refugees have been in hiding, trying to can get the two pieces of the locket back, so that they might stand a chance at getting their kingdom back.

Meira’s an orphan who grew up among the Winter refugees. She struggles to prove herself as a solider and though she knows nothing can ever happen between them, she has feelings for Winter’s young king.

My Review:

I loved the world building in this book! A thousand years ago the kingdoms created eight magic conduits for the four Season kingdoms (they are permanently stuck in one season) and the four Rhythm kingdoms. The conduits only work for the royal family and are either female or male line based. With these conduits they can make crops grow, make people better soldiers, keep their people healthy, or in the case of Spring force their people to obey.

The pacing is very even, skipping over any everyday boring details and getting to the good stuff. I never knew where the plot was going to go next, though I did guess one of the major twists from the beginning.

There were some good action scenes and I liked that Meira was a good fighter, but she wasn’t automatically good at everything. She does some death defying stunts over rooftops and climbing up castles. (Some of which were a little unbelievable, but just so cool!)

The characters are solid and well created, but there was nothing really outstanding about them. They have potential, but with so much going on there wasn’t time for more development. Meira evolves over the course of the book (through a lot of introspection, that girl thinks way too much) so I’m hoping that she’ll be a great character next book.

The romance wasn’t too quick and I felt like I understood it. The next book will tell where it’s going since it was just getting started here. There is a love triangle, but it isn’t one of those annoying ones. (Where one girl leads two men on) It was political since the Winterians need to use marriages to gain allies. Also both of them are nice guys, so I don’t care which she ends up with. (Yay I can’t choose wrong!) Though I do like one more than the other, if only slightly.

The Bad:

There were a couple of times where Meira was getting all lovey-dovey when she should have been running for her life. Yes, I know, she’s always running for her life, but priorities girl!

Are love triangles a deal breaker for you? 

I used to HATE them, but lately I’ve read a few that I didn’t mind.