Book review – Ice Like Fire (Spoiler Free)

“If stubbornness were all that was needed to be a good queen, I’d rule the world.”

• Title: Ice Like Fire
• Author: Sara Raasch
• Genre: YA fantasy
• Pages: 478
• Publication date: October 13, 2015
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

After a great book with a good complete ending called Snow Like Ashes, Sara comes back with book two: Ice Like Fire. It begins three months after the last one. Angra, the main villain, had died months ago, but Queen Meria wonders if his death was real. Meria wants to rebuild her kingdom, but her boyfriend, Theron, has a father who wants her kingdom as his own. Theron feels torn between his manipulative father and the ambitious girl by his side.

This book has a major formatting change from the previous book: multiple POVs. Exactly like how Allegiant did, it goes through Mather’s POV as well. It begins with Mather not able to do anything until he decides to protect Meria’s kingdom while she’s away. The change in POV surprised me, but in a good way, because it may have saved this book.

The book’s major issue is the noticeable lack of action. Unlike the first book, questions that roam around in Meria’s head fill most of this book. Until about the last fourth of the book, she doesn’t take much action. It slows the book down. If the action throughout the whole book was the same as the end, this book would’ve surpassed the first book by a long run.

Most of it is filled with not only speaking, but politics. So, be prepared to remember strange terms and what they’re about. It isn’t hard to realize how not many people are on Meria’s side though.

I do like Mather’s POV when the time came though. In the beginning, he dwells on his past too much, but he rises to action after that. His inner conflicts are interesting since he was raised to be king in a kingdom that was never his. It always secretly belonged to Meria, who he now has a hard time talking to. This unique conflict inside is great to see as his character developed.

I do like this book. The beginning and the last eighty pages are great. The tension throughout the book calms down around the middle, but it does pick up again. This book has a creative world that’s great for any fantasy lover. It may be a slow read, but it’s worth the wait to read at least once.

I’m looking forward to book three.

Score: 8.5/10
Average rating on Goodreads: 3.79/5