Sacrifice Book Review

SYNOPSIS

Sacrifice: the thrilling conclusion to the Snow Queen series!

Rakel, once feared and exiled for possessing magic, is now hailed a hero. Leading resistance forces against the Chosen—an army of magic users that invaded her homeland—she is granted everything she has longed for: acceptance, a home, and the love of her friends. But the battle for her country has just begun.

The Chosen’s powerful leader, Tenebris Malus, has come north to aid his army. His troops pillage the villages and cities they cannot hold, and Rakel’s brother—the King—refuses to rule. Most troubling of all, Rakel—who has always loved her magic—sees great similarities between herself and the deadly Tenebris.

However, not all is lost as the Chosen Colonel Farrin Graydim questions his loyalties to his leader, and the attraction he holds for Rakel.

Can Rakel’s overcome her doubts and defeat Tenebris? Will Farrin choose to follow his heart or his loyalties?

Genre: Fantasy
Age: Young Adult
Series: Book #2 of The Snow Queen duology

REVIEW

Deeper friendships, faltering loyalties, and a question of how far one is willing to go to protect those they love.

And I am back to review the second and final installment of K.M. Shea’s Snow Queen retelling! If you’ve read the first book, Heart of Ice, you’re definitely going to want to have this one on hand. The first book is literally just the first half of the story. There is so much more to tell!

You can find my review for book #1 HERE.

In this one, the stakes have upped, the friendships have grown, and Rakel has come so, so far, and yet doubts about herself are still surfacing. She can’t help but wonder if she really is the monster everyone told her she was during her youth. With so much power, and having to fight in a war, it’s hard to hold on to one’s humanity.

I really loved Rakel’s continuing growth in this. I especially appreciated how we’re not really rehashing the growth she made in the first book. Her arc doesn’t go backwards, it just expands, asks new questions, looks at things at a different angle. These stories really are about Rakel finding hope and love after being hated and exiled for having magic for all her life.

The whole gang has returned for this second half of the story, with a few fun extras thrown in. We also get to see the main big baddie, which really helped upped the stakes. And, I gotta say, his magic was terrifying…and epic. The fights between him and Rakel were my FAVORITE. They were both so powerful and nearly equally matched, and it made for some pretty heart-stopping scenes, let me tell ya!

I also really appreciate how we got MORE of some of the characters in this one. I especially liked Rakel’s blooming relationship with her brother. And there were beautiful realizations revealed of some other characters too, that made me all the more fond of this group of warriors.

One of my favorite bits was a twist involving Kai and Gerta but…of course I’m not saying what it was. Spoilers. *smile, smile* But it was delightful, and the way Rakel handled it made me love her all the more.

Like the first book, it was just a fun ride of strategy and battles and seeing Rakel struggle with self doubt but form deep bonds with a group of delightful people. But this times the stakes were upped, the battles more dangerous, with a ticking time bomb all throughout, making it for an even more exciting read.

There were some plot threads that didn’t much go anywhere though, or that could have been a cool thing but weren’t that big of a deal. The magic mirror didn’t come into play nearly as much as I would have liked. Also some characters switched sides for who they were fighting for way too quickly. It could have been an emotional scene, but as it was, I was just kinda thinking, “…That was it?”

This one also had much more of a romance thread than the first one. And though I loved the characters and totally shipped them, they fell in love awfully fast I felt like. (Then again, I feel like I say that about every romance plot. I’m so picky with romances, guys. It’s terrible. XD) Plus, once the guy was in love with Rakel he just kinda…stopped having a personality. He was all about loving and protecting Rakel. Which, ya know, is so sweet, but I would have liked him to be more. He was all about Rakel, rather obsessively. Heh.

But despite these few things, it was still such a fun read. It had both laugh out loud moments and emotional ones. A scene at the end had me like O____O. Seriously, that ending was something else!

It was a worthy conclusion to this duology for sure. I will be fond of my time with this ragtag group of characters.

And as a bonus…

Snowflakes Short Story Anthology
The story doesn’t entirely end after Sacrifice! As a bonus, K.M. Shea wrote an anthology of 11 short stories following this series. And, oh my goodness, these stories were a TREAT.

Some take place between the two books, some are prequel short stories, and some happen after the duology.

My favorites were the prequel ones. Those lack of backstories I bemoaned over in the first book? These stories provided them! The one about young Oskar nearly moved me to tear. It was just precious!

If you’ve read this duology and want more, I 100000% recommend you get Snowflakes. It’s the icing on the cake! Or the ICE-ing. (Yeah, I’ll see myself out…)

Although I definitely recommend reading the anthology after the main duology. Otherwise things, erm, might not make sense and you will be exposed to a lot of spoilers. Heh.

The Snow Queen Elements
This second book had more or less the same things as the first one—a Kay and Gerda character, the Robber Maiden, plenty of snow. All those fun things! This one did also expand more on the evil mirror, which was fun! Again, I wish there had been more to it, but it was a great addition all the same.

Content Cautions
Like I said, the stakes were higher in this one, which meant things got a little darker. We get up close and personal to the Big Baddie this time and he is ruthless. There is a lot more in the way of deaths and wounds this go ‘round. BUT it still keeps things very light, with hardly any description of gore and things.

There is also a lot more romance this time. In fact, I was kinda getting annoyed at the guy for how much he kept touching Rakel, before they were even a Thing. If I had been Rakel, I would have told him off so fast. He didn’t mean it in a BAD way, and it wasn’t anything sensual really. It was just kinda weird to me how she let him touch her at all due to…spoilery circumstances. But ANYWAY. The romance does stay quite clean. Just some touching and a little bit of kissing.

I had mentioned the first book almost felt like a middle-grade read. This one felt more young adult-ish, though I think it’d still be fine for slightly younger readers.

Conclusion
With upped stakes, deeper relationships, all sorts of fascinating magic battles, and Rakel’s beautiful growth, I enjoyed this one even more than the first story. It was a wonderful finale to a magical duology!

If you enjoyed the first book, Heart of Ice, you absolutely need to get your hands on this one!