An Ember In The Ashes
Sabaa Tahir
Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
My Thoughts:
Oh boy, where could I possibly begin? At the beginning I suppose. But can I just say, what a thrill ride!? Reading the bio of this book doesn't do it justice in the slightest! And I am an audio book lover! However, if the actor's voice is annoying in anyway, I'm turned off immediately and will most likely not read the book, unless its been so hyped and comes off with a very unique story. In my case, the voice of Laia is the same voice for a different character of a different book. Now I know, I sound a bit crazy and that I shouldn't let that bother me, but how could I not? While trying to picture Laia, I could only picture so and so from the other book!! Huge deal. So what did I do? I deleted the audio book and said I guess I'll read it eventually. And then that didn't work. After seeing more reviews and pictures posted and A Torch Against the Night (the sequel to An Ember In The Ashes) promoted, I said to myself, "Self. You really should try to listen to this again." And so I did. And after about 15 minutes of consecutive listening, I was hooked!!! I do not say this lightly! Ok, ok, to the actual review of the book!
Elias has very quickly become my most favorite fictional boyfriend of all! He is determined, resilient, and simply dreamy. A little complexity, makes Elias a very intriguing character. He knows what he wants, but seems to have so much doubt in his own capabilities that he holds himself back. He seems to second guess his gut on more than one occasion, not always leaving him with the most desired outcome. On the other hand, he seems so comfortable with other settings. He does know where he wants to be, just maybe not so sure on how to get there or who to go there with. The love triangles in the book, are definitely twisty and turny and I love them!!!
Laia on the other hand, is full of confidence. Maybe not so much in herself, but in her mission, she is set like a stone. She is determined to find her brother at all costs and willing to sacrifice herself and pretty much anyone else along the way, in order to achieve that goal. I can totally relate because I have a strong relationship with my brother and would go to the ends of the earth to find and free him from any evil! Back to Laia, a scholar, she was born a pheasant, but feels free. Enjoys the little freedoms she has and doesn't take things for granted. Very humble which makes for a strong willed character. I love that slowly but not too slowly, Laia find her confidence and drive to continue and tries not to be too distracted by the handsomely charming roguish men that might stand in her way.
An Ember In The Ashes did not disappoint in any chapter. It was one of those books that you want to slow down reading because you don't want it to end, but you also want to hurry up and get to the end because you want to know what its going to happen. With such vivid imagery, Tahir write the novel of a lifetime. One that I can without a doubt 100% deserves to be a New York Times Bestseller. I'm not any professional of course, but if I had to pick one book from here on out to recommend to someone interested in YA fiction, this would be it. This will probably always be it, I can't even imagine another book having as much detail, love, stress, anger, devotion, and loyalty all wrapped into one YA book. As you can probably guess, I highly recommend this!!!
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