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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
My favorite book Sabaa Tahir by far!
I read this book after seeing all the praise it had received and again I am in the minority because I didn't care much about this book. I was just so bored reading this. I made myself finish it because I hate reading almost half the book and then giving up. I didn't care for the characters or the conflicts and by the time the book ended I was just glad it was over, I'm sorry to say. I hope the next one has a bit more feeling in it.
Update/Extended Review
I'd seen so much hype about this book. I'd read the raving reviews and when my library ordered it, I made sure to be one of the first to get my hands on a copy.
Unfortunately, I was just so bored with this book.
I still remember the day I sat down and told myself, in a very stern voice, that I was going to read at least three quarters of it before finally putting it down. And for the first few chapters it seemed interesting enough and I had faith that it would eventually pick up in terms of pace and characters. But it really didn't, it just kept on with pointless parts to the story and characters with zero emotional impact. There was a terrible, truly terrible storm the day I was reading this book, and my power went out for 5 hours and it was sweltering and uncomfortable in my home and I was reading this book at the same time. Still, when I finally put the book down and chose something else to read, I realized it wasn't the conditions I was in that made this book so difficult, it was just the book itself.
The book follows Laia and Elias, who are both a part of the Martial Empire, a world that takes its inspiration from ancient Rome. Both are at the Empire's greatest military academy, Elias as a student, and Laia as a servant with the intent on spying for the rebels who want to take on the Empire. Laia has agreed to be a spy in exchange for help from the rebels in rescuing her brother. Elias is one of the greatest students at the academy but he's starting to question his world.
And they were both so boring. Laia made dumb decisions that got her into situations that meant Elias had to rescue her. Elias caught one glimpse of Laia and couldn't get her out of his head. He also never came right out and said that he disagreed with the way the Empire runs things and he seemed pretty oblivious to facts about his best friend. I understand that given Laia's background, she wasn't going to be all super spy awesome but sometimes I wondered if she had any inkling of self-preservation considering the conflicts she found herself in. What it all comes down to is that this book was like every other YA release, with a pair of special characters who happen to be different from the rest of their peers and who end up working together to change the world, except there was no real emotion for me to this book. I felt like it dragged and I'm not interested in reading the next one.
The text of this review originally appeared on my blog, written under the name Maire Grimm. Use this link to see it there.
http://breakingoutofdreams.blogspot.com/2016/05/reading-challenge-reviews-on-ember-in.html
Update/Extended Review
I'd seen so much hype about this book. I'd read the raving reviews and when my library ordered it, I made sure to be one of the first to get my hands on a copy.
Unfortunately, I was just so bored with this book.
I still remember the day I sat down and told myself, in a very stern voice, that I was going to read at least three quarters of it before finally putting it down. And for the first few chapters it seemed interesting enough and I had faith that it would eventually pick up in terms of pace and characters. But it really didn't, it just kept on with pointless parts to the story and characters with zero emotional impact. There was a terrible, truly terrible storm the day I was reading this book, and my power went out for 5 hours and it was sweltering and uncomfortable in my home and I was reading this book at the same time. Still, when I finally put the book down and chose something else to read, I realized it wasn't the conditions I was in that made this book so difficult, it was just the book itself.
The book follows Laia and Elias, who are both a part of the Martial Empire, a world that takes its inspiration from ancient Rome. Both are at the Empire's greatest military academy, Elias as a student, and Laia as a servant with the intent on spying for the rebels who want to take on the Empire. Laia has agreed to be a spy in exchange for help from the rebels in rescuing her brother. Elias is one of the greatest students at the academy but he's starting to question his world.
And they were both so boring. Laia made dumb decisions that got her into situations that meant Elias had to rescue her. Elias caught one glimpse of Laia and couldn't get her out of his head. He also never came right out and said that he disagreed with the way the Empire runs things and he seemed pretty oblivious to facts about his best friend. I understand that given Laia's background, she wasn't going to be all super spy awesome but sometimes I wondered if she had any inkling of self-preservation considering the conflicts she found herself in. What it all comes down to is that this book was like every other YA release, with a pair of special characters who happen to be different from the rest of their peers and who end up working together to change the world, except there was no real emotion for me to this book. I felt like it dragged and I'm not interested in reading the next one.
The text of this review originally appeared on my blog, written under the name Maire Grimm. Use this link to see it there.
http://breakingoutofdreams.blogspot.com/2016/05/reading-challenge-reviews-on-ember-in.html
fast-paced
I understand why people like this book and I also thought that I would like and continue the series, but unfortunately that did not happen and the reason is the fact that the characters are dumb, they make stupid choices and it isn't just one, they are Laia, Elias, Mezan. I really don't want to read about characters that make mistakes that children would never.
-Laia is supposed to go in the catacombs, which she doesn't know anything about, where there are soldiers who would kill and rape her without a second thought and where there are also thieves who coukd do the same to her and she doesn't get any weapon, however small and no food because she doesn't know how long it would take her to find the resistance, who i guess would just be there, lucky for her they are there
- the augur says to Elias that his plan to desert is foolproof, but it is not because he already messed up that day by acting very strange, which he shouldn't do since he is affected by something that he has seen and experienced hundreds of times
- it was painfully obvious that Mazen wasn't with her, the he lied to her, and everyone tried to tell her, but she didn't care, and they didn't need to tell her since it was obvious that it was a lie. Why would they send soldiers towards an academy that is filled with trained killers? Why did she believe this? She didn't need to know anything about that small prison to know that this was a lie. Why did the people in the resistance believe it? Just for the plot obviously. - why would the resistance kill the emperor? It makes no sense. Even the dumbest person would realize that it would be stupid. The empire is on the brink of an civil war, between the emperor and the aspirants, and istead of taking advantage of this and attaching them at their weakest, they decide to kill the emperor and make it easy for the empire. If Mazen works with Kevis it makes sense for him, but why did the resistance do this? Is there not even a smart person there? With how they act I'm not surprised they didn't overthrow the empire.
- the trials were not needed, why would you create trials where your own people kill each other? I think there are better ways to choose the next emperor than this. For example prepare him and groom him since childhood
- the prophecy was a bit flimsy, if you really wanted trials, you could find some even better justification
- I am still upset that they didn't manage to kill or injure that pathetic rapist, Marcus. I really hope he suffers a painful death.
The love square was not needed. It is obvious who is going to end with who, especially in the case of Kennan. The world-building is barely there. It needs more development. The Martial Empire is nothing like the Roman Empire. The only similar things are the names of the martials and the military power.Laia says that the reason why the scholars are the only ones enslaved is because the other people have something to give, like iron and food, but that is a weak reasoning since they could take over and still have them and
the tribesmen aren't powerful enough to fight the martials. We later learn some more about how and why the martials enslaved the scoolars, but still doesn't explain why they don't want more, especially considering the comparison to the romans and how much they loved conquering and assimilation. I am still so disappointed. I really thought that I would love this book and continue reading the series, but the business with the emperor really put me off. I want smart characters.
- the augur says to Elias that his plan to desert is foolproof, but it is not because he already messed up that day by acting very strange, which he shouldn't do since he is affected by something that he has seen and experienced hundreds of times
- it was painfully obvious that Mazen wasn't with her, the he lied to her, and everyone tried to tell her, but she didn't care, and they didn't need to tell her since it was obvious that it was a lie. Why would they send soldiers towards an academy that is filled with trained killers? Why did she believe this? She didn't need to know anything about that small prison to know that this was a lie. Why did the people in the resistance believe it? Just for the plot obviously. - why would the resistance kill the emperor? It makes no sense. Even the dumbest person would realize that it would be stupid. The empire is on the brink of an civil war, between the emperor and the aspirants, and istead of taking advantage of this and attaching them at their weakest, they decide to kill the emperor and make it easy for the empire. If Mazen works with Kevis it makes sense for him, but why did the resistance do this? Is there not even a smart person there? With how they act I'm not surprised they didn't overthrow the empire.
- the trials were not needed, why would you create trials where your own people kill each other? I think there are better ways to choose the next emperor than this. For example prepare him and groom him since childhood
- the prophecy was a bit flimsy, if you really wanted trials, you could find some even better justification
- I am still upset that they didn't manage to kill or injure that pathetic rapist, Marcus. I really hope he suffers a painful death.
The love square was not needed. It is obvious who is going to end with who, especially in the case of Kennan. The world-building is barely there. It needs more development. The Martial Empire is nothing like the Roman Empire. The only similar things are the names of the martials and the military power.
the tribesmen aren't powerful enough to fight the martials. We later learn some more about how and why the martials enslaved the scoolars, but still doesn't explain why they don't want more, especially considering the comparison to the romans and how much they loved conquering and assimilation.
i don't know why i keep reading these YA fantasy books knowing I don't like YA fantasy and expecting to love it. This was good but not great idk how I feel about it hence 3 stars but it was almost 2
I found this yesterday in a little free library after I had literally JUST marked it as want to read (fate?). I was really pleasantly surprised by the writing and plot line. It didn’t grip me right away but once I got into it I was hooked and I liked the rotating narration
I really enjoyed the flow of this book. The timeline skips forward/backward were well done and added to the story. I really liked the cast of characters and the morals. The pacing was great. I enjoyed the twists and turns
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A really enjoyable read! Very fast paced and easy to get through. I got attached to the characters, and enjoyed the changing perspectives every chapter. Going back and forth between the trials and the spying kept me very engaged. I'm looking forward to continuing this series and would recommend!