Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

49 reviews

chronicacademia's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Torture, Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Hate crime

theintrovertsbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Death, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Torture, Murder, Sexual violence, Rape, Confinement, Toxic relationship, War, Police brutality, Colonisation, Abortion, Sexual assault, Gore, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Kidnapping, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Cursing

bree_h_reads's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I had heard this book was rather popular, so I was cautiously optimistic as I’ve found my agreement with the masses about the quality of popular books is on and off. I think my cautious optimism is what kept this book at 2 stars, because I wasn’t wildly disappointed when I found some parts lacking.

I think the book started strong and I loved how everything felt and was conveyed, but it was more the middle and ending I had some issue/fell off. I think some of the issues I had later in the book were also foreshadowed by issues I had at the start, though at the time they were minor.

To start for what I liked. The beginning from Laia’s POV was very strong and didn’t have an overly long info dump of an introduction which I appreciated. It treated the reader like they were intelligent and let them infer a lot about the world and what’s happening. I also liked that Laia was just a very normal girl, I’ve read a lot of YA fantasy books where the MC is Extremely Special And Different and while not a bad thing it’s nice to see the variety. I thought the setup with the resistance was interesting and liked their internal politics and struggles, it felt very realistic and indicative of what we could expect from Laia’s plot line. I really liked the writing style, especially in describing characters and setting the scene. I also thought the author did a good job in establishing relationships and dynamics between characters. The Commandant was perfectly established as a frightening figure in the book and I liked the way her dynamic with Laia and Elias was so quickly established. Laia’s POV was easily the best written in my opinion, I was always interested in what was happening with her and her development. I think this is where the author’s skill in building tension and unease especially shines. I also found the world building fascinating and was always eager to learn more.

However, there were plenty of things I disliked as well. I personally found Elias’ whole thing rather boring and inconsistent. I especially hated the wag femininity and religion was treated in his chapters, especially regarding his alleged best friend Helene. I noted several times he was upset with her for being feminine/a heterosexual girl in general and at least one instance of him calling her stupid for being dedicated to the religion she had been raised in. I also found issues with showing vs telling with Helene. The book told us over and over again how strong she was and how much better she was than Elias, but was also so frequently damseled across his chapters, it was a bit of a let down. The trials too felt very repetitive with them all being combat, I’ve read other books that took place in trial-based settings and felt that each trial was unique and brought something new to the table in a way I felt this was just lacking. While each trial WAS different, it just got old after a while. There was just also a general feeling of inconsistency and plenty of times I thought that characters weren’t allowed to linger in their emotions for long enough. The romances too I generally found a bit flat and frustrating.

Overall I think it has a lot of potential and is interesting, but found it was dragged down in a few key ways, especially with Elias and his POV (which isn’t ideal for a duel POV book or having 2 MCs.)

Outside of that I thought that audiobook narrators were great and loved their performances.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Hate crime, Death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Rape

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Torture, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Confinement, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, War, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Bullying, Genocide, Suicide, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Medical content

vampire_burrito's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

LOVED this, maybe straight ya fantasy does deserve rights after all. My only complaints are why was Elias so horny, hope that gets scrapped in the next one and was it entirely nessesary for basically every woman in this book to be sexually assaulted in some way (like I know it's based of the Roman Empire and I know it's a dark fantasy story, but I just did not enjoy reading those scenes.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Slavery, and Rape

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

If you like books where no one is who they say they are and you don't know who you can trust... this is it! It's very dark, honestly I am surprised this is labeled as YA. Besides it following young adults and them all being horny teenagers, the subject matter that this deals with is very adult (see TW). I really enjoyed the dual POVs, world building, and the mysterious qualities. It is very attention grabbing and interesting right from the get-go, and it was a very unique concept. I can feel a much more intriguing plot line to come in the rest of the series...

You have a soul. It's damaged, but it's there. Don't let them take it from you...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: War, Rape, Colonisation, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Genocide, Misogyny, and Grief

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Death of parent

This is an extremely dark book hence the long list of TW Rape/SA - there is none graphic on page, but rape is referred to a lot (seems to be common occurrence in this world) and

a main character nearly is raped on page

ajpotz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

good, satisfying book. easy to read with a good magic and political system that got me out of my reading slump. will be reading the best book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Blood, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Slavery, and War

shalladin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Classism, Death, and Misogyny

kriti's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Slavery, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, War, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment

mordshunger's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Ooof. 

First: cw slavery apologetics incoming I guess.

It's clear there is a full redemption ark coming up for Helen. She may change, but she cannot be excused. I will do my due diligence and continue with this series. If I am wrong, I will come back and delete this. But if I am right, she will continue to be an actual romantic interest, which is frankly disgusting at this point. If he ends up with Helen or even entertains the idea, this is a 1. She is an unforgivable heartless and evil bitch. She really only does good for him, and not because it is right. She would have had a hundred slaves die and sleep like a baby. And buhuhuhu she is so sad that anyone would think she is evil. Her dramatic explanation doesn't actually explain "everything" - her actions and words about slaves and slavery were not necessary for her deal. They were the truth.

Otherwise, loosely in order as I thought while reading:

Pretty standard ya fare, it's okay. It made me laugh in places because everyone is obviously hot, everyone has a distinct mysterious smell, moves with grace, has an indescribable eye colour that shifts with their emotions and so on and so on. Strong debut energy on this one, but as a teenager I wouldn't have minded. Main character has "golden" eyes. It's really laid on thick. MC continuosly gets down on herself about being weak or looking bad and I am quite tired of the projected glow up to a confident and desired warrior hero... Oh lord now it's labour vs management in the resistance.


There is a lot of clumsy exposition and more telling than showing. Familiar set-up and predictable backstory and first act. 

It is very important the reader is reminded every few pages how wonderfully slim and attractive the women are. Apart from different wild eye and hair colour combinations, I'd say all women all slender goddesses with sensual curves. Unless they are old and scarred. Good grief.

His chapters are more enjoyable. But - Take a shot every time he calls Helen a "girl" in a derogatory way.

It's a good thing Laia is otherworldly hot, otherwise this book would be hard pressed to make some major plot happen. It appears to be the sole reason for any man interacting with her or helping her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Death, Torture, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Colonisation, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail