Reviews

THE WAY IT PHYSICALLY HURTS ME TO PUT A TWO STAR ON THIS BOOK. I'm sorry but I don't know characters in this book. They are not even the same ones I fell in love with in the beginning of this series.

Don't even get me started on Elias. I honestly would have rather Sabaa killed him off than having to keep reading The Soul Catcher POV. The whole soul catcher arc is what's kept the last two books from being 5 stars and I kept holding out hope that it would go away or Sabaa would turn it into something gripping but nope :( It was so boring.

I loved this series (specifically book 1 & 2) because it caught me off guard by being way darker than I expected and the author really wasn't afraid to put her characters through it. Yeah some bad things happen to the characters in here, but the stakes don't feel high at all. This read more YA, as in you know everything is gonna work out and be okay. Especially because Laia is suddenly great at turning invisible and being kick ass when it's needed.

And when this book started I was SO HERE for a Laia and Helene friendship but we got NO development of them actually becoming friends and it overall became a disappointment just like the rest of this book. I also feel like certain world building and the magic system left me with unanswered questions about how things work. It makes the story convenient but there's no explanation to why or how these character have powers.

AND Helene deserved better!!! The progression of her character the past 3 books flipped the script and made her the more compelling character over Elias and Laia and I feel like her story was just wasted here taking a back seat to Laia and Elias' (snooze fest) romance and the many convenient plot points for them to have their happy ending.

Conclusion:
Everyone was out of character
Nothing made sense
Happily Ever After

UGH

leopard's review against another edition

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5.0

Weeping on the train rn. So much of it was the exact right balance of poetry and action. Tahir knows exactly what the reader’s attention span needs (ie putting a bunch of chapters between Helene deciding to tell the truth to Harper and her actually doing it; versus having Elias’ pov of a battle moment and immediately following it with Helene’s)

My main !!! thought the entire time was that im so obsessed with every single set up that it would’ve been just as compelling a story from literally anyone’s perspective at literally any point in the story. Like what do I do with that?

Very very grateful to this series.

I read while listening to Tortured Poets Department on repeat for personal reasons
More fitting lyrically with De Selby Part 1

connie_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

Can’t believe I’ve been sleeping on this series for so long. It was absolutely incredible!

myromantasyempire's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

5.0

cobaltbookshelf's review against another edition

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5.0

“

ccrutcher's review against another edition

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5.0

It’s been a long time since I’ve been unable to put down a fantasy YA series, and I’m so happy I stumbled upon Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes book this summer. This final book is a satisfying, heartbreaking, bittersweet end to a gripping series. I’m already missing Laia, Elias, and Helene’s world, and imagine a reread is in my near future.

sanna1's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

My expectations were low because the 2nd and 3rd books were let downs for me but this ended up being my favorite book of the series! It kept me interested the whole time. I felt attracted to the characters and the relationships between them were just so good. I do think some decisions made by the author were unnecessary… But yeah, I enjoyed this a lot!

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