Reviews with content warning for Bullying - An Ember in the Ashes

I have not read a fantasy book this quickly in years. Saaba Tahir is a talented wordsmith & world-builder and has definitely made an engaging book and I'm sure, overall engaging series. I was interested in the plot and I had some stake in the characters introduced. Also I have to say my favorite part of this book was the world of jinn, wraiths, efret, and ghuls. I love the lore introduced in this book and I love that the jinns were actually scary and mysterious. I would read an entire 400 page book on just the jinn of this world alone.
All that being said, there was a lot that fell flat in this story. This book is entirely told in the perspective of Laia and Elias whose destinies clearly are intertwined in some way even though they come from vastly different worlds. The character development for both protagonists was severely lacking.
Laia's whole plight is the continuous hope that her brother is alive out there somewhere and her predicament (literally choosing to be enslaved to a ruthless woman) will lead to his freedom. Throughout the entire book she clings to this hope even as she endures violence at the hands of her slaver and abusive men, and constant condescension from her so called allies in the Resistance. She never thinks of herself, only her brother and how she can aid in freeing him. At a certain point, her resilience stop making sense to me, because we never see her falter and for a girl raised in a mostly comforted home life, I don't know why we never saw a breakdown of will. So much of her characterization is hinted at but never explored; like her feeling of being inferior in a family of revolutionaries, the sinking despair that physically personify into ghuls that chase her everywhere,

the loss of so many of her family members including parents and an older sister

etc. I felt like we could have learned more about her motivations if her fears and failures were more fleshed out. Even her desires made little sense to me and felt forced through her entanglements with Elias and Keenan who both view her in ways that make me sigh in dismay. For once it would be nice to read a story with a single female protagonist who is respected just for being there and not for her involvement with a man.
Now Elias... he's a character archetype I haven't read in years. He has a dark and tragic backstory and is on the "evil" side but in his heart of hearts believes he is not meant for this life and attempts to break out of it after years of grueling training, only to be pulled back in by a greater destiny. He is that typical man man, the most ruthless, the most physically capable fighter, good looking, a natural leader etc etc. He is the type of protagonist most fantasy books feature and that I, personally, wish would die out in popularity. (More soft men in fantasy please). His inner monologue when he even looked at a woman was startling each time and painful to read through. Maybe like 40% of what he thought was grounded in what we learned of him as a character that is plagued by all the death he's wrought as a Mask and his striving to do good and constantly questioning the world he was forced into, but the rest was just heavy handed sexism. What up with that ?
Also the consistent threat of r wording female characters was also very troubling and not at all what I expected to read. I wasn't a fan of Marcus' characterization at all. I understand having foils to the capable morally upright male protagonist, but having that be a r*pist like Marcus... I was not a fan.
Overall I gave this book a 3.5 but it was probably more of a 3.

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chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Had no idea what to expect going into this. Really enjoyed the mix of chatacters their inner conflict, personal journeys amid a harsh world were so great to follow. Moments of frustrations with each character and seeing them come out tje other side. There are alot of teenage hormones, but I found the chatacters and plot compelling I could brush past the excess. But all the complicated relationships I enjoyed and found the characters realistic, relatable and empathetic, despite the brutality around them.

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