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

this book has not figured out what it wants to be. it’s not quite fully dystopian, because both the main characters are solely worried about their individual suffering, and there is very little awareness of the regime in place. there is magic in the book, but for some reason it isn’t essential to the workings of the plot? so the book isn’t really fantasy. and there’s genuinely nothing roman-esque about this (there’s a xenophobic tribal vs empire tension hinted at in the books? and jinns????) besides them having slaves.

my main gripe with the magic being weirdly absent and underdone is honestly mostly that i hate omniscient prophecy figures lol and it feels very cheaply incorporated here, but at least this book doesn’t try to be a super fantasy-forward book.

however, it’s a real crime that the worldbuilding is so toothless, considering that the book really sets itself up to try to be a classic ya dystopia novel. for a book about claiming your own destiny, the characters are extremely self-motivated, and as a dystopian book, it’s very myopic.

despite there being an oppressive martial regime that has created subclasses of humans, the primary threat faced by the main character is… misogyny? and not even particularly interesting or insightful misogyny; the author treats brutality against women as commonplace, but still something that happens to exceptional individuals. tahir clumsily tells you every! other! minute that laia is soooo pretty, and that’s why every man wants to violate her. (besides for this OTHER man who is soo not like the others who also fell for her looks at first sight but again is sooo not like the others)

it makes it really hard to give a fuck about the characters when most of the “love” is male saviorism for this beautiful, exceptional woman, but it’s even harder to try to give a fuck about anything that happens in this world when the author is unable to elaborate on a social structure more complex than women being brutalized. it seemed like “men hate women” was the lowest hanging, most absolute evil that she could write, and in reiterating it so many times so pointlessly, she neglected everything else necessary to writing a compelling novel.

i think this book could’ve been done better if it was an adult dystopian novel, and not a ya one, to really lean into the violence of the world (that the book does not shy away from) and give it more complex backstories than a stupid love triangle, but i honestly don’t think this author could accomplish writing a more complicated and fleshed out world. i remember distinctly that even at 10% into the book i was really confused by the pacing and how little i was learning about the world despite how many things were being explained, and that really never got better even when i finished the whole book. it’s a pity, because i do think helene's arc will get more interesting in the subsequent books, but i feel like i'd be wasting my time to keep reading in this series

Content Warnings

mikasana's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

Slow in the beginning but it picks up a bit and then goes full speed towards the end.

Honestly, the storytelling was perfect. I got really attached to Laia and Elias and their character arcs. And the villains?? Black hearted killers who couldn’t have been written any better (

shout out to mummy dearest

).

The weight and finality of all the injustices this world festered really just slapped you in the face over and over as the pages went by. The tension from it burned me and had me fully entranced just hoping some good would prevail.

However, if you are looking at this first book expecting romance, look away. The two main characters don’t truly get to know each other in this book and spend much of their time apart. In fact most of the “romance” that exists is spent on

the giant love square (yes, not triangle) between the two main characters and their wooed side pieces. I find love triangles, or any semblance of them, completely unnecessary and distracting. It dampens the potential of the main relationship every single time.

Irritating.

This actually would have been a lower rating due to how irritated I was by the

love square

but that ending? A chef’s kiss. Perfection.

Content Warnings

erwikka's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

This book has become and instant favorite and I have too many feelings to put into words right now.

Content Warnings

saikisoph's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was bloody intense I tell you, but the storytelling was amazing. Would love to see this as a series one day. First time reading a book by a Pakistani author, I’m keen to read the rest of the series! 🔥

Content Warnings

mmqin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

jaduhluhdabooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book is INCREDIBLE. For YA, it’s striking, exciting, timely, and vast in both character arcs and plot. I think there’s something so powerful about giving someone who is seen as a slave the power to reclaim themselves. And that’s just what this book is. I’d pay serious money to see Alein and Laia meet. Also, the depth of Elias’s character is just going to be amazing and I know it. ✨

Ready for book two NEEEOOOWWW.

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