Reviews tagging 'Murder'

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

155 reviews

chrisb913's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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

5.0

Please check trigger warnings.

This book was outstanding. Sabaa Tahir has provided such a captivating and brutal world to explore. This story is a dual pov between Laia (a member of the Scholars) and Elias (a member of the Martials) as they navigate their incredibly different lives. Centuries ago, the Martials conquered the lands and established a dynasty. Today the Scholars are an oppressed people looking to just survive. Though, not all of them are willing to live under the oppression of the Martials. Due to circumstances, Laia joins up with the Resistence to try and overthrow the ruling class. Meanwhile, Elias has spent his entire life training to become one of the elite guards of the Martials all the while despising them and scheming to run away. The story follows these two incredible characters as they navigate the intricacies of this harsh political system, just trying to survive. I found this an incredible start to this saga and cannot recommend it enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racial slurs, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Suicide

heleneaquillaomg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Blood, and Child abuse

rexpostfacto's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Murder, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, and Suicide

rebeccaae99's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Torture

risten's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Classism, Child abuse, Blood, Murder, Death, War, and Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Trafficking, and Suicide

Minor: Stalking, Sexual content, Vomit, Self harm, Abortion, Alcohol, and Animal death

c_l_ara's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Slavery, War, Physical abuse, Blood, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Genocide, and Torture

evetheplanner's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.75

Sabaa Tahir managed to write a book that made me cry - which I have never done before. 

This beautifully written world is easy to immerse yourself in. To say I was enthralled by this story is an understatement. I traveled to a place with deeply conflicted characters, a little bit of magic, villains that made me weep, love that I was rooting for, and twists and turns galore. 

I’m not normally one to read YA, but I am happy I did. I wouldn’t classify this in that category anyway, the emotional story telling was elevated and gorgeous. 

I love to be surprised by a characters motives. Even if I had a feeling of where this story would take me, I was surprised at how the characters got there. 

If you’re on the fence about reading this book, I implore you to take the leap. You won’t be disappointed! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Death, and Murder

an_alaskan_fairy_tale's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Slavery, Sexism, and Colonisation

brooketreads's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

I loved this book. This was my second read.

The first time, I would have said no flaws. I feel like it’s fantasy light, more focused on politics. I loved the duel POV. I loved both the main characters. Laia was just a complete badass in my eyes. Elias was just everything, tortured soul vibes just leaving me like 🥺. There was

a double love triangle going on with both MCs being involved in their own love triangle

, but I loved that the romance angle took a backseat to the plot. It made the romantic-ish scenes all the more sweet in my eyes.

This second read through I did feel a little bit more critical. Laia was still an extremely strong person for what she endured through this book, but

she kind of acted like an assassin near the end, she had absolutely zero training.

I was constantly frustrated with Elias, because he seemed to constantly be encouraging Helene’s feelings and even reciprocating her feelings and then completely throwing it into her face later. This time around he felt like so much more of a guy, objectifying both Laia and Helene. I think the first time around I was so focused on the potential romance between Laia and Elias and all there interactions and when that would be, that everything else seemed secondary. This time around I felt like I had my focus so much more on everything else all the other people and especially the Augurs.

I’m excited to continue the series (I’ve only read book 1).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Torture, Murder, and Slavery

Minor: Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Child death

lswan's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Slavery, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, and Torture

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Abortion