Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

182 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

Wow. Just wow… this book was a lot emotionally. I found myself so invested that I couldn’t look away even if I was so scared for the fates of these characters. There are high stakes all over the place!! The writing is beautiful, the characters are dynamic and nuanced, and I just want more. While classified as a YA fantasy, it wasn’t written with immature characters or simplistic writing. Even if it was put in the adult section, I would still give this five stars. I cannot start the next book fast enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Bullying, Grief, Slavery, Physical abuse, Torture, Racism, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, Cursing, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Child death

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, and Pregnancy

chocolatechump's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Child death, Blood, Violence, Slavery, Gore, and Murder

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

1.0

again the issue might really just be that I'm a hater but there is something wrong if rape threats are making me roll my eyes. bad writing, unclear worldbuilding, flat characters, terrible love square that overwhelms the actual (thin in and of itself) main plot, sexual violence as a constant random unaddressed plot device given nowhere near its appropriate weight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Colonisation, Violence, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Trafficking, War, Death of parent, Rape, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion, Abandonment, and Suicide

maddie_rae_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

✨YA Fantasy Book Review✨
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 

This series has been on my TBR for a few years now, and they keep staring at me from the shelf, so I FINALLY jumped in. I alternated between the physical book and the audiobook through my library on the Libby app. Let me just say-I am so glad I did! 

This is a YA Fantasy set in a brutal world of militant rule and subservient scholars. We follow the POVs of a rebel daughter Laia as she fights to save her brother, and a graduating Silver marshal Elias as he discovers the world is not as it seems. Who do you trust?

I like that the POVs are of two people from very different backgrounds. It allowed different aspects of the world to be built up in a natural way without heavy monologuing and gave the story a fuller perspective of the world. The extended relationships sometimes felt superficial, but the immediate relationships built nicely. Dialogue was pertinent and definitely added to the current mood of the story-frustrating, happy, worrisome, etc. while also moving the story along. 

Since it’s the first in a 4-book series, there are a lot of unanswered questions and it ends on a fabulous cliffhanger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

kdsmoove's review against another edition

dark sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Torture, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Rape, Xenophobia, and Physical abuse

tabookish's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Genocide, Murder, Grief, Death, Abandonment, Blood, Slavery, and Confinement

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

hurricanyounot's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

I SIMPLY COULD NOT PUT THIS DOWN! I swear to god that if this series doesn’t end well for the characters after what they’ve been through in this book alone, it’s ON SIGHT, MISS TAHIR! Can’t wait to get my hands on the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Violence, Murder, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

jeyjeyyy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.5

SO GOOD!!! I HAVENT BEEN SO INVESTED IN A SERIES SINCE SIX OF CROWS

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Blood, Child death, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

mikasana's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Classism, Confinement, Slavery, Sexual violence, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Trafficking, Pregnancy, War, and Rape

alyxbeau's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

The end of the book got more interesting, but did NOT make up for how little I cared for the rest of the book. I have no interest in continuing the series, though I may look up a synopsis of the rest of the books to see what happens to Helene. I do not care about Laia, and I do not care about Elias. Not one bit. Im not sure how these books got so popular? I planned to give this one star but the end was enough to bump it up by one star. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Rape