Reviews tagging 'War'

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

87 reviews

bookish_kori's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

The book has a ton of high quality commentary and, though I’m not quite sure it’s in line with the booktok hype, the premise is really interesting and I’m excited to see if it gets better as the series progresses. Overall I felt it had a really strong beginning and a fairly strong ending with a lull in the middle. The focuses on the complexities of motivation, nature v. nurture, questioning those in power and their methods, and being close to people who end up forming completely different opinions and views of the world than you was super in-depth and a great read. The fact that *both* POV characters somehow required a love triangle and the way those relationships developed throughout the first book was off-putting for me, but I may be alone in that. I will be reading the rest of the series and I’m sure these characters will more than exceed my expectations from here :) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Abortion, and War

If you read modern YA or NA fantasy, this isn’t really out of line with that. Check out specific trigger warnings because there are a few that are more unique to this book than others but overall I’d say if you’ve read Stalking Jack the Ripper, Throne of Glass, A Good Girls Guide to Murder, or anything like that then this won’t be much of a stretch. Some of my trigger warnings were a little bit like “oh yeah this happened” but I didn’t notice it at the time as that thing. Specific events:

there’s a child whipping/execution, a description of an attempted abortion and subsequent abandonment of the infant, semi-detailed description of torture involving a knife, and two fairly detailed descriptions of loved ones being murdered (also involving blades)

It’s dark of course but not horrendous.

gracetxgao's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Abandonment

g4bby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Murder, and War

devinder's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

 I absolutely LOVE Elias and Laia. They're vibrant characters, and DIVERSE. They are morally grey, complicated, and a little messed up in the head, but ultimately their character arcs are so SO satisfying to witness (even if by the end of this first book, they're not entirely completely new people). And the side character made me cry and scream so the whole line-up is so strong.

The multiple POVs are probably the biggest reasons why this book is irresistible each of the chapters changes from Laia to Elias and back and it almost always ends on a cliffhanger. Each of the plots interwoven and are is completely compelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Racism and Trafficking

booksanna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Emotional. This book activated so many feelings in me, I am still baffled by the effect. This book has the perfect formula of good plot + interesting characters + a little humor + a sprinkle of romance+ of tragedy= Masterpiece. The plot had very good plot twists and wasn’t impossible to follow(although sometimes very hard). I loved the system and world-building this book provided, the diversity of each characters background. The characters weren’t just a slave girl, or a ruthless mask, a heartless mother. They were so much more and more. I truly loved the 2 point of view system(personally it’s my favorite). Even the language and small details like drums. I liked the mystery the plot delivered and sometimes flow of events was really frustrating and surprising. The characters were so well-developed and thought out like every time I though i was going to stop liking Helen, she would grow on me in another way. Although this book was V-E-R-Y grotesque and disgusting sometimes(so much I had to forcefully suppress my gags), it made the experience so much more realistic and meaningful. Overall a pretty good book that pumped me of adrenaline, worry, and a little sarcasm.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

luliposatieris's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War

karapillar's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy

kkm88's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Racism, Rape, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, Misogyny, Rape, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

alychee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

this book BROKE me, i would 100% recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Rape, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War