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kestrel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Look away. Yes, I have an unpopular opinion. No I don't want to talk about it.
I will not continue with this series, since I really don't care to know what happens next or if the characters succeed, and I think that's a good sign to let the books go.
I will not continue with this series, since I really don't care to know what happens next or if the characters succeed, and I think that's a good sign to let the books go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Rape
readutation'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
4.5
Well. This was one hell of a read. I’m too muddled to write a coherent review, so here are snippets of my thoughts:
1) The writing is very simple and straightforward and yet elegant at the same time. I’m impressed with it.
2) The plot is definitely engaging. I like how it started as, like, a military fantasy and then it branched out to full high fantasy mode. Everything was intriguing.
3) The characters are all interesting. Laia and Elias are wonderful protagonists, and even the antagonists are fascinating.
4) I like how the romance storylines are handled. It’s almost a love square, and it makes sense that Elias and Laia have different love interests before they meet each other.
4) The themes of power, revenge, and colonization are nuanced. I like that the Scholars, Martials, and the supernatural creatures are all in the wrong, and this is just an endless cycle of violence due to a greed of power.
1) The writing is very simple and straightforward and yet elegant at the same time. I’m impressed with it.
2) The plot is definitely engaging. I like how it started as, like, a military fantasy and then it branched out to full high fantasy mode. Everything was intriguing.
3) The characters are all interesting. Laia and Elias are wonderful protagonists, and even the antagonists are fascinating.
4) I like how the romance storylines are handled. It’s almost a love square, and it makes sense that Elias and Laia have different love interests before they meet each other.
4) The themes of power, revenge, and colonization are nuanced. I like that the Scholars, Martials, and the supernatural creatures are all in the wrong, and this is just an endless cycle of violence due to a greed of power.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Violence
lainiereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Everyone- I have no critic of the book, it is so good. This review is just going to be my stream of consciousness when thinking about what I just read.
Going into this, I had no idea how dark it was. There are so many serious subjects that are discussed in this book and I definitely recommend checking out the trigger warnings before you start reading.
The characters were so well written and it's so easy to feel connected to them. The whole time I was reading, I had no idea what was going to happen next, and I began to feel the same distrust towards everyone that Laia did.
Also, I love Elias. BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY. I just,,,, he's morally right? and he helps others?? AND he wants to become a better person??? I love him.
I was so quickly hooked while reading this book, and I never felt like I was at a slow part of the story. Sabaa Tahir's writing style is perfect, she is able to make everything easy to follow while also keeping the readers on the edge of their seats. I now want to read everything by her, she just did such a good job with this book.
I am really excited to read the rest of this series, although I am also terrified of the sadness ahead of me. I both want to see what happens next and don't want to risk any of the characters going through more pain than they already have.
I definitely recommend this book, but as I said CHECK THE TW!!! It's a bit of a heavy story, so make sure you are prepared.
<3 Sabaa Tahir, you are a queen.
Going into this, I had no idea how dark it was. There are so many serious subjects that are discussed in this book and I definitely recommend checking out the trigger warnings before you start reading.
The characters were so well written and it's so easy to feel connected to them. The whole time I was reading, I had no idea what was going to happen next, and I began to feel the same distrust towards everyone that Laia did.
Also, I love Elias. BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY. I just,,,, he's morally right? and he helps others?? AND he wants to become a better person??? I love him.
I was so quickly hooked while reading this book, and I never felt like I was at a slow part of the story. Sabaa Tahir's writing style is perfect, she is able to make everything easy to follow while also keeping the readers on the edge of their seats. I now want to read everything by her, she just did such a good job with this book.
I am really excited to read the rest of this series, although I am also terrified of the sadness ahead of me. I both want to see what happens next and don't want to risk any of the characters going through more pain than they already have.
I definitely recommend this book, but as I said CHECK THE TW!!! It's a bit of a heavy story, so make sure you are prepared.
<3 Sabaa Tahir, you are a queen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Rape
Minor: Suicide
sg124's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
this was an amazing story but god i hate love triangles
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Slavery, Death, Physical abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, and Grief
sydapel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
I am into every a single element of this book. Every. One. Best book I've read so far this year hands down. From incredible world building to characters with complex motives to the intricate layers of every relationship to the perfect pacing, the book is exquisite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Colonisation, Child death, Body horror, and Abortion
swaggynikki's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I read this book in middle school and loved it. I just reread it and liked it a lot less. Honestly, that really disapoints me, because I remembered it as this incredible example of the good side of the YA genre, but parts of it just really do not appeal to me anymore. The main couple already had the whole slave-soldier dynamic keeping them appart, so the fact that they were both individually in boring love triangles was just. Fully unnecessary. I did love the worldbuilding and action of the series, but as someone who prefers character>plot it just didn't quite hold up for me. Also it's INCREDIBLY dark/gruesome, I can handle a lot but there were some parts that made me go "was that /really/ necessary for anything other that Maximum Shock Value". I feel like I'm trashing this book too much. I like it, and I think it's one of the better fantasy YAs out there, but it just isn't what I think it could have been.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Rape, and Abandonment
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Pregnancy
crazyrandom_music's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Slavery, Vomit, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Racism and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death of parent
aurora13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Slavery, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Rape and Suicide
anovelbeauty's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.5
Book TW: ❗️multiple on-page sexual assaults❗️, rape, physical abuse, murder, child abuse, abandonment, torture, physical abuse, emotional abuse, slavery
An Ember in the Ashes was a RIDE. It took me a few chapters to really get engaged with the characters, but once I did, I was really, truly hooked. I cared about every character I was supposed to and even the beastly characters get their brief moments of humanity to solidify them (namely Marcus and the Commandant). But I truly loved and adored our three main players: Elias, Laia, and Helene. I would say of the three, Elias is my favorite because it’s really fascinating to follow a good and moral character in a brutal, cruel situation. I love following him as he grapples with the morality of his forced training to be an assassin and killing machine. He’s complex and sweet and deserves all the good things. Helene is equally fascinating. She’s interesting though because she’s more morally grey in that to cope with the brutality of their world, her loyalty and goodness is reserved for a select few whereas Elias applies these qualities across the board and to everyone. Both make sense to the characters, but it’s also good to see them work through this (somewhat) together over the course of the book. Laia follows a little bit more of a traditional path in terms of goodness and her plot purposes, so while I still loved her, she didn’t quite capture my attention the way Elias and Helene did because I knew the choices she was going to make throughout the book.
A lot of the side characters were also engaging and I’m interested to see the roles they play in later books. All of the character interactions and chemistry is *chef’s kiss.* The only one that I didn’t care about quite as much as I think I was supposed to was Keenan, but I think he may have more room for development in future books. He just didn’t seem quite as engaging as most of the other characters in my opinion.
The plot is fast paced and twisty, with lots of little moments of humanity placed into a brutal, cruel world. Having studied a lot about Roman culture in the last couple years, I did love seeing the Roman inspired world and I hope we’re able to see more outside of just the military/resistance (from all the cultures) out of future books. However, what we did get, especially little gems like the Scholar’s moon festival or the Marshal’s parties were really well done. The magic and mythos were more hinted at in this book, but definitely are hinted to be playing /much/ larger roles in as the series goes on. So I’m interested to see how that plays out.
There were a lot of moments in the book where I just gasped and stopped the audiobook because my feelings were being played like a violin. Tahir seems like a “kill your darlings” writer... I haven’t read beyond the first book, but based on what I’ve read- that’s my prediction. Do with that as you please. The ending was heartstopping and intense and oh my goodness the character stuff it’s setting up for the next novels?! I loved the spy stuff mixed with quest/trial stuff in this novel and it added so many layers of tension to the plot and was well-written.
Seriously though, it was such a good first instalment and if it weren’t for the rest of my Readathon tbr books I’d be picking up Book 2 immediately. I HAVE to see what happens next. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re in the mood for a brutal, dark, fast-paced YA fantasy with great character work and a spying/trials subplot.
An Ember in the Ashes was a RIDE. It took me a few chapters to really get engaged with the characters, but once I did, I was really, truly hooked. I cared about every character I was supposed to and even the beastly characters get their brief moments of humanity to solidify them (namely Marcus and the Commandant). But I truly loved and adored our three main players: Elias, Laia, and Helene. I would say of the three, Elias is my favorite because it’s really fascinating to follow a good and moral character in a brutal, cruel situation. I love following him as he grapples with the morality of his forced training to be an assassin and killing machine. He’s complex and sweet and deserves all the good things. Helene is equally fascinating. She’s interesting though because she’s more morally grey in that to cope with the brutality of their world, her loyalty and goodness is reserved for a select few whereas Elias applies these qualities across the board and to everyone. Both make sense to the characters, but it’s also good to see them work through this (somewhat) together over the course of the book. Laia follows a little bit more of a traditional path in terms of goodness and her plot purposes, so while I still loved her, she didn’t quite capture my attention the way Elias and Helene did because I knew the choices she was going to make throughout the book.
A lot of the side characters were also engaging and I’m interested to see the roles they play in later books. All of the character interactions and chemistry is *chef’s kiss.* The only one that I didn’t care about quite as much as I think I was supposed to was Keenan, but I think he may have more room for development in future books. He just didn’t seem quite as engaging as most of the other characters in my opinion.
The plot is fast paced and twisty, with lots of little moments of humanity placed into a brutal, cruel world. Having studied a lot about Roman culture in the last couple years, I did love seeing the Roman inspired world and I hope we’re able to see more outside of just the military/resistance (from all the cultures) out of future books. However, what we did get, especially little gems like the Scholar’s moon festival or the Marshal’s parties were really well done. The magic and mythos were more hinted at in this book, but definitely are hinted to be playing /much/ larger roles in as the series goes on. So I’m interested to see how that plays out.
There were a lot of moments in the book where I just gasped and stopped the audiobook because my feelings were being played like a violin. Tahir seems like a “kill your darlings” writer... I haven’t read beyond the first book, but based on what I’ve read- that’s my prediction. Do with that as you please. The ending was heartstopping and intense and oh my goodness the character stuff it’s setting up for the next novels?! I loved the spy stuff mixed with quest/trial stuff in this novel and it added so many layers of tension to the plot and was well-written.
Seriously though, it was such a good first instalment and if it weren’t for the rest of my Readathon tbr books I’d be picking up Book 2 immediately. I HAVE to see what happens next. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re in the mood for a brutal, dark, fast-paced YA fantasy with great character work and a spying/trials subplot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Torture, Child death, Child abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Colonisation, and Death
Minor: Death of parent and Xenophobia
katsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
"Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after." pg. 20
"You are an ember in the ashes. You will spark and burn, ravage and destroy. You cannot change it. You cannot stop it." pg. 65
"Draw a line in your mind. Never cross it again. You have a soul. It's damaged, but it's there. Don't let them take it from you." pg. 401
"When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. Your heart." pg. 422
This was an amazing read! I absolutely loved the world building. It's incredibly brutal which could be hard to read. I'd give some trigger warnings for violence and attempted sexual assault but overall, I loved the writing, the mystery, the suspense, the complicated relationships. I can't wait to read more in this series.
REREAD - April 2022
This book was just as good the second time around. I was surprised by the amount of stuff that I forgot. I remembered the important bits but there were still parts that surprised me and wrenched my heart out. Tahir really knows how to make you feel for characters, sometimes, even when you actually hate them. I loved that even the Resistance, which is supposed to be seen as the good side was morally gray. The different classes of people created a really in depth world that was so compelling. I was even here for the love square. Oftentimes, love triangles aren't my favorite trope but Tahir made this one work. I think the interesting part of the love triangle is that for each main character, one of their love interests represents a piece of themselves that they're at war with. Their love interests are a side of themselves that they could ultimately choose and would change their trajectory in massive ways.
This is marketed as Young Adult but it pulls no punches when it comes to violence. The story opens with the death of Laia's caregivers and the kidnapping of her brother, as well as the brutal beating and death of a 10-year-old deserter at Elias' school, Blackcliff. If you are sensitive to themes like this, maybe skip this series. That being said, a major plot point is Laia's enslavement in the commandant's household and I was glad to see the life of a slave NOT be sugarcoated in any way. Especially from an American perspective, enslavement is often made more palatable to make it seem less brutal than it was and I'm glad this book doesn't feed into that narrative.
I'm really excited to continue buddy reading this with @redheadbooks and @shereadsatnaptime. We've been using the Storygraph buddy read feature and it's made the experience so much richer this time around!
"You are an ember in the ashes. You will spark and burn, ravage and destroy. You cannot change it. You cannot stop it." pg. 65
"Draw a line in your mind. Never cross it again. You have a soul. It's damaged, but it's there. Don't let them take it from you." pg. 401
"When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. Your heart." pg. 422
This was an amazing read! I absolutely loved the world building. It's incredibly brutal which could be hard to read. I'd give some trigger warnings for violence and attempted sexual assault but overall, I loved the writing, the mystery, the suspense, the complicated relationships. I can't wait to read more in this series.
REREAD - April 2022
This book was just as good the second time around. I was surprised by the amount of stuff that I forgot. I remembered the important bits but there were still parts that surprised me and wrenched my heart out. Tahir really knows how to make you feel for characters, sometimes, even when you actually hate them. I loved that even the Resistance, which is supposed to be seen as the good side was morally gray. The different classes of people created a really in depth world that was so compelling. I was even here for the love square. Oftentimes, love triangles aren't my favorite trope but Tahir made this one work. I think the interesting part of the love triangle is that for each main character, one of their love interests represents a piece of themselves that they're at war with. Their love interests are a side of themselves that they could ultimately choose and would change their trajectory in massive ways.
This is marketed as Young Adult but it pulls no punches when it comes to violence. The story opens with the death of Laia's caregivers and the kidnapping of her brother, as well as the brutal beating and death of a 10-year-old deserter at Elias' school, Blackcliff. If you are sensitive to themes like this, maybe skip this series. That being said, a major plot point is Laia's enslavement in the commandant's household and I was glad to see the life of a slave NOT be sugarcoated in any way. Especially from an American perspective, enslavement is often made more palatable to make it seem less brutal than it was and I'm glad this book doesn't feed into that narrative.
I'm really excited to continue buddy reading this with @redheadbooks and @shereadsatnaptime. We've been using the Storygraph buddy read feature and it's made the experience so much richer this time around!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Murder, Gaslighting, Genocide, Misogyny, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Torture, Violence, War, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Blood
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