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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
The ending felt a bit rushed, and I expected more since the story was drawn out.
3.5* Wasn't obsessed with the ending and preferred book 3. But overall a decent conclusion
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I am so torn how to rate this book because I adored the characters but didn’t love the series storyline of the last two books. Ultimately the end was rushed and left me craving more detail.
This book made me realize that if I were to prioritize between loving the storyline or characters, when reading for leisure I care more about my love of the characters and their depth and interactions with each other.
In that regard I’d give this series as a whole a 5/5. The first two books I holistically loved and thought the storyline and characters were beautifully developed. The storyline of the last two books felt more indicative of a 3/5 but the depth of the characters and investment I felt in them has me rating the series higher.
This book made me realize that if I were to prioritize between loving the storyline or characters, when reading for leisure I care more about my love of the characters and their depth and interactions with each other.
In that regard I’d give this series as a whole a 5/5. The first two books I holistically loved and thought the storyline and characters were beautifully developed. The storyline of the last two books felt more indicative of a 3/5 but the depth of the characters and investment I felt in them has me rating the series higher.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
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
The once-great An Ember in the Ashes series ends with one too many books.
An Ember in the Ashes was the first book I reviewed on this blog, back in March 2017 (and I adored it). Having taken four years to read the series, I can only imagine the daunting task of writing such epic fiction. It often happens that the smaller, more immediate stories of the first installments are much more satisfying – more urgent, and honestly, just better – than the over-arching “big” plot. Some series use up all their energy getting there, with little left for the finish. Sadly, Sabaa Tahir’s series burned out far too early for me.
[My Reviews: An Ember in the Ashes (4.5 stars), A Torch Against the Night (4.5 stars), A Reaper at the Gates (3 stars)]
Our heroes Laia, Elias, and Helene finally find themselves united against a common enemy: the Nightbringer. Their Roman-esque Martial Empire has split, Helene at the head of one side, while uber-villain Keris Veturia has joined forces with the Nightbringer on the other. Each is supported by a cast so broad, with every kind of person and supernatural being, that it’s like arriving at the finale of Avengers: Endgame and trying to remember who all these freaking people are.
Mostly what happens in this book is painstaking repetition. Everyone is doing everything they have done on every page that came before. Elias is torn over his eternal role as the boring AF, please-spare-us-this-is-so-dull Soulcatcher. Laia wants Elias. Helene wants Harper but can’t be distracted by wanting Harper which is distracting her from wanting Harper. A hundred Jinn all get backstories. The Nightbringer is tormented and is he bad or good or both or our fault and what about that time he was a hot guy and… on, and on until my patience truly ran out. GET ON WITH IT. And “it” is a pretty spectacular, world-changing battle that, to be honest, I was only half-interested in. Nothing that surprising happened. The series ends as I would have guessed at the end of book three, with no real need to have read book four at all.
It’s fun to revisit old reviews after reading a new installment. (Not before, I don’t want to remind myself to expect anything other than greatness.) Now reading my thoughts on book three, A Reaper at the Gates, I realize two things:
I didn’t remember finding that book dull. Time gave it all the benefits of having come after two great books, with the expectation of another to follow.
I was right. It dragged. A little less conversation, a little more action, please. I would forgive this had it been gearing up for a wham-bam of a finale, but it was not.
My favorite part of that review: “And they talk so much. Is this what hell is like? Endless pages of whining on in slow, overwrought explanation of things you were already trying to get away from?”
Ultimately, books three and four in this series should have been one book. Cut out all the navel-gazing and retreading, the endless dithering about soulcatching and ghosts, and we would have had an entire series in the 4.5-star range. Get me there, then get out. That’s the only way this series could have left me breathless.
An Ember in the Ashes was the first book I reviewed on this blog, back in March 2017 (and I adored it). Having taken four years to read the series, I can only imagine the daunting task of writing such epic fiction. It often happens that the smaller, more immediate stories of the first installments are much more satisfying – more urgent, and honestly, just better – than the over-arching “big” plot. Some series use up all their energy getting there, with little left for the finish. Sadly, Sabaa Tahir’s series burned out far too early for me.
[My Reviews: An Ember in the Ashes (4.5 stars), A Torch Against the Night (4.5 stars), A Reaper at the Gates (3 stars)]
Our heroes Laia, Elias, and Helene finally find themselves united against a common enemy: the Nightbringer. Their Roman-esque Martial Empire has split, Helene at the head of one side, while uber-villain Keris Veturia has joined forces with the Nightbringer on the other. Each is supported by a cast so broad, with every kind of person and supernatural being, that it’s like arriving at the finale of Avengers: Endgame and trying to remember who all these freaking people are.
Mostly what happens in this book is painstaking repetition. Everyone is doing everything they have done on every page that came before. Elias is torn over his eternal role as the boring AF, please-spare-us-this-is-so-dull Soulcatcher. Laia wants Elias. Helene wants Harper but can’t be distracted by wanting Harper which is distracting her from wanting Harper. A hundred Jinn all get backstories. The Nightbringer is tormented and is he bad or good or both or our fault and what about that time he was a hot guy and… on, and on until my patience truly ran out. GET ON WITH IT. And “it” is a pretty spectacular, world-changing battle that, to be honest, I was only half-interested in. Nothing that surprising happened. The series ends as I would have guessed at the end of book three, with no real need to have read book four at all.
It’s fun to revisit old reviews after reading a new installment. (Not before, I don’t want to remind myself to expect anything other than greatness.) Now reading my thoughts on book three, A Reaper at the Gates, I realize two things:
I didn’t remember finding that book dull. Time gave it all the benefits of having come after two great books, with the expectation of another to follow.
I was right. It dragged. A little less conversation, a little more action, please. I would forgive this had it been gearing up for a wham-bam of a finale, but it was not.
My favorite part of that review: “And they talk so much. Is this what hell is like? Endless pages of whining on in slow, overwrought explanation of things you were already trying to get away from?”
Ultimately, books three and four in this series should have been one book. Cut out all the navel-gazing and retreading, the endless dithering about soulcatching and ghosts, and we would have had an entire series in the 4.5-star range. Get me there, then get out. That’s the only way this series could have left me breathless.
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
[This review is already spoiler tagged but just in case: this review contains MAJOR SPOILERS.]
Where do I even begin with this review? I’ll start off by saying that I was very quickly gripped by this last book in the Ember Quartet. It jumped right into the action, which was something I very much appreciated. After I finished, I kind of just wanted to curl up in a corner and bawl my eyes out (something I was already doing from the couch at that point), because it just hit me even more that this series was truly over now.
A Sky Beyond the Storm follows, as before, the perspectives of Laia, Elias and Helene, and also offers some chapters from the Nightbringer’s POV. I liked the alternation between the different main characters: I enjoyed each POV equally, and they all followed each other up nicely.
Because the book started off so strongly for me, at first I was convinced this would be a 5 star read. Unfortunately it did not fully live up to that level of enjoyment for me. Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed reading this last book in the series, and appreciated how everything was tied up in the end. The ending also really pulled at my heartstrings; not just for the events in the book but also because of the realisation that it was truly over now.
However, despite this emotionality and me being satisfied with the conclusion overall, I lowered my rating mainly for 2 reasons. The first being that somewhere in the middle of the book, I got a bit bored. This was mostly related to the fact that I personally prefer strategy and planning scenes in books containing war over actual fighting scenes. There was so much going on in the world, and for me the emphasis was too much on the fighting alone. However, I have to add that I understand what the author was going for, as it did truly show how a war cannot be won with one battle.
Secondly, I do have to say I maybe expected a little more from the ending. Overall everything was wrapped up nicely, but to me it felt like some problems were fixed too easily. Throughout the whole book there is such a large focus on the Sea of Suffering being released, and in the end, it did get released but it was fixed too quickly in my opinion. [Extra warning that the rest of this paragraph contains MAJOR SPOILERS] The Nightbringer surrendered himself so quickly. In general I also found the events near the end (except for Mirra’s comeback) fairly predictable. Based on the scenes throughout the whole book I could predict Avitas and Darin would die. And with Avitas I really was angry about it because he deserved to be happy and also: CAN HELENE CATCH A BREAK?! I was glad that in the end she did have Laia’s, Elias’ and Musa’s friendship, but still... She lost her whole family (don’t get me started on how pissed off I was about Livia’s death) and then also the one person that truly loved all of her and that she loved? So unfair! I was happy for Laia and Elias of course (though I felt sad for Laia about Darin), but Helene really couldn’t be allowed to be happy... I did like how we already saw the ways in which she’ll make the Empire a better place though.
On a last note, I’d just like to say that this series was a great read that got me very emotionally involved, and I’d definitely recommend it. I like how this series in general shows the strength in friendships and family.
—> Here are some quotes I found particularly powerful:
“All of us striving for power and control, and destroying any who get in the way. Laia of Serra knows this. Of course she does, for she has lived it. All her pent-up rage at what was done to her people - and I never understood it until now. I thought I served a great cause: protecting the Empire. But all I did was protect people who were never in any danger. Maybe this is what Elias learned from Mamie and her stories. The ones where I never understood who the villain and who the hero was. Maybe all of us need more stories like hers.” (Helene)
“I understand every death caused in service of my purpose. I do not take them lightly. Am I not kinder than you and your ilk, who cannot recall face of form of your faces? Your homes and lives and loves are built upon the graves of those you never even knew existed -“ (Nightbringer)
Where do I even begin with this review? I’ll start off by saying that I was very quickly gripped by this last book in the Ember Quartet. It jumped right into the action, which was something I very much appreciated. After I finished, I kind of just wanted to curl up in a corner and bawl my eyes out (something I was already doing from the couch at that point), because it just hit me even more that this series was truly over now.
A Sky Beyond the Storm follows, as before, the perspectives of Laia, Elias and Helene, and also offers some chapters from the Nightbringer’s POV. I liked the alternation between the different main characters: I enjoyed each POV equally, and they all followed each other up nicely.
Because the book started off so strongly for me, at first I was convinced this would be a 5 star read. Unfortunately it did not fully live up to that level of enjoyment for me. Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed reading this last book in the series, and appreciated how everything was tied up in the end. The ending also really pulled at my heartstrings; not just for the events in the book but also because of the realisation that it was truly over now.
However, despite this emotionality and me being satisfied with the conclusion overall, I lowered my rating mainly for 2 reasons. The first being that somewhere in the middle of the book, I got a bit bored. This was mostly related to the fact that I personally prefer strategy and planning scenes in books containing war over actual fighting scenes. There was so much going on in the world, and for me the emphasis was too much on the fighting alone. However, I have to add that I understand what the author was going for, as it did truly show how a war cannot be won with one battle.
Secondly, I do have to say I maybe expected a little more from the ending. Overall everything was wrapped up nicely, but to me it felt like some problems were fixed too easily. Throughout the whole book there is such a large focus on the Sea of Suffering being released, and in the end, it did get released but it was fixed too quickly in my opinion. [Extra warning that the rest of this paragraph contains MAJOR SPOILERS] The Nightbringer surrendered himself so quickly. In general I also found the events near the end (except for Mirra’s comeback) fairly predictable. Based on the scenes throughout the whole book I could predict Avitas and Darin would die. And with Avitas I really was angry about it because he deserved to be happy and also: CAN HELENE CATCH A BREAK?! I was glad that in the end she did have Laia’s, Elias’ and Musa’s friendship, but still... She lost her whole family (don’t get me started on how pissed off I was about Livia’s death) and then also the one person that truly loved all of her and that she loved? So unfair! I was happy for Laia and Elias of course (though I felt sad for Laia about Darin), but Helene really couldn’t be allowed to be happy... I did like how we already saw the ways in which she’ll make the Empire a better place though.
On a last note, I’d just like to say that this series was a great read that got me very emotionally involved, and I’d definitely recommend it. I like how this series in general shows the strength in friendships and family.
—> Here are some quotes I found particularly powerful:
“All of us striving for power and control, and destroying any who get in the way. Laia of Serra knows this. Of course she does, for she has lived it. All her pent-up rage at what was done to her people - and I never understood it until now. I thought I served a great cause: protecting the Empire. But all I did was protect people who were never in any danger. Maybe this is what Elias learned from Mamie and her stories. The ones where I never understood who the villain and who the hero was. Maybe all of us need more stories like hers.” (Helene)
“I understand every death caused in service of my purpose. I do not take them lightly. Am I not kinder than you and your ilk, who cannot recall face of form of your faces? Your homes and lives and loves are built upon the graves of those you never even knew existed -“ (Nightbringer)
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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:
Complicated