19.1k reviews for:

An Ember in the Ashes

Sabaa Tahir

4.22 AVERAGE

adventurous mysterious 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

rereading because A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT COMES OUT TOMORROW AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
dark hopeful 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
adventurous challenging dark emotional 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
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

This book is the start of something amazing. Laia and Elias are fantastic characters with great goals and motivations, but what really makes this novel is worth it for me are the villains. They’re exactly what they need to be, and their interactions with the heroes are amazing. I think the only thing I have against this story is that it really is mostly set-up. But whereas books like The Raven Boys (which I rated 3 stars because it’s mainly setup) fall short, Tahir’s world building and writing keep this book at the five that it deserves.
adventurous emotional sad tense medium-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
challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

i'm so excited for the next book!! 

I believe this is YA but the characters are a bit older (Laia is 17 and Elias is 20). This covers some dark themes in a mature way, while also remaining fast paced and easy to read.

Loved the characters and the conflicts that existed within themselves and between each other. The world-building was done really well and the plot was engaging and kept me wanting to read more. Dual POV can be risky but it didn't feel cringey reading Elias's perspective and added some extra mystery to certain events.

I'll be starting the next in this series right away, and will probably look into other books by this author if the rest of this series is anything like this first book.