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A review by wokeupbricked
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
5.0
“The field of battle is my temple. The sword point is my priest. The dance of death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release.”
5 FULL BURNING SKIES STARS ⭐
Holy fuck this book was EVERYTHING. It's been so long, so damn long since I lost myself in a book, since a book provoked raw, burning emotions from within me. This book broke the 4th dimension and transported me to it's world, the cruel brutal world of Rome. An orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom.
"Where there's life, there's hope."
Emily says "I think a lot of people will understand me when I say that the best kind of books are those that provoke strong emotions in you. My favourites are made up of books that filled me with happy excitement or, alternatively, books that ripped my heart out and made me cry. An Ember in the Ashes, however, made me angry. No, not angry - furious. I raged. I panicked. I hated. And damn, it was amazing." And I couldn't agree any more. This book did the deed for me. By the time I completed the first chapter I knew I was a goner.
"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."
This fast-paced story is told from two perspectives. Laia is one of the Scholars - now ruled over by the Martial Empire - many of whom are poor, illiterate and even enslaved. When her brother is arrested and presumably tortured by the Masks (masked soldiers), she seeks out the Resistance for help. However, they will not help her for free and demand that in return she must enter Blackcliff Military Academy as a slave in order to spy on the Commandant. Elias - the son of the Commandant - makes up the other perspective in this book.
This book is nasty. The world is nasty, cruel, and brutal. Child abuse, slaverly, rape, genocide, you name it and this book has it. The Commandent literally instilled a chill fear in me. She's an evil sociopath bitch who shows no mercy. As I flipped through the pages, the world around me ceased to exist. At times The Commandent panicked me to the core, and I had to put the book down to remind myself that it's just a fiction. And that none of it is real.
But is it not? I have always loved authors who manage to connect their fantasy to the real world. And this one is no different. From slavery to slaughter and mindless rape of innocent people, this book mirrors the harsh secret of our dark, evil world.
"I look up at the stars hanging low in a sky that makes me think I'm seeing the infinite. But beneath their cold gaze, I feel small. All the beauty of the stars means nothing when life here on earth is so ugly."
The Commandment has to be one of the most evil villians I had read about. I have absolutely no words to describe her cruelty. She instigated a terror not only in the characters but also in the readers. I literally feared and prayed for Laia whenever she used to sneak behind her back.
"Eyes down. Only speak to the Commandant if she speaks to you. Don't look her in the eyes - she's flogged slaves for less. When she gives you a task, carry it out quickly and well. She'll disfigure you in the first few weeks, but you'll thank her for it eventually - if scarring's bad enough, it'll keep the older students from raping you too often"
"You think that carving on your heart makes you an expert in pain? Ever been tortured, girl? Ever been tied to a table while hot coals burned into your throat? Ever had your face carved up with a dull knife while a Mask poured salt water into your wounds? If The Commandent interrogated you, you'd betray your own mother."
And as I said before, I'm too speechless to even form proper sentences. I'm gonna quote what other reviewers said about this book, as they sum up my feelings perfectly.
Katerina says, There was no reprieve from action and suspense in An Ember in the Ashes. War, battles, trials, espionage, rebels, slaves, ruthless villains, ancient creatures of immense powers, ghouls and wraiths, unbreakable swords, all of them woven together resulted in a story that kept you on the edge, that made you hold your breath and pray that your heroes will be spared the agony and the pain that was about to come. But it wouldn't happen. They suffered, and you suffered with them. They hurt and you hurt. They were broken and you tried in vain to glue them back together. There was raw brutality that made you cringe, and strength and dedication and courage and harsh decisions that gave you goosebumps. There was hope in despair, light in darkness ,life in death. And I loved every single moment.
Everything was frozen and the only thing I could hear was my heart. Thump, thump, thump. Sometimes it beat incredibly fast. Sometimes it stopped. Some others it was flooded with a warmth that spread through my veins into every inch of my body. It was beautiful and ugly, sweet and brutal, heartbreaking and heartmending.
There's pretty much a love square going on. And kudos to Sabaa Tahir for making me overlook my burning hatred for love triangle, as she knows how to do this shit perfectly. The love was nothing like the teensy whiny annoying one, it was complex, forbidden, coated with desire, yet the restrictions binding them. The pining, the longing, the control. *CHEF KISS*
The chemistry BOILS. Even the side characters made me ship them to the main characters.
Elias and Helene? PLEASE
5 FULL BURNING SKIES STARS ⭐
Holy fuck this book was EVERYTHING. It's been so long, so damn long since I lost myself in a book, since a book provoked raw, burning emotions from within me. This book broke the 4th dimension and transported me to it's world, the cruel brutal world of Rome. An orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom.
"Where there's life, there's hope."
Emily says "I think a lot of people will understand me when I say that the best kind of books are those that provoke strong emotions in you. My favourites are made up of books that filled me with happy excitement or, alternatively, books that ripped my heart out and made me cry. An Ember in the Ashes, however, made me angry. No, not angry - furious. I raged. I panicked. I hated. And damn, it was amazing." And I couldn't agree any more. This book did the deed for me. By the time I completed the first chapter I knew I was a goner.
"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."
This fast-paced story is told from two perspectives. Laia is one of the Scholars - now ruled over by the Martial Empire - many of whom are poor, illiterate and even enslaved. When her brother is arrested and presumably tortured by the Masks (masked soldiers), she seeks out the Resistance for help. However, they will not help her for free and demand that in return she must enter Blackcliff Military Academy as a slave in order to spy on the Commandant. Elias - the son of the Commandant - makes up the other perspective in this book.
This book is nasty. The world is nasty, cruel, and brutal. Child abuse, slaverly, rape, genocide, you name it and this book has it. The Commandent literally instilled a chill fear in me. She's an evil sociopath bitch who shows no mercy. As I flipped through the pages, the world around me ceased to exist. At times The Commandent panicked me to the core, and I had to put the book down to remind myself that it's just a fiction. And that none of it is real.
But is it not? I have always loved authors who manage to connect their fantasy to the real world. And this one is no different. From slavery to slaughter and mindless rape of innocent people, this book mirrors the harsh secret of our dark, evil world.
"I look up at the stars hanging low in a sky that makes me think I'm seeing the infinite. But beneath their cold gaze, I feel small. All the beauty of the stars means nothing when life here on earth is so ugly."
The Commandment has to be one of the most evil villians I had read about. I have absolutely no words to describe her cruelty. She instigated a terror not only in the characters but also in the readers. I literally feared and prayed for Laia whenever she used to sneak behind her back.
"Eyes down. Only speak to the Commandant if she speaks to you. Don't look her in the eyes - she's flogged slaves for less. When she gives you a task, carry it out quickly and well. She'll disfigure you in the first few weeks, but you'll thank her for it eventually - if scarring's bad enough, it'll keep the older students from raping you too often"
"You think that carving on your heart makes you an expert in pain? Ever been tortured, girl? Ever been tied to a table while hot coals burned into your throat? Ever had your face carved up with a dull knife while a Mask poured salt water into your wounds? If The Commandent interrogated you, you'd betray your own mother."
And as I said before, I'm too speechless to even form proper sentences. I'm gonna quote what other reviewers said about this book, as they sum up my feelings perfectly.
Katerina says, There was no reprieve from action and suspense in An Ember in the Ashes. War, battles, trials, espionage, rebels, slaves, ruthless villains, ancient creatures of immense powers, ghouls and wraiths, unbreakable swords, all of them woven together resulted in a story that kept you on the edge, that made you hold your breath and pray that your heroes will be spared the agony and the pain that was about to come. But it wouldn't happen. They suffered, and you suffered with them. They hurt and you hurt. They were broken and you tried in vain to glue them back together. There was raw brutality that made you cringe, and strength and dedication and courage and harsh decisions that gave you goosebumps. There was hope in despair, light in darkness ,life in death. And I loved every single moment.
Everything was frozen and the only thing I could hear was my heart. Thump, thump, thump. Sometimes it beat incredibly fast. Sometimes it stopped. Some others it was flooded with a warmth that spread through my veins into every inch of my body. It was beautiful and ugly, sweet and brutal, heartbreaking and heartmending.
There's pretty much a love square going on. And kudos to Sabaa Tahir for making me overlook my burning hatred for love triangle, as she knows how to do this shit perfectly. The love was nothing like the teensy whiny annoying one, it was complex, forbidden, coated with desire, yet the restrictions binding them. The pining, the longing, the control. *CHEF KISS*
The chemistry BOILS. Even the side characters made me ship them to the main characters.
Elias and Helene? PLEASE