Author- Sabaa Tahir
Series- An Ember in the Ashes
Published- 2015
Page Count- 446
Publishing House- Razorbill
Rating- 3/5 stars
About the Author
Spent my childhood in the Mojave Desert, where I didn’t have cable and thus chose to entertain myself with books and radio. My parents assured me that I wanted to become a doctor, but a brief stint working in a hospital changed my mind.
I left the desert for university at 17, graduated from UCLA a few years later, and went to work for The Washington Post directly after. Five years later, I left the Post and started working on a book.
If I could be anything, I’d be a space explorer, but a cool one, like Jean-Luc Picard.
I’m represented by Alexandra Machinist at ICM.
Taken from Sabaa's website.
Plot
Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
Taken from Goodreads.
Opinions
When I first got into reading in 2015/16, I discovered the world of BookTube and the book community. I saw all these books that everyone was talking about and had to get them. It took me many years to actually read them. In the years that have passed, I have become a very different reader. My taste in books has changed a lot.
I think I am one of the few people that almost always does not enjoy the super hyped books of the classic days of the book community. I always read them too late and they never feel like they're exactly for me. An Ember in the Ashes sadly falls into this category of hyped books that I just don't like.
I will say that I adored the first part of this book. It really hooked me in and I wanted to know more. The setting was interesting and I wanted to know more about the characters. This book is split into three parts, so I was expecting more of the amazing quality of part one in the following two parts, but it just didn't feel the same. I really lost interest in this book as I read on. I stopped enjoying the world and the two central characters, Laia and Elias, ended up being quite annoying.
I think that the reason I ended up not enjoying this as much as I thought I would was the writing style. I've spoken about how I really don't enjoy the first person perspective, especially if it's from multiple perspectives. However, this book was written in the first person present tense perspective and I just couldn't get through it. I really didn't like the writing style as I read more and more. I will say that this is a personal preference and not the fault of the author.
If the book had been in the same style as the first part, I would already be purchasing the next two books. However, as I've mentioned, I just lost interest. I didn't care for the Resistance plot or the Trials plot. I also felt that there was a lot of unnecessary romance in this book. I think it ended up being a love square. None of the characters relationships, especially the romantic ones, felt convincing to me. It just felt like that the author had to include romance because it's a common feature in fiction.
This book did feature a lot of violence towards the characters. There was also a huge divide between the higher class characters and the slaves. The author also used rape or rape attempts a lot. I would be careful going into this book as there are a lot of uncomfortable scenes.
I can see why this is a beloved book and the hype behind it, sadly it just ended up not being for me.
Carenza :) x
