An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Genre: YA Fantasy
Blurb (on back of book):
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.
MY OPINION: ***
This book got so much hype from GR people and my friends, so I decided that I had to read it to see what it was all about.
This book was not bad. There were a lot of parts of it that I truly loved like readers should love a book.
The only problem with it was that it honestly didn't fit with me. It wasn't a horrible book but there was something about it that didn't pique my interest. There were times when I had to stop reading and read something else because I couldn't get through some of it. I didn't think it was boring, per say, but it was slow-going at points and I would have to take breaks.
Laia's a Scholar girl who joined a rebel resistance to the Empire to try to save her brother, who we never got to see much of. I would have liked more of a relationship with her and Darin so that I could feel more towards her loss of him and sympathize with her.
Elias is a Mask (soldier) who is supposed to be Laia's enemy but because this is a YA book, he's not. He wants to leave the Empire but he can't because he's in line to be Emperor if he can win these Trials against his best friend, Helene, and two evil brothers. He had a lot of angst that I didn't particularly enjoy. He spent most of his time talking about Helene and his maybe-attraction to her and her definite attraction to him and I couldn't deal because I obviously didn't ship it. Then again, I also didn't ship him with Laia either, which is strange coming from me.
There's a love triangle that I didn't love, mainly because it's obvious that Laia's going to end up with the wrong guy. I liked Keenan better but I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen.
The Commandant was pure evil and I thought that her character deserved more punishment. Hopefully, that will happen in the future!
I thought this book was just mediocre. I didn't see the appeal or why it was so amazing but apparently, it gets better, so I'm going to keep on.
There was a lot of drama and confusing war scenes that didn't really matter to the main story.
I know this is a short review but to sum it all up, it was bland and mediocre and the characters didn't sit well with me. However, there were parts that I found interesting, such as the Trials and the whole thing with Marcus and Zak (who I honestly loved).
I would recommend this book to readers looking for a fantasy series.
Main Character: Elias, Laia
Sidekick(s): Helene, Keenan, etc
Villain(s): Marcus, Commandant, etc
Fantasy Elements: This book was based on fanatic elements
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