An Ember in the Ashes (Ember Quartet, book 1)
By Sabaa Tahir
Blurb:
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.
This isn't the first time that I've read this book but the first time I read it was back in 2016, I can't really remember how I felt about the book back then apart from that I know I enjoyed it, so when Lauren said she was going to start this series, I decided I was going to buddy read them with her. Obviously, Lauren's pace is a lot slower than mine, but I didn't struggle too much, we both finished it on the same day which is all that matters.
So onto the actual review, this story is told in two points of perspective, there is a girl who loses all of her family apart from her brother and becomes a slave to try and get him back. Then there is a boy who is a mask who wants freedom.
I will firstly talk about Laia who is the girl, I feel sorry for her that she has lost her mother, father and sister to the rebellion, and then lost her grandparents and brother to the masks. The masks are an army to an extent, they protect the kingdom and act as soldiers and protect people from crimes that are happening in their town. Laia goes through quite a difficult journey, which involves lies, mistrust, friendship, pain, and love. There are a few scenes that could be classed as a trigger as we get further in the book; of torture and rape.
I loved her perspective of the story as you could see how difficult her life had become since her brother was kidnapped, but you could also see her character develop and how she got use to hiding things from certain people. I also liked that she managed to persuade a few people to become her friends, and she was definitely a rule breaker when trying to enjoy her imprisoned life.
Elias on the other hand, was a strong character but then at times he was weak. He wanted to escape his mother and the empire he was working for because he didn't want to control people, he didn't want the power. This was brought to our attention when the trials began. I won't go into too much detail but when the trials began you started to see Elias' true colours and feelings towards certain people.
I feel throughout the full book Elias also had a fair amount of character development, at first you seen that he was a strong character, then you got the insight of him and he became weak but then towards the end you seen his strong character again. I loved how at times he stuck up for what he believed was right, no matter what the consequences were and he ensured that he protected the ones that he loved.
The overall story was really good, it developed a bit but not much. However, there was a lot of detail that went into it that so it didn't feel like you were lacking the action. It was fast paced for sure and at times it really was a struggle to put the book down which made even better. Hence why I never read it for a few days so I could bulk read chapters.
This book is definitely highly recommended by myself; as it contained a lot of mystery, thriller, adventure, and a touch of hidden romance. I just generally thought that this book was well wrote and kept you interested a long the way I really cannot wait to start book 2.
Favourite Character: Elias
Read: 16/11/19 - 13/12/19
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