An Ember in the Ashes – Sabaa Tahir (Review)

(5 / 5)

What do you think when you hear of a book that’s just been released that was highly anticipated, and already has a goodreads rating of 4.22 after just a few days?? I automatically think “(GROAN….) A hyped up book that young people are reading and getting obsessed about, too good to be true, I’ll hate it…”. Well that is what I thought I would think about An Ember in the Ashes.

Well in this instance I am thoroughly thankful that I was wrong, and will gladly eat my slice of delicious humble pie.

I haven’t read such a wonderful book in a long time.

The empire has taken over the land and has forced its inhabitants into submission. When Laia’s brother, the last person alive whom she holds dear in this world, is kidnapped by a vicious masked warrior, she manages to flee and track down a bunch of resistant fighters. They make a deal with her that in return for them helping her brother, she has to be a spy for them in the military academy, gathering information from the commander of the academy, the greatest masked soldier who has ever lived, and who is an absolutely evil saddistic bitch. The story is told by Laia, and also Elias, a masked soldier who is about to graduate from the academy.

Now don’t let my poorly written brief synopsis of this book turn you off it. It is one of the most gripping books I have read. One of those books that you just can’t stop reading and then you find yourself looking at the time and it’s 3am!

I loved the characters. I was fearful that the characters were going to be your typical YA annoying characters that drive you batty with their incredibly stupid behaviour and dumb choices. So I was absolutely refreshed when I discovered that all of the characters had an awesome depth to them that I wasn’t expecting.
Sure, there was a love triangle… Two love triangles in fact… But they were well written and actually fit the story really well. I didn’t cringe once and it didn’t put me off in the slightest as I was so invested in the characters.

The world and atmosphere that Tahir has created is mesmerising and terrifying. I can’t really make an accurate comparison in my mind to any other books, but think “Throne of Glass” meets “Game of thrones” (both of which I enjoyed) but much more enjoyable.

I am also anticipating this book to be BIG, and would be extremely surprised if it doesn’t get the hype like such series as the hunger games or divergent etc. And well deserved too.

Loved it!

Now I’ll leave you with a quote that took my breath away…

“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.”

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