An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1)

Read from 9-10th June, 2015

Author: Sabaa Tahir

5 Stars

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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.

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A debut novel realeased just over a month ago, An Ember in the Ashes has already got its own book trailer, been optioned for a film and is surrounded by a whole lot of hype in both the
blogosphere and on BookTube – deservingly so. However, with such hype I feel that everything’s already been said about this novel, but I’ll give it my best shot anyway.

An epic high fantasy with brilliant world building (but no information dumping!), characters you either love dearly or despise, beautiful writing, a romantic sub-plot (it is not at all the main focus), friendships, a resistance movement that will surprise you, and gruesome yet realistic tasks and punishments (Sabaa spares no expense on our characters), An Ember in the Ashes is a truly brilliant story with a fantastic plot and just a great, solid read.

I’m honestly no sure what else to say – you know those books that are so good but you can’t really put it into words? That’s where I’m coming from. However, I will say this: if you think you’re going to like this – maybe even love it – you probably will. Don’t be intimidated by the size of the book, because it reads really fast. I highly, highly recommend picking up An Ember in the Ashes and giving it a read.

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Please let me know if you’ve read this book and what your thoughts were in the comments below. I love hearing your opinions 😉