REVIEW: An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

INFORMATION:

Title/Author: An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Series: An Ember In The Ashes (#1)

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: April 28, 2015

Genre: YA, Fantasy

ISBN: 9781595148049

SYNOPSIS:

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 THOUGHTS:

I will be totally honest, I bought this book almost a year ago and completely lost interest in it. I thought it would be a great read when I bought it, but it slowly started falling farther and farther down on my TBR. But you know, we all end up reading books at some point, right? And I’m so glad that I finally gave this book a chance because I absolutely loved it!

The main thing I was weary about beore reading this book was the fact that this was Sabaa Tahir’s first work. I have a tendency to dislike author’s first books. But this book was definitely an exception! Unlike Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass and Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, I fell so deeply in love with Sabaa’s first work. It was so intricately and beautifully plotted that I couldn’t help but devour this book.

Sabaa’s writing is a unique mix of elegancy and warrior-like. You can tell just by reading the first two chapters what her writing is like and it is basically a make-or-break moment. Luckily for me, she successfully dragged me into the world of Masks, Slaves and Soldiers!

One of the coolest parts of this book is that we get to experience both ends of wealthiness. Elias Veturius is a prized soldier who is about to graduate from THE most famous training school. But, he isn’t on the path to become the person he wants to be. He doesn’t want to be a mask like the rest of the graduates, he wants to be free. Sadly for him, he is selected as an aspirant to become Emperor, and is unable to succeed in hs escape for freedom.

I find that a lot of books have a character seeking freedom in a unique way but, I have never seen it in Elias’s way! He truly wanted to escape but was held back before he was able to. I thought Elias lived a very unfair, and cruel life.

On the other hand, we were also introduced to Laia, who I do not think actually had a last name. She was an ordinary girl before a huge incident occured that forced her to start a hunt for her brother, Darin. Although Laia and Elias both lived unfair lives, they both became intertwined. And even though it brought them sadness, it also brought them happiness. Having someone by each other’s side brought them senses of trust and safety. It was for the best!

I thought that this book deserved 5 stars because it was eye-catching, had a super intersting set of characters and plot, and was an amazing first work by Sabaa! This book was definitely a sit-in-the-bookstore-and-read-half-the-book-before-you-buy-it type of read! I can’t help but recommend it to you all!

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY! I absolutely loved ths book and hope that you enjoyed my review! Don’t forget to like, comment, share and follow for more!

Happy Reading

~Alaina