An Ember in the Ashes

I didn't even know what this book was about when I picked it up, I didn't care. Honestly I picked it up because Hannah at aclockworkreader loves this series and the new American covers are MY JAM. I had no expectations from the book, but I knew that I'd previously been disappointed by YA books before. However, I picked up [b:Windwitch 29939390 Windwitch (The Witchlands, #2) Susan Dennard https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462296317s/29939390.jpg 41438285] by Susan Dennard a month or two ago and flew through the first two books. I absolutely loved them and decided I'd give another YA fantasy series a go. And I'm glad I did. The plot follows two main/point of view characters, Lais and Elias. One is getting ready to graduate a military academy and isn't sure he believes in the Empire any more, which he had been raised to fight for. The other, Laia, has entered into a desperate bargain with the resistance fighters from her country to spy on the Empire. Elias is a firm favourite character for me, he has conflicts within himself that you can really feel him trying to fight. I genuinely am really interested and invested in his character arc throughout this series. I would love to know more about him and his relationships with the people he grew up with. However, Laia wasn't as interesting for me. She had an intriguing background, but I didn't feel it was well developed. Information about her was dropped into the story when it felt convenient to the plot. I liked her section of the plot though, and I really think the second book was set up to give us a lot more of what I was missing from her story. For the world, the author managed a lot of world building without it feeling dense or like an “information dump”. I appreciate knowing enough about the world to make connections by myself but also getting to discover new things along the way. I'm a fan of the world and can't wait to see more. My only issue with the series at this point occurs when we're in Elias' point of view. That boy is horny, and needs to nip off for a wank between chapters. Honestly, it felt like he only viewed his best friend Helene and Laia as sex objects at points during the book. It was made especially weird because the book would then shake off the fact that he found Helene attractive (“she's my best friend”) and suddenly remember they have a connection outside of how much he'd like to bone her. it just felt jarring and childish, especially since the book tries to push Elias' respectful attitude towards woman as outside of the norm of the other male students he knows. I'd recommend this book for anyone who fancies some YA fantasy and enjoys a plot with multiple layers and moving parts. I also enjoyed it because it veered off the typical fantasy path of magic is evil/let's eradicate magic and the whole chosen one/only person with magical powers trope. I feel like I've seen that done to death.