An Ember in the Ashes
Ratings326
Average rating4.1
Sebagai pembuka seri, buku ini LUAR BIASA. Sebenarnya, aku mengharapkan suatu alur yg lambat, seperti biasa yg terjadi pada buku pembuka seri, namun buku ini tidak terasa selambat biasanya, malah alurnya terus mengalir & ketegangan yg ditimbulkan sepanjang jalan cerita, terasa pas.
Laia menjadi seorang budak setelah prajurit Mask membunuh kakek & neneknya, juga memenjarakan kakaknya, Darin. Laia mencar pemberontak, The Resistance dgn harapan meraka akan membantunya membebaskan Darin. The Resistance meminta imbalan, Laia akan menjadi budak untuk memata-matai Komandan Sekolah Balckliff.
Di hari kelulusannya Elias terpilih menjadi aspiran, yaitu salah 1 dari 4 kandidat yg akan terpilih menjadi Kaisar Imperium selanjutnya. Dia akan mengikuti 4 tahap ujian. Yang tdk diketahuinya ujian itu akan berpotensi menghancurkan jiwa & kemanusiaannya.
Takdir Laia & Elias terjalin di tengah2 semua itu. Seorang Augur mengatakan hal yg sama pada keduanya, mereka adalah bara di tengah abu.
Honestly wasn't expecting more than a formulaic dysta-fantasy, but this was really enjoyable! The characters were multi-faceted, the love quadrangle was better than most, the world building was detailed, and the pace/plotting was great without sacrificing the first three. The threat of rape was constant, and though I understand its service to the violent narrative, I felt like it was dialed too high. Other than that, will be an easy sell, especially as an HBOB book. Interested in continuing the journey for the next in the series. Audio narrators were good, only one voice of the many characters the female narrator voiced was awkward to listen to.
I just happened to stumble upon this one while browsing the library catalog–what luck! This book is FANTASTIC! It's been some time since I found a series that kept me so absolutely engrossed. I listened to the audiobook, which was read and performed wonderfully. I love every one of the characters, including the evil ones that I love to hate. Tahir does such a great job developing every one of her characters, whether or not they are the main ones. I highly recommend to everyone!
Another 4.5 stars. It would have been five if I understood the world a little better, but it took me a while to get it. I don't see how this was originally a standalone, either. The ending seemed too big a setup for the sequel.
4.75 stars :
I loved all the roman influences in this!
the names of characters were beautiful
the romance was something I expected from the beginning
I'd love to be at Blackcliff if I'm honest
it was good fun!
I practically binge read most of this one evening
-love, bookishwolf
THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD FUCKING BOOK I CRIED SO MANY TIMES MY HEART IS STILL ACHING I CANT GET OVER THIS I DONT KNOW HOW TO FEEL ANYTHING BUT PAIN ANYMORE MAKE IT STOP
Spoilers ahead! Proceed with caution.
An Ember in the Ashes has more flaws than I can count. Oh, where do I even begin, there's so much to say...
CHARACTERS
Laia (pronounced LAH-I-A or LEI-A or LA-I-YA or LEI-YA... you pick) is a Scholar (not in the literal sense because if she were, this book would be totally different) who lives with her brother and grandparents. One night, their house is raided by Martials (another faction of people in this non-descriptive part of the world) and her grandparents are killed while her brother gets shipped off to prison.
Here, our wonderful protagonist sets off on an adventure (le gasp!) to rescue her brother. She (attempts) to do that by begging them joining forces with the resistance leaders and ends up going on a mission of UTMOST IMPORTANCE in the heart of the empire. Yes folks, you read that right. They're not sending an experienced fighter on this mission, no, they're sending our sPeAcIaL girl because she's so... sPeAcIaL (there's seriously no logical reason for this... it makes no sense but hey, plot!)
Let me tell you, our female lead is no dumb blonde, no sir! She's a dumb brunette instead. She somehow escapes all the wonderful things reserved for slaves (like torture, maiming, rape, etc.) AND stays incognito right under the Commandant's nose (even though the Commandant is Satan herself, and that she has historically caught and killed most resistance leaders and spies). But great things await our precious little Laia; there's NO WAY that an expert army general will EVER find out that Laia is a spy. Nope. Not gonna happen. She's sPeAcIaL, and god knows that sPeAcIaL girls like her can outwit experienced generals because they're SMORT and STRONK GURLS.
Elias is a Martial and a Mask (a term used to distinguish fighters from normal folks). He's tall, handsome, intelligent, etc. Of course he is. He has been training all his life at Blackcliff academy to become a Mask with some of his BFFs, including Helene, THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ACADEMY. Helene is seriously a badass; she's the only reason I read this book till the end. BUT THEN, she falls for Elias because, of course, but guess who Elias has his sights on? Not our own little slave girl?!? NEVER SAW THAT COMING. But Laia, being “such a pretty thing,” has more than one suitor (of course she does), including a handsome and rugged member of the resistance! Oh, whatever shall she do now? Wait. Aren't we forgetting.... oh yeah! Darin (the missing brother)!
Darin is Laia's older brother of whom we hear about in the first few pages of the book and who then gets whisked away to prison to be tortured and/or killed. His survival is dependent on his little sister finding a way to save him. Yikes. RIP Darin. For the rest of the book, the only time we hear about Darin is when Laia conjures him up in her mind as her voice of reason.... which translates into more woe-is-me whining. Can we just take a moment here to remind ourselves why Laia infiltrated the resistance in the first place? To find her brother, you say? WELL NOW. Seems like she's completely forgotten that little fact. Must be because of all the swooning (and whining) over boys. eye roll
PLOT (or lack thereof)
Each chapter swaps perspectives between Laia and Elias, offering a stunningly unreliable first-person narrator throughout the book. The Elias-POV chapters were better, if only for the presence of Helene and some actual plot development (the trials to decide the new Emperor, for example, are actually interesting). The whole world within Blackcliff is well developed and interesting. If the whole book had been about Elias trying to break free from his destiny as a mask, it would have been a whole lot better.
The other half of the book is seen through Laia's eyes, which equates to a whole bunch of whining, pining, and feeling sorry for herself. Even though she's a slave, and slaves are supposed to be beaten into submission and under complete control of their masters (the book's opinion, not mine ofc), Laia somehow gets to roam the academy at night, escape to festivals and meet with the resistance regularly, WHILE NEVER BEING CAUGHT. This means that either a) Laia is uber clever (nope, that's definitely not it) or b) the Commandant is not as good at keeping track of her slaves as she pretends to be (which seems to be the logical answer, and yet makes no sense at all. SHE'S A SEASONED ARMY GENERAL. #logic).
Along with glaring plot holes, contrived story line and more editing mistakes that I can shake a stick at, An Ember in the Ashes gets a huge 1-star rating. The only thing that gave it more than zero in my rating is Helene, Elias (most of the time) and the whole story behind Blackcliff.
If you like good, thought-out writing, this one's not for you.
If you enjoy an engaging plot with endearing characters that pull you into their universe, this book is definitely not for you.
If you like dumb characters with no depth and simple linear plots then, by all means, READ IT.
Second read - 2023
I recently had the urge to read this series but as I hadn't carried on after book 1 for so long I knew I had to reread it and I'm so glad I did!
I was completely gripped by this from the first page and didn't want to stop reading. I had definitely forgotten a lot of the story but really had forgotten how intense and dark this is.
I really loved everything about this and will be continuing to book 2 ASAP.
First read - 2016
This was a really intriguing and interesting story, especially the setting of an Roman Empire type society. I found the characters immensely likeable and enjoyed the dual perspective of the narrative. My only slight issue was that the writing was slightly disjointed at times, some parts were described perfectly whilst others seemed to jump from one place to another without much explanation. No major issue with it though, it really didn't detract too much from the wonderful story being told!
I really don't like the dystopian YA novels that are all the rage right now, once you've read one you've pretty much read them all. This isn't free of the cliches and derivative plot points found in other books like this, but it feels more authentic and well thought out than most of them. It had a brutality that other young adult dystopia feels like it's trying for, but never really achieves. Overall, it was a good read.
This one was hit or miss for me depending on what chapter I was on. There were some parts filled with action, backstabbing and trickery that kept me on my toes and then you have the two ridiculous cliche love triangles with both narrators. Instant attraction, unrealistic sudden love and the overdone clash of classes where the slave of course falls for the slaver. Bleh, no give me something original. I did enjoy reading through two opposing view points. You have Laia the scholar who is bottom of the class system and part of a conquered people. She must overcome her meek and fearful ways and learn just who you can trust when you're surrounded by enemies. Ecspecially when your goal is rescuing family and to do so you must dive into the hornet's nest itself. On the other side you have Elias, a Mask who is part of the Martials who've conquered the Scholars. His body itself is trained as a weapon and he is supposed to follow orders blindly no matter horrific they are. However, he hates what they have made him become. Some of the scenes he goes through tear into his soul and we see him struggle to hold onto whatever makes him apart from the others. What it is that makes him question the ways of the Martials. I may or may not continue onto the next. if anything it will br towards the bottom of my too read list because I know at least one love triangle will be coming back.
Well, I suppose I've just found one of my favorite books ever tonight. I really do. I won't write much because i need to think about it a loooooong time and to construe in my head all the story, still. I've read like 200 pages plenty of informations today and i feel so blessed for this right now.
What a delicious life-ruiner book. What a perfect book boyfriend, that Elias, i've actually got the hugest crush on him. And Laia. Omg Laia. Such a promising sweetheart. She thinks she is weak, she's not. I'm pretty sure her character development will be phenomenal. The relationship between both was also my favorite, they're cute as heck together and mostly : THEY DESERVE EACH OTHER. Don't hurt them anymore. Never. I do not want.
I'm so freaking impatient to know where the story will finally lead us, as we're leaved in such a pivot point. In a word,
GIMME THE SEQUEL ALREADY !!!!!!!!
Normally I am not a fan of books that are told in multiple points of view because I have a hard time keeping up with the story but Sabaa Tahir did an amazing job of seamlessy going back and forth between the two characters. When I first started this book Laia seemed like a really whiny 17 year old but the more I read the more she grew on me and she became a strong character. I really enjoyed this book and I cant wait for the next book but at the same time it fell short to me. I cant say why really I was just expecting more!!!
I wanted to read something different and lighter after [b:Bettyville 22571772 Bettyville George Hodgman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404476865s/22571772.jpg 42038205] and [b:The Light of the World 22875479 The Light of the World Elizabeth Alexander https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422811469s/22875479.jpg 42439931], and this was ready for me at the library. It's clearly Hunger Games-ish, but I read it in an afternoon/evening because I couldn't stop. What do you know.
“She's acting like a real girl.”
Okay. Helene is a girl. I get it. We get it. Okay.
Otherwise, I love this book. It's action packed and it's never dull or slow. Romance takes a back seat to everything but the little hints of it makes it worth it. No way was this writer as a standalone. Definitely was planned with a sequel or a trilogy. THIS IS AMAZING.
I don't know.
This book was good, and other than the love triangles (triangle? I feel like Helene and Elias were never going to be together) I can't really fault it too much(see also: instalove). But these days, it seems you can't sell a YA book without love triangles and instalove, so I've learned to overlook them. But I didn't develop a close relationship with many characters. Laia.. Laia. Laia was interesting. Many would call her spineless, but she was thrown into a very hard situation, that she'd never been in before, and imho, performed honourably. Elias was an interesting character as well. But at the end of the book, I still didn't care as much as I should about the characters.
I liked the relentless brutality of the book. Kept everyone on their toes. But still.. I didn't like it as much as other 4-star books I've read. I don't know quite why though, so I'll give it the 4-stars it deserves.
I really enjoyed reading this book it was AMAZING. I flew through the entirety of it quite quickly and I really want the sequel to come out ASAP. The story initially starts off with the view point of two main characters, Laia and Elias. Laia, a Scholar has found her life thrown to the wolves upon the murder of her grandparents and the abduction of her brother. Desperate to find her brother, Laia sells herself into slavery as spying at a Military Academy and there she meets Elias, a mask and the son of the Commandment. They both find themselves trapped. As the Story progresses I begin to learn more about the Masks and how Blackcliff had changed the people that were attending the school. Overall, the book really moved my soul and it really spoke to my dog Miranda Sings would approve. Byee
4.5/5 stars
I listened to the audiobook of this novel and immensely enjoyed it. I can't wait until the sequel is out!
Laia is a scholar and Elias is a soldier when they are forced to work together to achieve what they want they realize something much larger looms before them.
I loved this book when I got into it I couldn't put it down. The writing style was great it really kept me engrossed and flipping the pages. I wish we got more on how the Empire took over and more about the myths and legends that exist. The characters were really well developed, both Elias and Laia had two very different voices. Each chapter was left with a cliff hanger. I wasn't a huge fan of Laia in the beginning but now I'm rooting for her to find her brother Darin.
I was also really invested in the side characters stories such as Izzi, Keenan, Cook, and the Commandants'. The world is something very fascinating that I would love to learn more about.