bzliz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Tahir’s female characters in particular show incredible growth and weave together strength with emotion. Laia’s story embodies the value of empathy and the final scene with Keris is utterly heartbreaking and shows that we as people can suffer greatly and it is our response to that suffering that shapes our future. Helene’s journey is my favorite. She began the series as the token girl having to fight twice as hard as the guys to command respect while nursing feelings for the main male character and being taught those feelings make her weak. She makes mistakes and does horrible things (and has horrible things happen to her) but she learns and grows as she unlearns the awful values passed on by previous generations of the Empire.
There are some heartbreaking character deaths that make sense because of the brutal nature of this world and the Nightbringer’s plan, though that doesn’t make them hurt less. Without them, the story would have felt unbalanced and our main characters need that grief to become the people they’re meant to be.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough! But mind the content warnings if you are sensitive to specific topics.
Content warnings:
Blood, body horror, death, gore, injury, murder, violence, war (on page):
Spoiler
this is a story of war between human factions plus humans against magical beings. I don’t recommend this if you cannot stomach violence because it is graphic and prevalent.Death of parent (on page, flashback):
Spoiler
Laia learns her mother is still alive and sees how her father and sister really died.Domestic abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse (on page):
Spoiler
Marcus abuses his wife including while she is pregnant in order to emotionally manipulate Helene who is forced to endure her sister’s torment.Fire/fire injury (on page):
Spoiler
The Jinn burn down a library containing information Laia needs and she is nearly trapped inside.Classism (on page):
Spoiler
The aristocrats of the Empire actively look down on and rebel against Marcus because he is of a lower class than them.Medical content, pregnancy (on page):
Spoiler
Medical content in the form of healing from battlefield injuries & pregnancy content. Livia is pregnant with Marcus’ heir and she experiences some complications including attempts at forcing a miscarriage. Laia delivers her baby during a battle.Slavery (on page):
Spoiler
Scholars have long been enslaved by the Martials. Keris keeps slaves as she attempts her coup. Livia as Empress Regent frees the Scholars.Sexism (on page):
Spoiler
Enemies actively look down on Helene for being a woman. Martial aristocrats do the same before being put in their places.Sexual content (on page):
Spoiler
Consensual encounters between Helene & Avitas and between Laia & Elias. Generally non-graphic and centered on the emotional connection rather than the act itself.Graphic: Grief, Blood, Murder, Violence, War, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Classism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexism, Medical content, Classism, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Slavery
esconce's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Genocide, Child death, Bullying, Blood, Death, War, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Sexism, Grief, Violence, Slavery, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
madamenovelist's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Genocide, Sexual violence, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Medical content, Murder, Colonisation, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Grief, and Child death
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I like Elias/The Soul Catcher as a character, and he does the best he can with his magically-induced memory loss. I don't like how that memory loss comes in and out on the whims of a different supernatural being, as it takes coincidence and turns it into something that's explicitly another character's decision to take away Elias's choices and leave him with the Soul Catcher's cold resolve.
It doesn't feel like Laia learned anything, she grows the least of any of the characters and I found her chapters to be very frustrating. Helene adapts to her situation and changes much more, but her character growth tended to come a hair too late to save the ones she loves.
Throughout the series, The Nightbringer is turned from this intense rebel as Keenan into this angry being who can't be reasoned with and doesn't seem to have retained any of the lessons he had the opportunity to learn as Keenan. Laia hangs on to the memory of him, and that serves to hold her back rather than to build the Nightbringer as a villain. He and the Commandant get specifically turned into understandable people by the end in ways that feel way too timely and convenient.
Most of the new worldbuilding is related to the mysterious Storm, but even that was more confusing than interesting. It takes so long to get any new details that by the time I got answers I'd lost most of my interest in the questions. Reading this series is a slow slide from a really intriguing start into a bunch of angst, wishing, and churning the same regrets over and over. It feels like a huge chunk of the third book should have been excised, as well as a bunch of this one, and combined the remaining portions of both books to make this a trilogy rather than a quartet. Collectively, they're padded with indecision, people refusing to help, Elias and Laia worrying about the same things over and over again, and people waiting for other things to get worse before they can do anything. A bunch of characters have information but are either barred from conveying it or just refuse to do so for unexplained reasons. A lot of the momentum is lost by Elias losing his memory and getting access to bits of it again. War is often boredom punctuated by death and terror, but I wasn't expecting 80% of the book to be boring to match it. I only made it through as an audiobook because I could zone out occasionally but still get through it. As much as I loved the first two books, by the time I was a third of the way through this one I just wanted it to be over.
There’s also an instance where a character who died in the third book turns out to be alive and plays a key role in the final big battle. They come out of nowhere, and feels so out of place that other characters question them to try and understand how they’re actually alive. They show up at exactly the right time to do one more thing, and then their presence is the solution to another problem (but they could still have been the solution if they had actually died when originally thought).
The audiobook narrators did a great job with this whole series, they made this boring and seemingly endless story bearable.
As the final book in the series, this wrapped up hanging threads from the previous books, but it tended to do so by killing off interesting characters once they'd been reduced to having no characterization beyond being an ally, family member, or potential love interest to the main characters. This tried to have a new storyline with the Storm and the reveal of the Nightbringer's big plan, but his big plan isn't very detailed and mostly is a roundabout way of burning the world down. Technically this resolves the question of whether Laia and Elias will end up together, but they spent so little time actually building a relationship that even that feels lackluster. Character memory loss doesn't have to steal opportunities for relationships! But pairing that memory loss with a "no attachments, no emotions" persona just wrecked their chemistry for me, since Laia spent a while with no reason to believe that Elias would return to himself or remember her in a meaningful way, or that he could even return to humanity and leave his duties if he did. It's a book, so of course her pining happens to work out, but I don't like how that was handled.
The point-of-view characters from the previous book all returned here, plus a brief view from the Commandant which felt very unnecessary. Elias and the Soul Catcher didn't feel very different, except in what they were willing/able to discuss. The Nightbringer sounds like he did in his brief narration from the previous book, but he feels very different from himself as Keenan.
It would not make sense to start here. It's a very long wrap-up of better stories begun elsewhere, and can't stand on its own.
I don't have a great sense of the plot. They need to figure out the Nightbringer's plan and figure out how to stop him and the Commandant, and they manage to get that information somehow out of beings who knew it but either couldn't or wouldn't give it earlier. All of this takes way too long. For an ending I endured so much book to receive, it resolved so neatly as to feel cheap, which is not how I want to feel about these characters.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child death and Sexual content
Minor: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Self harm, and Death of parent
angstifies's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
in book 3 i noticed that Elias’ chapters were so useless to the story so i literally skipped all his chapters, this won’t effect your knowledge of the book at all because he’s that unneeded. Laia was as annoying as ever, she just got even more special and kept being stupid. and a Helene, the only character i somewhat liked in this series, didn’t feel much like Helene. i saw a review of someone saying that they could not tell if they were reading a chapter from Laila or Helene’s POV and that’s exactly how i felt.
many things here didn’t make much sense,
Spoiler
it bugs me how unnecessary it was to kill Harper and Livia, it’s almost like the author does it only to be quirky and say “killing your faves lol” as some kind of millennial-author-humor but it just looks like lazy writing and it was clearly pointless. Helene could’ve perfectly become Empress even if Livia and Harper were still alive so… why? the way Keris died and the last battle was pretty bad, not gonna go deep into that because i don’t want to.Helene and Laia absolutely loving each other and Laia turning in this super skilled Mary Sue was so irritating, rolled my eyes a lot.
i knew how this book was gonna end before even starting it because it was THAT predictable but the kind of “happy” ending will surely satisfy someone who loved this series. i, however, did not.
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
khloereads86's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Spoiler
I absolutely loved Helene and Avitas and I so wish we got more of them. His death hit me the hardest cause he might not have been perfect but he was so sweet to Helene. I hope she finds happiness because her character arc was incredible and I feel so bad for her.Graphic: War, Blood, Classism, Death, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Torture, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content and Sexism
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I read Reaper back in 2018, and looked up a recap of that book before starting this one. It’s a sign of Tahir’s skill that as soon as I started reading, I fell back into the world as if it hadn’t been three years since I did so last. I was sucked into the story immediately, and terrified for all of the characters.
Unexpected things I loved: Helene, Helene and Harper’s relationship, Laia and Helene’s friendship. The theme here is that, despite sometimes wishing her chapters didn’t interrupt me reading about Laia and Elias, the girl really grew on me. I have so much respect for her, even if, at times, I was internally shrieking because she was being so dense regarding her love life. Also, her and Laia bonding over how much men suck was the quality content I didn’t know I needed in my life. Such a small thing, but a great one.
I knew I loved Laia and Elias, but in between Reaper and Sky, I forgot just how much. They caused me SO MUCH PAIN as I was reading this freaking book, I don’t know how to express it all. The romantic tension between these two and Elias’ tendency to nope out of literally every conversation because he couldn’t handle his own feelings… oh my god. I mean, that specific part of Elias did make me giggle occasionally, but for the most part, I was just internally screeching. When she brought him a mango. When he helped her with her hair. SO MUCH SCREECHING. So help my hopeless romantic heart.
Characters aside, the plot was also brilliant. No one ever caught a break. I never knew what was about to happen. Nothing ever felt repetitive, and there were certainly no easy victories. I think Tahir took the story with the jinn in a very clever direction, one I personally didn’t expect. The war certainly didn’t go the way I expected. I was getting closer and closer to the end, and more and more stressed because of how few pages were left and how much was still wrong. I love books that scare me that way. I’m only being a little bit sarcastic. :)
As for the ending…
Spoiler
I can’t believe both Harper and Darin are dead! That’s so cruel. That’s evil. My poor girls. Helene lost her boyfriend, Laia lost her brother… I’m honestly not sure who broke my heart more. Thank every deity out there that, miraculously, Laia’s mom was alive and took over the role of Soul Catcher so that Laia at least had Elias. If she lost her brother AND they weren’t endgame, it was extremely likely that I would’ve thrown the book across the room.Spoiler
I’m happy for Helene too, and I think something might eventually happen with her and Musa?? But I was 90% focused on my ship, and wow, did Sabaa deliver. My heart was about to explode when Elias gave Laia the engraved armlet, especially since he got all flustered at the end. It was ADORABLE.This review is a mess because I finished the book at nearly 3 in the morning and now it’s 4 a.m. and I’m also a mess. But it’s definitely honest, and even though I seriously did ramble, it got my point across. I loved this book so much, despite the emotional turmoil I experienced while reading. Like I said, it’s my favorite in the series, followed by Torch, then Reaper, then Ember. I think. It’s been a hot minute since I read the first three, but anyway. The whole series is spectacular, and I can’t wait to read more from Sabaa Tahir. 🖤
Representation
- protagonist, love interest, and side characters of color
Graphic: Death, Murder, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Torture, and Grief
Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, and Slavery
Laia’s parents are already dead, but they/their deaths are referenced semi-frequently, as is slavery. As far as I noticed, it was only discussed as something that happened to a race of people prior to this book and that shouldn’t happen again, not actually anything that happened on-page.escapismforlife's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
" To be fearless means to have a heart of steel. "
I finished last night on July 29 , 2021. I have some good thoughts others not so much.
Helene is the true most valuable character in this final book of the Ember In The Ashes series. She isn't good but that's because of forced circumstance.
Spoiler
The fact she didn't get a happy ending with Harper.After everything she had to go through with her whole family being murdered almost made me rip this book up.
This is a good place to say this, screw Keris Veturia. I don't care what she went through as a kid with the Scholars. She did much, MUCH worse to the characters I loved.
Spoiler
The Nightbringer and Mauth just creeped me out for the entirety of this final book. So they did their job but not in a big way like Keris. It felt minimal in the middle through ending of this book even though their ancient Jinn who are supposed reckless. They also didn't deserve their closure but I'm just glad they died.Laia and Elias happy ending was something I needed to hold on to. For a good majority of Part 3, 4 and 5 I couldn't handle the sadness of lost.
But the love between them was that relationship that made me read to the end. I have invested to much emotion into the relationships of this series not to see at least one couple get a happy ending.
Musa I just have no words for him being there. He is that supporting character that deserves closure. I did need more of him but was happy he stayed. Him and Helene deserve the comfort they can provide each other.
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, and Sexism
rachellewiski's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Slavery, and Genocide
monilib's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Genocide
Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence