Reviews

An Ember in the Ashes, by Sabaa Tahir

lianareadss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

i loved this omg,, this singlehandedly got me out of my reading slump and also back into the fantasy genre!! beautiful writing, complex characters, and excellent world building + plot ! it did fall flat at a few points and i still am not that fond of the colonized x colonizer trope which is why it lost a star but i might like elias and laia together in the next book we'll see 🤠

cocpop_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

This is definitely a fantasy book with political intrigues. I almost kind of wish that there was no romance because I felt like the story didn’t necessarily need it. I could understand why there would be some between Helene and Elias, and Laia and Elias but Keenan felt unnecessary.

I liked the way the book switches every chapter between Laia and Elias because the reader gets to see how their lives slowly begin to intertwine.

I read as well as listened to the audio, and that is always enjoyable for me. Both the narrators did a great job.

This book does a great job of setting up for this to be a series. Some questions get answered but a whole host of them remain. I’m excited for the next book because we get to add Helene’s pov.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, Gore, and Sexual harassment

stationannie's review against another edition

3.0

This book was very slow, and it was hard for me to stay engaged. There are momentary blips of interesting events that kept me going, but the consideration of DNFing was always at the back my mind. This is very much how I felt about the first ACOTAR book. The book didn't really redeem itself until the very end. Now that I'm finished, I don't think the book is terrible, but I don't think it was that great either. I'm curious as to whether the rest of the series will be better, now that a lot of the setup is out of the way. I'd read the second book, but for now, I need a break.

aglaya221b's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.0

linneawestbom's review against another edition

5.0

I love Elias and Laia together, but it doesn’t make sense when Helene is obviously the “better” choice. He’s known Laia for two whole seconds and Helene his whole life. Come on dude! 

semellark's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

deee11's review against another edition

3.0

in the end, the love square is still the thing that bothers me the most........ there i said it bye.

ronanxcx's review against another edition

3.0

honestly it's been a while since i read this, but i don't remember all that much from it except for that the action scenes were really good as well as the romance, and i LOVED helen (helena? again, it's been a while) but i had a hard time getting through it at too many points in the book, and couldn't finish the second, so. i might give it another shot though, because it has been years <3

lazyowl's review against another edition

4.0

I thoroughly enjoyed the narration of An Ember in the Ashes. This was an easy, enjoyable story to listen to about a girl called Laia dealing with grief whilst being thrust into a role with the Resistance in order to save her brother.

Laia has to overcome her fear and undertake a dangerous task set by the Resistance. Meanwhile we are introduced to Elias who struggles with his place at Blackcliff Academy and the two inevitably cross paths.

I enjoyed the different narrators for Laia and Elias and I particularly enjoyed the POV chapters on Elias.

vampire_burrito's review against another edition

just not vining w/ it right now, i'll try and read itbagain when school ends