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caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
- I didn't expect it to be quite as dark as it is, but once I adjusted to that, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.
- Given that this book is from 2015, there are some YA tropes that are a bit tired now (she didn't know she was beautiful, a love triangle, etc.) but I was invested in the world nonetheless. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Rape
gracetxgao's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Gore, and Blood
Minor: Abandonment
marissasa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
emilinkaa'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? No
4.75
An Ember in the Ashes is based on Ancient Rome, and is griping. You alternate between Laia and Ellias' perspectives and while they're both main characters, they have very different goals. But both of them are trying to be better, to save the people they love and themselves. I couldn't read fast enough. Then tension between the two main characters, as well as a host of secondary characters, had me staying up way too late to finish this novel, and immediately reaching for the second in the series.
The book is not light by any means, and I can't check enough content warnings for it. But it's griping, and wonderfully written, and shows that sometimes, the thing that makes us human, is our need to persevere, even when the odds are against us.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
cherrygray'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? It's complicated
5.0
there’s so much potential and room for so many different theories that i’ve started theorizing myself. like Cook’s background, Keenan and Mazen, hell even Aquilla.
this book(and series) is definitely not for the feint-of-heart and you should definitely check the trigger/content warnings before reading!!!!
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Gore, Rape, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
vivelarevolution's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
It's partially for this reason that I have tagged this book with the content warning adult/minor relationship. There is another adult/minor relationship which is not acknowledged as such in this book because it is a spoiler that I remember from a later book.
I don't want to hate this book. A lot of things about it were compelling to me--especially Helene and Afya Ara-Nur and Spiro Teluman. But I don't understand why this type of relationship has to be so normalized. Why could Laia not have been an adult in this book? Why could the Blackcliff graduates not have been the age of high school graduates rather than in their early twenties? Why did the author feel the need to initiate their sexual relationship not just while they are a slave and a master, but in the specific context of Laia being "given" to Elias as a prize? I genuinely cannot imagine what must have been going through the author's mind to set up their relationship in this way and act like it's okay.
And honestly, rape was used as a plot device just about every three seconds. The author wants to remind us Marcus is evil and we need to hate him? Let's have him threaten to rape Helene again! The author wants us to know how Elias is such a Good Guy Who Will Protect Laia From the Commandant? Let's have him pretend to rape her as a "cover"! The author wants to just, I don't know, fulfill some sort of quota for how many times she wants to include the word? Let's have Marcus beat Laia nearly to death and attempt to rape her unconscious body! It's just constant and excessive, especially for a freaking YA novel.
And this is less egregious than my previously listed complaints, but sometimes I can't believe this book was written by a woman. Elias spends the entire book "saving" every woman in his life from various threats (mostly rape) despite the fact that Helene in particular is just as skilled as he is and should be able to defend herself. The petty drama of pitting Helene and Laia against each other over Elias is so tired. The Commandant is the closest that the author comes to a female character whose motivations are not exclusively about a man, and she is just the most cardboard cutout Evil Villain Lady in existence.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture
Minor: Child death and Suicide
No-one is raped in this book, but there are multiple scenes of attempted rape. It is mentioned frequently throughout the book, mostly in the context of the constant threat of rape experienced by enslaved women. The two main characters, Elias and Laia, develop a romance over the course of this book despite the fact that Elias is an esteemed and powerful soldier and Laia is his mother's slave. They share their first kiss after Laia is "given" to Elias as a prize. Additionally, there are multiple scenes in which the Laia is beaten, branded, or otherwise brutalized due to her status as a slave. All of the enslaved characters have endured significant torture and violence, most of which took place before the time of the book and is mentioned in the past tense.