Reviews tagging 'Grief'

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

101 reviews

_persephone's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

lada_bu_joreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

The love troupe is a bit much. I have to remember that a lot of this is young adult, teenager, high hormones, and emotions. All that I can relate too much at my age. However it does drive me a bit insane that during the most traumatic time, emotions flare up. Other than that I like the "luck" that these characters are having. Because the main characters have to last through 3 books I knew they wouldn't die. But that doesn't stop the suspense of reading how they escape death. I am more curious now on how they will fix the future knowing a bit of the past. Sabaa Tahir is an amazing story teller though. I can see myself reading more of her work if it is paced like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sadhbhprice's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Torture, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

katrinarose's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was an unoriginal, poorly written book. To start, the world-building was extremely lacking with names that felt like placeholders the author forgot to change ("The Empire", "the Resistance", "Masks" for the bad guys who wear masks). There were "factions", which gave me 2010s YA dystopian vibes, in a bad way. These factions were just "Martials" (read: evil) vs "Scholars (read: good), plus some Tribesmen (?). The only history we get of the world they live in comes during a single conversation about 60-70% through the book. There were jinn and other fantastical creatures that barely got any page time and were hardly a threat at all. There was a random group of somewhat religion-coded immortal mind-readers that were evil Martial "bad guys" until they randomly decided for some moments that they wanted to help the "good guys". I could not figure out their purpose in this book at all. 

I put "bad guys" and "good guys" in quotes because it was abundantly clear who is meant to be good and bad, there is no moral grayness here whatsoever. The bad guys are so incredibly bad that they weren't even scary, because I was rolling my eyes at their mustache-twirling, over the top antics. The author heavily relied on shock factor for her character development and world building. Why make a morally gray character when you can just have her beat a 10 year old to death (not a spoiler, it happens in the beginning)? Why make an complex political background when you can just have the entire story take place at a school that raises children to be murderers/torturers/rapists?

All the characters are extremely flat, which made it annoying to be in their heads because they only had 1-2 topics of thought each. And we had the pleasure of having not one but TWO unbelievable love triangles, one for each main character we were stuck with! There was absolutely no grounds for their interest in each other besides some eye contact (with the exception of one side of one love triangle).

I haven't even gotten to the plot yet, but there's not much to say besides it was predictable and boring. Then again, it's hard to have a good plot with no world-building or character development to build on. The main plot was meant to be about Laia spying in the school and Elias going through trials to become emperor, but the trials were all pretty short and unsurprising, and Laia's spying attempts left much to be desired.

I imagine the remaining books will expand on the love triangles and the world will expand too. I went into this book planning on reading the entire series, but for my sanity, I will not be continuing. I gave it 2 instead of 1 stars just because it was readable and that's a somewhat redeemable quality. Also, as annoying as Laia was, it was nice to have a heroine in YA fantasy who was not a bad-ass, fearless assassin from the jump. If I had read this 10 years ago I probably would have eaten it up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Pregnancy

meganders22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Sexual harassment

otterforce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is a bit more graphic than my usual reads. There are some serious streaks of violence and sadism. If you’re concerned, check out the first chapter and know that it’s kind of light compared to what’s to come.

The story and characters are both strong though and the very bad guys doing very bad (and sometimes graphic) things never feels gratuitous. It often reinforces the tension and stakes or serves the story. There’s are so many good people to offset the bad. I wouldn’t say the story is hopeful, but it’s also not overly bleak or dark.

I can’t wait to see how this series unfolds in later books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Abortion

Minor: Suicide

readinabyss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

apple_atcha_reading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

seforana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

danaslitlist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment