Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

7 reviews

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Torture, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Confinement, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, War, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Bullying, Genocide, Suicide, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Medical content

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Slavery, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, War, Blood, Sexual violence, Grief, and Child death

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Medical content, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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 am extremely late to the AN EMBER IN THE ASHES party but whew I am here and this book is GOOD.
- 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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Torture, Bullying, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Medical content, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape

gracetxgao's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, and Gore

Minor: Abandonment

marissasa's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

This book made me love the dystopian genre again, and pulled off the angst and pain iconic to this genre incredibly well while still having believable characters on both the "good" and "bad" sides. I live for characters questioning their morals and their identities, and our main two Laia and Elias were constantly doing this throughout the story. I also loved that despite the harrowing situations they lived through and are still facing in the story's current timeline, they are still teenagers and actually act like it at appropriate times. They may be hardened by the realities of losing their families or being raised as ruthless soldiers, but they still show raw emotions and act based on their feelings, they still long for freedom and try to maintain friendships despite being in situations where self-preservation is more logical. There was also more brutality and violence than I expected in the book but it wasn't without purpose, as it helped define the world that they live in and the harsh reality of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Sabaa Tahir did so well at building tension and having real, meaningful stakes in both Laia's spy mission and in Elias' decisions during the Trials. The last act of the book was particularly great to read, I actually felt my heart pounding at some of the very tense life or death moments and felt satisfied with the ending as it was but engaged enough to be excited for the rest of the series to pick up where it left off. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Genocide, Vomit, Blood, Colonisation, Grief, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

emilinkaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.75

Laia is a Scholar in the Empire, which is ruled by the Martials. When her family is destroyed by the martials, she is forced to align herself with the Resistance in hopes of saving her brother. She's fighting for her life and his. Elias is considered one of the best Martial soldiers of his time, he hates it. Taken from a life he loved to become an assassins, he's trying to escape. 

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Death, Rape, Medical content, Hate crime, Gore, Animal death, Death of parent, Child death, Murder, Slavery, Sexual violence, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

c45p1n's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

this is such a fantastic book. oh my god, i need the rest of the series now (!!) it’s so good. it’s morbid, and dark, but good.

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!!!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Murder, War, Violence, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Medical content, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Mass/school shootings