Reviews with content warning for Murder - An Ember in the Ashes

Overall I really loved this book.
It was a great YA fantasy, definitely one of my favorites, with true morally grey characters, strong character growth.

We follow Laia who's life is ripped out from under her in the first chapter. And follow her as she tries to spy to get information to those who can help save her brother.

We get a true understanding of her fears and real human reaction to such horrors that start the beginning of her story. In so many stories we have from the begin, the MC is straight up brave, witty and deals with the dark situations in epic ways. Laia was shown in such a great way. We sore her let fear control her, how she runs and feels guilt. How she isn't strong (from here point of view) and we watch as she grows from wanting to be saved to understanding that she must, relay on herself and become the brave MC we see in the end and we root for it!

We then also follow Elias who is training as a killer for the empire and how he truly hates and dismises the empire and the wrongness of what he is trained. We watch as he is prepping to flee from his post only to be thurst into trails where he is promised 'true freedom'. We follow as he graples with the mortality of what happens and his actions and reactions to the injustice. We watch him growing and dealing for living the people and life he has known for a life he wants and knows is morally better and see him accept his darkness and his morals as he makes his decisions.

Overall the two MC were both great character to follow and deal with their weaknesses, strengths and morals. The character development definitely was the main focus of the book, and it was building up the characters before there connections.

There was a very minor sub-plot of romance. It wasn't the focal point of the store. I'm sure it will growth and become more prominent as the books go on, but I just found it lacking. Felt more like a ow burn in that the MC's really didn't met or see each other till about half way through the book. There stories were told separately before they became connected, which I kind of liked.

<Spolier> chapter 38 was so cutel and unfair! This author is not afraid to kill so many characters! I tried while reading this part you really felt Elias pain and his faith break in this moment completely with the empire. </Spolier>

So over all the book and a bit of a slow start but once it started to come together and the characters got closer to there goals it really picked up and I couldn't put it down.

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jennabenna's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.75

This was a good first book in the series. The world, main characters, and conflict are set up well. I found the slow pace if Laia's personal growth to be frustrating, and Elias to be a little too "perfect". I didnt love the dumb choices the characters (especially Laia) kept making. But I am optimistic for continued growth from the characters, so I cant wait to read the next two books now that the plot has really gotten going!

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manda_ruthie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-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

3.5

The characters go through tremendous violence and yet have no trauma response. They just kinda keep going along and acting the same way they did before. That's not very believable and therefore distracting. It seemed like the violence was overdone.

The plot was not easily predictable and the author set up some things for future books that I'm interested to see play out. I'll definitely be finishing the series.

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reckless_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rachelfayreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

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esconce's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have read this whole series but just wanted to write my final reviews, the characters in this book definitely get better as the story and series as a whole progresses. I personally really disliked Helene in the beginning but over time she became my favorite character by the end of the series. It definitely has a couple “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire” sort of moments, but it deals with a surprising amount of classism racism and more that honestly just fits really well. The world building is just top tier and Keenan stays as one of my favorite characters from the beginning to the end. :D 9/10 would read again

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fareehareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I have not read a fantasy book this quickly in years. Saaba Tahir is a talented wordsmith & world-builder and has definitely made an engaging book and I'm sure, overall engaging series. I was interested in the plot and I had some stake in the characters introduced. Also I have to say my favorite part of this book was the world of jinn, wraiths, efret, and ghuls. I love the lore introduced in this book and I love that the jinns were actually scary and mysterious. I would read an entire 400 page book on just the jinn of this world alone.
All that being said, there was a lot that fell flat in this story. This book is entirely told in the perspective of Laia and Elias whose destinies clearly are intertwined in some way even though they come from vastly different worlds. The character development for both protagonists was severely lacking.
Laia's whole plight is the continuous hope that her brother is alive out there somewhere and her predicament (literally choosing to be enslaved to a ruthless woman) will lead to his freedom. Throughout the entire book she clings to this hope even as she endures violence at the hands of her slaver and abusive men, and constant condescension from her so called allies in the Resistance. She never thinks of herself, only her brother and how she can aid in freeing him. At a certain point, her resilience stop making sense to me, because we never see her falter and for a girl raised in a mostly comforted home life, I don't know why we never saw a breakdown of will. So much of her characterization is hinted at but never explored; like her feeling of being inferior in a family of revolutionaries, the sinking despair that physically personify into ghuls that chase her everywhere,

Spoiler

the loss of so many of her family members including parents and an older sister

etc. I felt like we could have learned more about her motivations if her fears and failures were more fleshed out. Even her desires made little sense to me and felt forced through her entanglements with Elias and Keenan who both view her in ways that make me sigh in dismay. For once it would be nice to read a story with a single female protagonist who is respected just for being there and not for her involvement with a man.
Now Elias... he's a character archetype I haven't read in years. He has a dark and tragic backstory and is on the "evil" side but in his heart of hearts believes he is not meant for this life and attempts to break out of it after years of grueling training, only to be pulled back in by a greater destiny. He is that typical man man, the most ruthless, the most physically capable fighter, good looking, a natural leader etc etc. He is the type of protagonist most fantasy books feature and that I, personally, wish would die out in popularity. (More soft men in fantasy please). His inner monologue when he even looked at a woman was startling each time and painful to read through. Maybe like 40% of what he thought was grounded in what we learned of him as a character that is plagued by all the death he's wrought as a Mask and his striving to do good and constantly questioning the world he was forced into, but the rest was just heavy handed sexism. What up with that ?
Also the consistent threat of r wording female characters was also very troubling and not at all what I expected to read. I wasn't a fan of Marcus' characterization at all. I understand having foils to the capable morally upright male protagonist, but having that be a r*pist like Marcus... I was not a fan.
Overall I gave this book a 3.5 but it was probably more of a 3.

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lydia_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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