A review by maddie_rae_reads
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

✨YA Fantasy Book Review✨
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 

This series has been on my TBR for a few years now, and they keep staring at me from the shelf, so I FINALLY jumped in. I alternated between the physical book and the audiobook through my library on the Libby app. Let me just say-I am so glad I did! 

This is a YA Fantasy set in a brutal world of militant rule and subservient scholars. We follow the POVs of a rebel daughter Laia as she fights to save her brother, and a graduating Silver marshal Elias as he discovers the world is not as it seems. Who do you trust?

I like that the POVs are of two people from very different backgrounds. It allowed different aspects of the world to be built up in a natural way without heavy monologuing and gave the story a fuller perspective of the world. The extended relationships sometimes felt superficial, but the immediate relationships built nicely. Dialogue was pertinent and definitely added to the current mood of the story-frustrating, happy, worrisome, etc. while also moving the story along. 

Since it’s the first in a 4-book series, there are a lot of unanswered questions and it ends on a fabulous cliffhanger. 

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