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

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

I think this was more than the sum of its parts for me, because I kept noticing things I found annoying but I honestly really liked it and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. It was very brutal and there was a lot of misogyny (especially in the form of rape threats) that I would have preferred less of. The frequent use of overhearing to move the plot forward or convey information was grating - girl, you're supposed to be a spy! Why are you and everyone else having important conversations loudly and near open windows?
I also felt like the augurs were more important than they should have been. It reframed a lot of what happened in a way that made it feel inevitable (and therefore taking agency and meaning away from the characters).
  I'm looking forward to seeing how the magic in the world develops in the next book as it didn't get much focus in this one.
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