Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahi

Ember in the Ashes

Title: Ember in theAshes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Book Length: 457 pages
Content Notes: For MATURE YA Violence, rape mentioned often

“You are full, Laia. Full of life and dark and strength and spirit. You are in our dreams. You will burn, for you are an ember in the ashes.”

This is book one in a series. The third book is coming out April 10, 2018, so anyone who might have missed this book and wants to start a new series can get started on this one…. if you dare!

To start with, this book is dark and serious. The characters are always in danger, and have been traumatized their whole lives. So of course, there is action, danger, and violence. There is a very oppressive empire and there are oppressed people called “the scholars.” Actually almost everyone is oppressed because living in this empire is so precarious for everyone.

First there is Laia. She is one of the scholars. But a brutal night of violence practically wipes out her family and even though she seems weak and scared, she decides and is determined to find her captured brother. This starts her on a journey to the Blackcliff Military academy and right into the path of the “Commandant” who is the leader of the school. The Commandant is one of the scariest characters I have ever encountered. No one wants to get on her bad side and that is the only side she has.

Next there is Elias who is a Blackcliff student and a “Mask,” which means his future is to be an elite trained assassin. He has the training and the skills, however, he wants to escape his violent life.

Then there is Helene who is the only female Mask in her class at the academy. I can’t help but like Helene who everyone always “underestimates.” She is in love with Elias, but you figure out pretty quickly that her heart is in danger.

Also, I have to mention that there is a bit of magic in this book but even that is dark and usually (but not always) works against the characters. I do not want to give away any thing else, but there is a love triangle ….or two. I started wondering who would end up with who…and who would eventually die.

I enjoyed this book and then I quickly read the second one because I had to find out what would happen next. However, when Amazon asked me to review the second book in this series, I had to think a few minutes to remember the plot, the characters, the setting, and the problem(s). It came back to me after a little thinking, but I have to say it was not a highly memorable book. I will review the second book later…after a little more thinking.

Read this book if you like high adventure, action, some awesome characters (there are some really interesting secondary characters), and if you don’t mind the violence and implied rape.