Review: An Ember in the Ashes

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay. so I have had a few days to digest this book. I haven't started book 2 yet because I wanted my thoughts on this book to be clear.

I have had this series on my TBR for sometime. I keep seeing people giving high ratings and did not want my expectation to be to high so I waited but with the release of the new covers and the 3rd book coming out, I had to pick it up.

I did listen to this on audio book and the cast was amazing. You have 2 POV on this. It took me 2 times to listen to the second chapter to understand that the story is about 2 different people. I expected to go straight from chapter one and her story continue into Elias but that was not the case. Laia and Elias have 2 POV and finally come together around mid book. You start seeing what his happening and how their life joins together.

Laia was at home in bed one night when her brother sneaks into the window and she questions his motives but they are raided and she flees for her life leaving her brother behind. Her journey is through out this book is to find her brother and she keeps hearing him call to her in her thoughts to save him. She makes an alliance that she thought she could trust. He is sold to a camp as a slave girl and brutally beat at times because their are absolutely no tolerance for mistakes as a slave girl.

Elias was kidnapped as child and brought to this camp where he was raised and had to fight several stages of his life to survive. The only thing is Elias is not like the others. He has a heart. He lets his emotions get in is way but he tries to hid it. He later runs into a slave girl that he knows is going to be whipped and he does nothing about it because he knows that if he does, he could be killed for his crime. He watched a young 10 year old that was whipped to death in chapter 4 and this chapter tour my heart out and the details that went into this story. (To me this was not for the faint of heart).

The story of Laia and Elias is a story like I have never read before. It was very gripping and compelling and your find yourself so wrapped up in the lives of these characters. You are so invested that you are praying the best for them both.

The side characters make this story so amazing. The trails that they have to fight in the book leave you holding your breath and heart broke toward the end of some of the trails.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. I am so glad I picked this book and now its time to move on to book 2.


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