An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1)

How in the world did I not come across this series until now, what book abyss have I fallen in that this gem of a writing masterpiece has been hidden from me!?

The best kinds of books are the ones that, when you read them, you feel like youre whisked off to another place, the world around you disappears and for awhile you lose yourself in the stories of these other people. You become part of their adventures, their struggles and triumphs. Yet all the while these people feel like people you know, people youve met, or even people youve been or might want to be. This book has all of those glorious elements in it! Reading Ember felt like disappearing into a place thats recognizable and yet so completely foreign, horrible in its brutality and yet strangely beautiful in its mythology.

And the characters, excuse me but they are so beyond amazing, words cannot express how much I adore all of them. Laia is the most relatable, her growth from being afraid and defenseless to finding her own kind of courage is remarkable. Its great when a character doesnt just instantly toughen up because theyre thrown into something difficult. Laia is strong, but her strength overall is a growing process and that made me admire her as a character. And dont get me talking about Elias because my heart just might explode from how much I love that poor soul. Seriously his development was stellar and intricate, the way everything was woven together with the Augur Cain and seeing the many layers of himself that needed to revealed for him to be free, it was just too much for my heart. Now Helene, that girl is still so much of a mystery to me, but in a great way. I want to know more about her and shes just awesome with being underestimated by everyone and I felt hurt for her after everything with Elias, but she just had such complexity that I cant wait to find out more!!

Even the side characters in this book were wonderful, like all of Elias and Helenes Blackcliff friends, I almost cried with what happened to them in the end and Izzi is just the cutest little cupcake after everything that the Commandant has done to her. Who, speaking of, is so the creepiest and worst woman ever. Theres no way I could choose a worst villain of this story, because between Marcus being a super sicko and Keris as the Commandant with her sadistic ways, they were both equally horrid, but in a I like to dislike you way.

As romance goes, Im not super thrilled with the love triangle because, lets be honest here, Im all for Laia and Elias and so I was saying no to Keenan early on. Plus his character just wasnt developed as much as Elias so I didnt feel as interested in the romance between Laia and him as I did with her and Elias. Now I will admit I still wouldnt be opposed to a triangle between Elias, Laia and Helene. Elias may have been very clueless there for awhile, but I think his affection for Helene was really genuine and I always adore a good friends turned romantic partners pairing. Of course with everything that happened thats probably not likely. Especially since Elias and Laia have some serious book chemistry. The kind where even when theyre just on the same page together, or even just mention the others name, Im so glued to the page my eyes hurt. The author has managed to capture that all important spark and I just cant wait for it to ignite into something extraordinary.

Ive already rambled on too much, but I have to mention how well the world was built too. Not just how much I felt immersed in it, like I said above, but just the style of it. Like being plopped down in Ancient Rome, but with a touch of Arabian culture. The mythology of the jinn, efrits, ghuls and other creatures is so intriguing that Im pulled in by their story as much as the main characters. The author has a talent for weaving stories within stories, within stories and I liked that while the narrative had one overarching goal, Laia saving her brother, there were so many more complex narratives going on underneath. It gave the book more drive, heart and depth. Im always completely drawn in by the complexity it must take to come up with not just the original plot, but the stories of so many other moving pieces within the original narrative.

So after all of that, if youve read all the way to the bottom of this review (which if you have, thank you and youre awesome) I think you can surmise by now that I LOVED this book. The characters, the world, the everything. The writing was so well done that every line and moment fit within the frame of what was happening. Stepping back I normally wouldnt appreciate something that could be considered slightly violent, but within the world that Tahir has set up, it all works together to create a place thats haunting and poetically moving at the same time. I cant wait to start reading the next books in the series, if its anything like this one, Im sure its going to be amazing!

First, I reserve one star for books so bad that I could not finish them. I made it through 150 pages before I simply could not take anymore, so it is possible that it gets much better. However, to that point, my criticisms are as follows:
1) Simply no writing style at all. The story is told completely linear by exactly two points of view, reminiscent of the juvenile style of Eragon
2) There is not really anything happening through that point in the text, just two extremely whiny characters seemingly locked in a competition to out-complain the other.
3) There is also no character development whatsoever. There is no compelling background. One character seemingly has no reason whatsoever for his feelings, and the other is simply pushed along mindlessly by the forces around her.
The combination of these things simply led me to a point where I did not care whatsoever what happened (though if I had to guess, the two eventually overthrow the mindlessly stereotypical Mwah-hah-hah evil empire).

What captivated me to read this was that it seemed like an original story loosely based on Greek/Roman cultures.
I personally love Greek/Roman lore and its mythology and it is loosely based on their history and economy.
However the characters are bland and predictable, no motive for the main villain. The heroine is portrayed poorly and the anti hero and his love interests are boring, bland, not very imaginative and predictable plot lines that if your an avid reader on Kindle Unlimited this should have been a free book especially with all the spelling errors on it too.
Overall disappointed.

I remember when this book first came out. I was in Barnes and noble and I read the first couple of pages and was like wow pretty interesting. Fast forward to the last year and kindle KEPT recommending this book for me! Finally it was on sale, I had a gift card and thought why not? It KEEPS trying to get me to read it.

When I say that I was disappointed, I mean that I was disappointed in myself. Why did I keep walking and not purchase that day in the bookstore? Why have I seen this title sooo many times and just…kept looking for a book that was going to blow me away?

This is that book. It is very engaging, it has a lot of slow burns but there is enough action and dialogue to keep your eyebrows permanently raised while reading this book. I loved the characters, especially Laia. While she isnt our typical strong hero, I really admire her observation of her weaknesses without being so down about them. Elias, on the other hand is also a likeable character because while he is all brawn and he knows it, he lets you see that there is much much more to him.
And then there is the Commandant.
I dont want to give the story away, but in this first book there are quite a few fight scenes, nothing too magical/mythical but I really enjoyed the plot.
I usually give myself a day or two before I continue a series, so Ill be starting #2 by Wednesday.

Pick it up!! Dont let it stalk you like it did me!

An Ember in the Ashes is a very dark story that doesn’t shy away from the dark side of human nature. It’s a very harsh world and there’s a lot of death, killing and torture.

I found it easy to get into despite the writing being very dry, the world around the characters isn’t described much. At one point Laia goes to a moon festival at night and it’s all lit up with lanterns. This should have been vibrant and full of life but it felt flat. I couldn’t picture it in my mind.

The speech and behaviour are very modern, which sounds odd in the historical setting.

I do like the way the two different viewpoints of Laia and Elias were written though and I like how it takes a while for them to start being aware of each other. Laia I really enjoyed reading. She starts off quite timid and scared and we get to see how she grows and gets braver.

There’s not much romance, which I liked. There’s a bit too much worrying about who fancies who (and seriously, these people have bigger things to be worrying about), but no proper romance, and definitely no insta-love!

I found it strange how the characters have gone through some very traumatic things but still act like normal teenagers (even though Elias is supposed to 20). Their life experiences don’t seem to have had much emotional impact on them.

The trials Elias goes through are physically and emotionally difficult. They’re aimed at choosing a new Emperor and removing the old one and people die in the process, but somehow it feels like they’re not that big a deal, they’re no more important than a big exam or a job interview. Elias is more worried about if his friend fancies him or not, and does he fancy her back.

The whole thing seems unrealistic, but I would say suspend disbelief if you can because the story is good. It’s full of twists and turns and I didn’t want to stop reading and go to work or to bed. I know I like a book when my other half has to forcibly remove it from my hands.

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