Book Review: An Ember in the Ashes | By Sabaa Tahir

Book Title: An Ember in the Ashes

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Genre: YA Fantasy

Read: May 21-23, 2015

Rating: 5 stars or 92% on my rating scale

Info about the book: Laia is a Scholar living under the brutal rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, she goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy (Blackcliff Academy) in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars (The Resistance) who vow to save her brother from execution. Elias is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a contest to choose the next Martial emperor. When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are intertwined and that their choices will change the future of the empire.

Review: This book is told from 2 POV's, Laia & Elias. I enjoyed both perspectives, but I enjoyed Elias' POV better because of all the action that was happening in his life & during the trials. This book was very fast paced, and I literally (in Chris Traeger voice) could not put it down. I loved Laia and Elias' relationship in the story, and I enjoyed that the relationship didn't take away from the plot (because a ton of YA novels make the mistake of relationships taking away from the storyline). Elias and Helene's friendship was another part of the book that I really liked. The rebellious aspect of Elias and Laia's character were very interesting to read about. This is the best debut novel I have ever read! Whenever Sabaa plans to publish more work, I will definitely plan on picking it up. I hope we get a second installment, and it would be really cool to have Helene's POV for some of the chapters.

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