Review: An Ember in the Ashes

Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Series: An Ember in the Ashes #1
Publication Date: April 28, 2015
Publisher: Razorbill
Page Count: 446
Rating: 5/5 starfish
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Synopsis:

Laia is a slave.

Elias is a soldier.

Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

My Review:

You guys…..this book!!!!!  I made faces, I cursed people, and I got attached to characters like you wouldn’t believe.  I have to admit that I was really nervous to read this because of all the hype and due to that, I kept putting it off.  I am so pissed that I didn’t pick it up sooner!  All I can say is thank goodness I have the sequel on my bookshelf waiting for me to pick it up now!  If ancient Rome, magic, trials, empires and nail biting situations are your thing then you need this book in your life ASAP!

Let’s talk characters first.  Laia is a timid girl who is out to save her brother who has been taken by a Mask.  Her entire family has been murdered by the Masks so Darin is all she has left in the world and she will stop at nothing to get him back.  She is thrown into the whirlwind that is this story by working with the Resistance and acting as a spy by becoming the Commandant’s slave.  All of the slaves in this position so far have only lasted at most, a couple of weeks and in that time they end up brutally disfigured and eventually dead.  Interested yet?

Next we have Elias, the love of my life.  He is the Commandant’s son and a Mask.  Somehow he has endured the school, become a killing machine, and still has a heart.  He longs to be free but if anyone finds out his heart doesn’t lie with serving the Empire, he is dead.

The story is told through dual perspectives by both Laia and Elias.  It is done in such a way that the flow is beautiful and engaging.  I wanted to scream at people for their lack of human emotion and I wanted to cry for people because of how they were treated.  I may have made my feelings known to my family by making some comments out loud, but, whatever.  You absolutely need to read this book, like NOW!