♥!The Young Adult Book Club!♥ discussion

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir



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.

I just finished this one last week and really enjoyed it. The world is very dark and very brutal, so be prepared for that. I look forward to following the discussion when more people finish.

I finished reading this book like a week ago too. I really enjoyed it. though some parts were a bit dull for me.

I'm up to Chapter 35 and it's one of those books that you can't put down but you can't put your finger on it what exactly your loving about it so much, it was quite confusing at parts but I think that's just the world creation.

I just finished the book and I look at the clock realizing it's 1 in the morning. so good

I finished it two days ago. I enjoyed reading it but I was irritated by some things and would like to hear other opinions on it:
Big Spoiler! (Open only if you REALLY finished the book!)
(view spoiler)[Do you think Laia should have known that Mazen will betray her? I think it was pretty obvious! Okay ... maybe she couldn't know but what about Keenan? He was one of the leaders, wasn't he? And he didn't realize that his boss is sending this poor girl on a useless mission? (hide spoiler)]
and (Spoiler about one of the last trails)
Did you think that the book was unnecessarily brutal at some points? They live in a harsh world, okay I get it but (view spoiler)[making them fight and kill their own friends/siblings? I don't think it was really believable ... especially because this way Helene and Elias could never have ruled together although they were obviously the most capable (the Augurs should know that) and would made a great team. (hide spoiler)] And there was also the commander and her brutal treatment of the slaves. She wants them to obey her, okay but (view spoiler)[why did she not punish Marcus for almost killing Laia? In the end she is her "property" and her money. She can whip someone for minor mistakes but doesn't care if her money is being wasted? (hide spoiler)]
But I actually DID like the book. :) I couldn't put it down ...

Do you know how old Sabaa Tahir is? She looks really young in her picture but I couldn't find her age ANYWHERE. Not that it's really important but I was just wondering ...

I really hate being disappointed. Especially by a book that I'm sure I'll fall in love with. But no, I had to get my hopes up for nothing. From the very first chapter, I was annoyed with Laia. She weak, whiny, and totally incompetent. Elias is no better. I have never read from more wishy-washy protagonists before. It got to the point that I wished they were real people so I could walk up to them and punch them in the face. Now the setting blinded me from the stupidity for the most part. It had real potential to be amazing but the dumb characters got in the way. I won't be reading anymore from this series. I hope it gets better but I've had my full of it.

I feel like this book was pretty easy to read and get through. It's hard to explain, but when I finished it, I thought it would become one of my favorite books ever, but now I'm just not feeling it anymore. The characters were all whiny and pathetic, especially Laia and Elias, I don't get why they were supposed to fall in love with each other. They had absolutely no chemistry. Elias just saw Laia as a pretty girl and a damsel in distress so he tried to save her to make himself feel like a hero. The only character that I liked was Helene, she was strong, powerful, and I think her story and her ending was so sad. I'm still going to give the second book a chance though.