The Challenge Factory discussion

Jo, Jenn, Runell & Xeyra - An Ember in the Ashes

Whenever do you guys want to start this?

I'm good to go at any time, though I do have 3 other Buddy Reads to do, so it might be better for me to read this by next week? But I can accommodate any schedule, if people are dependent on library copies.

I'm good for whenever for this book as I have it on my Kindle and will be able to read it about everywhere.

Considering availability from other people for my other Buddy Reads, I could probably begin this on the weekend so I'm done by the 7th or start it after the 14th.

I'm good with the 14th.

The 14th works for me as well.

14th is good for me :)

The book is divided into three parts, and we have two weeks to read it if we start on the 14th. Should we try for all of part 1 and the first half of part 2 between Sept. 14-Sept. 21, then finish part 2 and read part 3 Sept. 22-Sept. 30? Any suggestions?

I feel like YA books are way too quick a read to spend 2 weeks on them. I'm more likely to read 1 part per day. The book isn't huge either. What do you guys think, read part 1 on the 14th, part 2 on the 15th and part 3 on the 16th? If we fall behind, it's okay, we can clearly mark at the beginning of our posts which part/chapters we're in, just to avoid inadvertently spoiling something.

I just realized Part 2 is actually a lot longer than any of the other parts so maybe we could read part 2 up to chapter XXX on the 15th, and then finish part 2 on the 16th and part 3 on the 17th instead then?

Edit: Already began it. Seems formulaic so far, as far as this genre goes.

I'm gonna start this one tonight! I meant to bring it to work with me but alas I was running late and left it on my bed lol

I seem to have a weird relationship with highly praised YA series I've read recently, in that I seem to appreciate only about half of them and hate the other half. It's not so bad a percentage; I could hate 80% of it! For example, I loved The Bone Season but hated Legend. Loved The Raven Boys (and subsequent books) but hated Throne of Glass. Am really liking The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series but didn't care for Illuminae.

Characterization and the pacing of a story really help keep the reading interesting for me but it's usually the writing style that seals the deal on whether I like a book or not. I read a lot of adult fantasy/literary fiction, so it's not unlikely for the YA genre to not be entirely compatible with my tastes or my requirements for an enjoyable book, but some have managed to surprise me (the cases in point above) while others just rehash so much of the same things that they just become a bunch of cliches.

In the case of An Ember in the Ashes, it has been, so far, a bit of an underwhelming experience for me.

SPOILERS UP TO THE END OF PART 1

I am not particularly impressed but I will keep reading this because I'm always hoping for some paradigm shift, some breaking of cliches, some change from the same formula that seems to exist in some way or another in most dystopian YA novels. To be fair, at least the two main characters in this novel haven't met and insta-fallen-in-love yet; one can always hope!

So far it's very trope-y but not particularly handled well. I mean, a book can have a lot of tropes (case in point: A Daughter of Smoke and Bone) but be well-written and well-paced enough to make those tropes *work*. So far, in part 1, I am not particularly confident they will, yet. And I think the main reason for this is due to pacing. Everything is happening so fast, especially in Laia's case. Her family dies and her brother is taken in the first chapter. On the second she finds the Resistance just by wandering in a dark tunnel. Next thing we know we have the revelation her family were once Resistance leaders and she's being sent off without a single moment's rest to be a spy to the most evil and cold commander of the enemy, which will likely end in her death. No training, not even a day of coaching. she's just dropped off into this mission the next chapter after she meets the Resistance.

The Resistance are obviously uncaring jerks, though; they are not the heroes one would expect. But hah! it's because they're divided in their ranks. The good ones and the less good ones. If only they had the children of their last good leaders to pick up the pieces... They are also dumb enough to let a totally untrained spy into the enemy's camp with quite a bit of knowledge she can be tortured for. Good job!

As for Elias, he's apparently a super special snowflake, with an apparent prophesied destiny, who wants to be good in a world of evil. But he's gonna have to fight the evil from within by becoming it? Changing it? Hey, at least there's some novelty in there. But the entire premise of the Academy and Trials is so par for the course in this dystopian genre I am not particularly interested at this point. I am totally shipping him with Hel, though. Don't ruin this possibility of romance based on longstanding friendship and companionship for something more trite and cliched, ok, author?

Also, can I just complain that the evil Commander is just way too unjustifiably evil right now?

SPOILERS OVER

Okay, so sorry for that verbal diarrhea but hey, these are just my own first impressions, based on reading the first part of this book. Maybe part 2 (or 3) will change my feelings and may end up being something different than the usual tropes.

First chapter of part II: I spoke too soon. Le sigh.

Finally was able to start this today. Made it page 75 on my lunch break. Not bad so far. But honestly I want to know more about these Augur's and the future that they see.

I have read up to chapter XXX and a couple more since and I confess I am bored. Everything is just so... seen, you know? It fits exactly in all the the cliched formulas of the YA dystopia without moving past them or doing anything new with them. Sure, we substitute the age old love triangle into a quadrangle but other than that, it still reads like every other YA of the same genre and it doesn't even have amazing writing to save it from the tropes. The bad guys are bad just because (apparently they rape slaves all the time like it's an everyday occurrence like going to the shop, yay) except one or two more sympathetic people. The Trials make absolutely no sense - both the trials themselves but also the entire reason for them. I hate the insta-love-lust trope to heck and I want to roll my eyes whenever Elias and Laia cross paths; the romance-y parts are boring, the trials are boring, the Commandant's evilness is boring, the Resistance's leader being an asshole with his own agenda is a bit less boring but still expected. The only thing slightly interesting is the mystery of who Cook really is. And Darin. How I wish we could see more of Darin because I feel like he'd be an entirely more interesting protagonist for this entire bore than his sister.

I made my way to the end of Part one. It's interesting so far. Though I can honestly say that I'm more interested in what's wrong with Helene than anything else right now lol

Okay, I finished this book yesterday. Without spoiling anything, some of my gripes from my first post are explained at the end, and the book does pick up some speed once the revelations begin to come, but it was still an overall underwhelming and boring experience for me and I was more curious about all the secondary characters we don't see much (Darin, Cook, the Telumen blacksmith, the tribeswoman leader whose name I forget now, and Izzi if we ever see her again) than any of the main group. Heck, I'd definitely like to have a focus on Helene instead of Elias or Laia, who were just rather boring protagonists for me.

I finished this one over the weekend. I agree with some of your points, Xeyra. It definitely picked up more in the middle of the second act for me and carried into the ending. I also agree that the secondary characters held much more interest than the primary - Cook & the blacksmith especially. I really hope we get more of them. As for Laia, I just wish she would trust her own instincts more. By the end, she stepped up her game and started using her head. While this debut didn't blow me away, it kept me interested and has me wanting to read the next one.