An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
The Blurb On The Back:
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death.
When Laia’s grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the rebels.
But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant of Blackcliff, the Empire’s greatest military academy. Should she fail it’s more than her brother’s freedom at risk … Laia’s very life is at stake.
There, she meets Elias, the academy’s finest soldier. But 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.
17-year-old Laia lives in the city of Serra. For 500 years Serra and the other Scholar lands have been under the control of the Martials and their empire but there’s still a Resistance that fights against Martial control. When her brother Darin is arrested for treason by Martial forces, Laia turns to the Resistance to help break him out of prison. But the Resistance want something in return. Laia must spy on the Commandant of Blackcliff (a military academy that trains elite troops - Masks - dedicated to maintaining the Empire’s power) even though the Commandant has found and executed their previous spies and informants.
20-year-old Elias is one of the top Masks at the Academy but he’s harbouring a secret: sick of the Empire’s cruelty he’s decided to desert. But his plans are disrupted when the Augurs arrive at Blackcliff and announce a competition to replace the Emperor and he and his best friend Helene are one of the four competitors chosen.
Elias and Laia find that their fates are intertwined as each embark on their missions and that the choices they make will have consequences for the Empire and everyone in it …
Sabaa Tahir’s debut YA novel is a well-plotted fantasy filled with twists that kept me turning the pages. Elias and Laia are well developed characters who undergo definite arcs throughout the overall story - particularly Laia who has to learn to conquer her fears and develop her own form of heroism and Tahir gives them both their own perspectives and first person voices. I also liked Helene, a talented soldier whose loyalty to the Empire blinds her to its faults, although Keenan (a rebel fighter) is less developed on the page and I could have done without the obligatory love square that takes place between the four. The plotting is tight and Tahir uses the trial elements well - the action scenes are especially good but there’s a lot of psychological development in there too. I did find the world building a little simplistic - particularly in the ‘Scholars = good, Martials = bad analogy - and the Roman influences on the Martial society is heavy-handed and somewhat crude (to the extent that a couple of times it risked throwing me out). However the antagonists are well developed with the Commandant standing out for her cold cruelty and the ending promises an equally exciting sequel, which I will definitely be reading.
The Verdict:
Sabaa Tahir’s debut YA novel is a well-plotted fantasy filled with twists that kept me turning the pages. Elias and Laia are well developed characters who undergo definite arcs throughout the overall story - particularly Laia who has to learn to conquer her fears and develop her own form of heroism and Tahir gives them both their own perspectives and first person voices. I also liked Helene, a talented soldier whose loyalty to the Empire blinds her to its faults, although Keenan (a rebel fighter) is less developed on the page and I could have done without the obligatory love square that takes place between the four. The plotting is tight and Tahir uses the trial elements well - the action scenes are especially good but there’s a lot of psychological development in there too. I did find the world building a little simplistic - particularly in the ‘Scholars = good, Martials = bad analogy - and the Roman influences on the Martial society is heavy-handed and somewhat crude (to the extent that a couple of times it risked throwing me out). However the antagonists are well developed with the Commandant standing out for her cold cruelty and the ending promises an equally exciting sequel, which I will definitely be reading.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death.
When Laia’s grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the rebels.
But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant of Blackcliff, the Empire’s greatest military academy. Should she fail it’s more than her brother’s freedom at risk … Laia’s very life is at stake.
There, she meets Elias, the academy’s finest soldier. But 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.
17-year-old Laia lives in the city of Serra. For 500 years Serra and the other Scholar lands have been under the control of the Martials and their empire but there’s still a Resistance that fights against Martial control. When her brother Darin is arrested for treason by Martial forces, Laia turns to the Resistance to help break him out of prison. But the Resistance want something in return. Laia must spy on the Commandant of Blackcliff (a military academy that trains elite troops - Masks - dedicated to maintaining the Empire’s power) even though the Commandant has found and executed their previous spies and informants.
20-year-old Elias is one of the top Masks at the Academy but he’s harbouring a secret: sick of the Empire’s cruelty he’s decided to desert. But his plans are disrupted when the Augurs arrive at Blackcliff and announce a competition to replace the Emperor and he and his best friend Helene are one of the four competitors chosen.
Elias and Laia find that their fates are intertwined as each embark on their missions and that the choices they make will have consequences for the Empire and everyone in it …
Sabaa Tahir’s debut YA novel is a well-plotted fantasy filled with twists that kept me turning the pages. Elias and Laia are well developed characters who undergo definite arcs throughout the overall story - particularly Laia who has to learn to conquer her fears and develop her own form of heroism and Tahir gives them both their own perspectives and first person voices. I also liked Helene, a talented soldier whose loyalty to the Empire blinds her to its faults, although Keenan (a rebel fighter) is less developed on the page and I could have done without the obligatory love square that takes place between the four. The plotting is tight and Tahir uses the trial elements well - the action scenes are especially good but there’s a lot of psychological development in there too. I did find the world building a little simplistic - particularly in the ‘Scholars = good, Martials = bad analogy - and the Roman influences on the Martial society is heavy-handed and somewhat crude (to the extent that a couple of times it risked throwing me out). However the antagonists are well developed with the Commandant standing out for her cold cruelty and the ending promises an equally exciting sequel, which I will definitely be reading.
The Verdict:
Sabaa Tahir’s debut YA novel is a well-plotted fantasy filled with twists that kept me turning the pages. Elias and Laia are well developed characters who undergo definite arcs throughout the overall story - particularly Laia who has to learn to conquer her fears and develop her own form of heroism and Tahir gives them both their own perspectives and first person voices. I also liked Helene, a talented soldier whose loyalty to the Empire blinds her to its faults, although Keenan (a rebel fighter) is less developed on the page and I could have done without the obligatory love square that takes place between the four. The plotting is tight and Tahir uses the trial elements well - the action scenes are especially good but there’s a lot of psychological development in there too. I did find the world building a little simplistic - particularly in the ‘Scholars = good, Martials = bad analogy - and the Roman influences on the Martial society is heavy-handed and somewhat crude (to the extent that a couple of times it risked throwing me out). However the antagonists are well developed with the Commandant standing out for her cold cruelty and the ending promises an equally exciting sequel, which I will definitely be reading.