Ancient Rome Mixed With Arabian Mythology: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (Spoiler-Free Review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a spoiler free book review. This review is for An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, a quartet I read all of last year.

Let's get into the review!

An Ember in the Ashes is a YA fantasy novel. This is the first in a four book series (quartet). This novel is told from the perspectives of two characters. Laia, a seventeen year old girl, and Elias, a seventeen year old boy. It's in first-person POV. 

The later novels add more POVs, but this book just follows Laia and Elias. Every chapter alternates point-of-view. The novel begins with Laia, then introduces Elias as narrator in chapter two. It continues in this pattern until the book ends.

Laia is a scholar girl who decides to risk her life to spy for rebels that promise to rescue her brother, who was arrested for treason (not a spoiler; it's in the synopsis).

Elias is the finest soldier at the school Laia infiltrates (a school that trains children and teenagers to become deadly soldiers for the government [Martial Empire]). He wants to be free of the life he's been forced into.

I don't want to speak much about it, because I feel like this is a story you should go into with very little information, because that's how I enjoyed it. All I knew was that this was a YA Fantasy/Romance that took place in a world based on ancient Rome. That's literally all I knew. 

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I loved Laia and Elias as the protagonists. I immediately fell in love with them. There are seldom books where I equally want to know what happens to the characters. Some chapters I wanted to know what happened to Elias, while in other chapters, I found myself wanting to know what happened to Laia. Both of these characters are now two of my favorite book characters. 

They both held their own. While this is a romance novel (moreso in later books, but it lightly begins here), neither character needs a partner to save them. At least, not 100%. There are times where they are saved by the other (usually when the other can't save themself). Both Elias and Laia are rebellious, but in different ways. They're both rebelling against the same entity, but the way they each handle it is very different. 

Elias is an emotionally damaged character, but he's never a jerk. He's sensitive, soft, and sympathetic. He's definitely hardened emotionally, and there are times where he is emotionless, but he isn't a jerk, which I really enjoyed. 

Laia was a girl I loved the moment she ran to try to save her brother. If you know me, then you know I love stories with siblings (as long as it's done well, chances are that a book will get a higher rating just because it has a good sibling dynamic), so I immediately began loving this book. 

It was the perfect mix of romance and fantasy. The romance didn't overtake the fantasy, and the fantasy wasn't heavy enough to overshadow the romance. The romance itself isn't a big part of the novel. It's a subplot. The main plot is Laia trying to do whatever she can to find and rescue her brother, along with Elias trying to break free of the hold this school has on him. 

Elias and Laia were both fascinating to read about. I think they were both handled very well. It was nice to read about a male character who had an emotional and hard backstory, but who wasn't a jerk because of it. That's something I've never been a big fan of, real life or not. 

I'm honestly surprised I ended up liking Laia so much. Most times, I have a hard time finding female characters I actually like. Most of them are either flat or I can't connect with them. 

There are a select few I enjoy (Annabeth Chase [Riordanverse], Hermione Granger [Harry Potter], Ruby Otrera [Frostblood], Katniss Everdeen [The Hunger Games], and Inej Ghafa [Six of Crows; new addition]), but most tend to either annoy or bore me. I tend to lean toward male characters more than female ones. I definitely have more male characters I like.

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Another thing I enjoyed is the writing. Both Laia and Elias have such different character voices, which is honestly something I really appreciate. As a writer who likes to write in multiple perspectives, I know how difficult it is to create different characters. With the main fantasy series I'm writing, I'm trying to balance and work with four. Sometimes one is hard enough (though one is definitely easier than 2 or more).

While this story has ancient Roman aspects, it also mixes some Arabian and Islamic culture. There are djinn, among other things. It's very interesting, and I thought these cultures were mixed very well to create a unique world I've never read before.

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Overall, I really love this book, and it's definitely one of my favorite books/series. It was really enjoyable. I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads. I'd highly recommend trying it. It isn't going to be for everyone (what book is), but I think it's worth attempting to read. The characters are fascinating, the world is intriguing, and the story is interesting. 

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it!

 Until next time,

Lexi K🖌