An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

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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. 

An Ember in the Ashes has fallen to the bottom of my to be read pile for a while now. I'm so happy that I finally got around to reading it! This book blew my mind!

Sabaa Tahir is an author that I am going to have to keep an eye on now because this book was so well written. I could tell that she mapped out this book because everything in it was well thought out. The pacing was perfect! The book starts off by throwing readers right into the action. It begins with the night that Laia's brother is arrested which is a tense, frightening, bloody scene that seems to set the tone for the entire book. We continue on the journey with Laia and find out how much she is willing to sacrifice in order to save him. 

The author also gives us Elias's point of view in the book who was a soldier and my favorite character by far. He reminds me of a darker, warrior version of Peta from The Hunger Games. Peta doesn't want be a pawn in the games or to change the essence of who he is by trying to survive the hunger games. Elias is similar in that he does not want to be a monster who kills without thought or remorse. He only wishes to be free. 

I felt that both of the main characters were naive to the nefarious plots that were taking place around them which is why I could not give the book five stars. I felt that Laia more so than Elias should have been able to see what was right in front of her. I realize that she was desperate and desperation can make us ignorant to things right in front of our faces but it still irked me.  

I did love the story with its tangled web of betrayal, war, and different factions with various goals. I loved how Sabaa Tahir made the book so incredibly dark because war is not without its bloodshed or darkness. She didn't glance over the lives that were lost or when comrade was turned against comrade. I think that the sequel will be even better! The characters changed so much over the course of this book which I believed to be for the better. There was plenty of fighting and I can only assume that there will be much more in the next book.