Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Release Date:April 28th, 2015
Genre: romance, young adult, fantasy, dystopia
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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.

Me after I finished reading and wondering what in the hell did I just read:

When I found out the next book isn't till August:

This book is absolutely crazy. Everyone in this story is CRAZY. I can't even type of a summarized version of the story since it's so complex but I'll try! This is basically about this girl named Laia and her family get arrested for treason. They killed her grandparent but they send her brother to prison and Laia ran away but is found by the Resistance, obviously a rebel group, and tells her they'll save her brother if she works as their spy and pretend to be a slave for the Commandant, like the principal of Blackcliff, a school for boys to train to be Mask, policemen like guys who wear silver masks. Then we have our other main character, Elias, who's attending his last year in Blackcliff and wants to escape.

I'll talk about the characters first since they shined the most in this book! I'll be honest and say that Laia was so naive and gullible. I liked her but some of the stuff she does just makes her so....WEAK and would so easily trusting but she does grow as a character and I admire her for risking so much for her brother.

I also liked Elias but sometimes he was such a guy and he sort of was leading Helene on and it was just a douche bag move but he does state he has no feelings for her. Overall he was an interesting character to read and sometimes his internal conflict could be annoying since he's kind of one of those characters that someone tells them to do something that's good for him and everyone else but does the very opposite.

This was my face whenever Elias does something really stupid.

HELENE WAS THE FREAKING SHIT! Like she was a total badass throughout the book and was such a good friend to Elias and I felt so bad for her because she really does sacrifice so much for Elias and you just know she loves Elias a lot. She's one of those characters that follow the rules all the time but loyalty makes her bend a couple of rules. She is really an admirable and strong character. She kicks major ass in this book and I can't wait to read the second book and see more of her.

I wish there was a little more romance in this book. This book is obviously not a love story but I'm a huge sucker for romance and in this book we sort of have a love square going on and I first thought the two main characters weren't going to end up together and were going to end up with the side characters, Laia with Keenan and Elias with Helene. I don't ship any of that. I 100% ship Elias and Laia even though they don't really have much moments together. They both understand each other and both want the same thing, to get out of that damn society. Also I don't even ship Elias/Helene and Laia/Keenan. Okay I didn't see how Laia and Keenan can happen. You only see him 30% of the time and the times I did seen him I'm just here wondering, "Is he really necessary as a love interest?".

So whenever I see him and Laia have I moment I'm just here like:

Seriously a love triangle or a love square isn't really needed in this book. Anyway, the world-building in this book was amazing and intense. The society is so strict, dark, and mysterious and I can't wait I learn more about this world. I wish we could have more of The Commandant backstory and why she's such a huge bitch! She's probably one of the most evil villains I've read. She's so scary and emotionless and I feared for Laia being around her since she notices EVERYTHING and punishes her slaves for ANYTHING.

This isn't much of a review but in conclusion, I really enjoyed this book. I recommend this to anyone but I think if you enjoy the Daughter of Smoke and Bone books, you'll probably enjoy this too since this book sort of reminds me of that series.