An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir

Description from Goodreads

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.

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Okay, let's see. 1) one of the most anticipated YA books of 2015, check, 2) a very interesting, fresh setting, check, 3) promises of action and difficult moral choices, check, 4) a huge hype around the book for months and months, check, 5) the book met all your expectations, ..... 

An unpopular opinion: I didn't love An Ember in the Ashes. And believe me, I'm the one who's shocked the most. I was so sure that this novel would sweep me off my feet with the moral dilemmas, action, and the ancient Rome-inspired setting, but no. It didn't happen. And considering that the average rating on Goodreads is 4.31 (at the moment), I started to question my own judgment. Was I being too harsh? Did I miss the wow effect here? So, just to organize my own thoughts and try to justify why I didn't love the novel, I've decided to tackle the main things people have seemed to love in An Ember in the Ashes.

1. The commandant, a.k.a. Elias's psychopathic mother. Okay, here I have to give in. I did enjoy this character quite a lot. The commandant was probably the most complex character in the whole novel, and I absolutely loved the fact Tahir had decided to open up a bit her past so we could get a glimpse what had driven her to become so cold and ruthless. Characters like her just give novels that special angle that makes you realize that even the bad guys are humans, no matter how horrible they are. So yes, I totally understand why people liked the commandant as the villain. 

2. The relationship between Laia and Elias. Hmm, well I personally didn't find anything special or unique there. Unsurprisingly, Laia blushed every chance she got when Elia looked her with his sharp, silver eyes that contrasted his dark skin. To me, all the things that happened between the two were so generic, and I kept getting déjà-vus. Sure, I liked the fact that it wasn't exactly insta-love, and there were other romantic relationships that were mixing things up a bit, but I found the relationship between Laia and Elias very predictable. There wasn't anything that makes the couple stand out as special. 

3. Laia. Sigh. I didn't like her. I'm sorry, I didn't. She did grow on me a bit towards the end, which I think is purely out of the exposure effect, and not because I actually started liking her more. First of all, she was supposed to be a spy (and yeah she wasn't trained for it, I'm aware) but she was sent off to the most badass place ever where all the previous spies had died. And Laia was such an awful spy, but she still managed to slip away from every danger, and this made me so angry. If the book had been a bit more realistic, Laia would have had it bad, a lot worse than she got it eventually. She just didn't come off as a person who could actually be destined for great things, from my point of view. The character development and personal growth that she went through were minimal, and I just didn't root for her.

4. The fast-paced plot. I actually didn't find it a very fast paced until I reached the 50% mark. Before that, the author was introducing the characters and building the world up, but I just didn't find this a very interesting part even though usually I LOVE world-building parts. And the thing is that I was so excited about the setting, but in the end, the world building felt halfway done. Maybe because the first half felt dragging to me, I didn't become invested in the characters and the plot, and so it completely tilted my view of the whole novel and how I judged it in the end.

So there you go. An Ember in the Ashes wasn't a bad novel, I never said that. For me it was ok, but not the kind of novel that I loved or that was convincing to me. The plot definitely got better toward the end, but nah, it didn't really do anything special for me. But apparently it did that for a whole lot of other people, which is awesome, and I hope the second book will be great for the fans of the series.

2/5 stars

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