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

Amy    

young adult, action/suspense, fantasy

Amy's Review
(audiobook)

In An Ember in the Ashes, Laia's brother is taken into custody by the Empire and she decides to find him and save him.  She is ill-prepared for the ensuing adventure yet she uses her wits and bravery to make significant progress during the novel.  Elias is a trained soldier who does not wish to be forced to kill so many people.  Events bring Laia and Elias together and they must work together in order to survive.

I loved this one! Sabaa Tahir is a wonderful storyteller. I believe I added this to my To Read list after seeing it on a list of YA books that adults should read. I’m SO glad I listened to this audiobook instead of reading it myself. The two narrators—one male reading Elias’ chapters and one female reading Laia’s chapters—were wonderful. I must say that I could listen to Steve West’s voice all day! (And I’m sad that I no longer have any reason to hear it now that the audiobook is over.) I’m sure that the voice acting played a big part in my level of enjoyment of this novel.

The story itself is not without its flaws. There are some escapes and circumstances that come a little too easily to the characters (particularly for Laia who smartly takes advantage of these breaks), the reader never gets to know the mysterious emperor at all and, thus, the threat of him doesn’t seem very immediate or important, and while Laia was not raised to be a wisened spy, she certainly should not need Cook to point out some obvious things that she should have determined herself. Unfortunately, the main tyrant is a typical “bad guy” who is evil for no apparent reason other than she enjoys being evil, which is always a bit dissatisfying to me.

But, aside from those flaws, I let myself enjoy this true adventure story about underdogs fighting to make their lives better. The cruelty shown was sometimes difficult to bear but it all felt right for the story. The characters and the settings were extremely well-drawn and, mostly, believable. And I couldn’t help but get caught up in Laia’s and Elias’ worlds and cheer for them from the stands. I took every opportunity I could find to listen to more of the story and could barely make time to get real life done at the end. So, because it was so engaging and full of action and adventure (my kind of novel!), I’m giving it 4-1/2 stars.