An Ember in the Ashes

Cover retrieved from Goodreads

An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1)

Sabaa Tahir

Razorbill: 2015, 446 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

An Ember in the Ashes is the first of Sabaa Tahir's epic series.  The author switches each chapter into the point of view of Laia, a slave, or Elias, a soldier, who live under the rule of the brutal Martial Empire (which was inspired by Ancient Rome).  Laia just wants to survive, living simply with her grandparents and brother.  But when her brother is arrested for treason against the Empire, Laia agrees to spy on the Empire at the military academy for the rebels in return for her brother's rescue.  

Elias just wants to graduate from the military academy and run away from the cruelty he's been surrounded by since he was six years old.  His plans of desertion are put on the back burner as he is chosen to compete in the Trials, a brutal series of test in which the winner not only lives but is either crowned the new Emperor or his right hand man.  It is during this time that he meets Laia and their stories begin to intertwine.  Readers should be aware that the second book in the series will not be available until the end of April 2016.