[Review] An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

Titel: An Ember in the Ashes

Series: An Ember in the Ashes #1

Author/Autor: Sabaa Tahir

Publisher/Verlag: Harper Voyager

First Published/Erstveröffentlichung: 28.04.2015
Format: Paperback, 400, english

Synopsis/Inhalt: GoodReads

Review: 4*, GoodReads, Lovelybooks, deutsch

TBR/Leseliste: x

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It's a story that's literally burning to be told. LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution. ELIAS is the academy's finest soldier-- and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he's ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor. When Laia and Elias's paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself. Vow your blood and body to the empire. Keep your heart for yourself.

-->GoodReads 

[Overview] 

I've had this book on my shelf for a few months before I picked it up and I had quite high expectations. They weren't all met, but the book was still pretty great and I enjoyed myself very much. 

[My Opinion]

The world this story is set in is really interesting and very well written. I quite enjoyed the worldbuilding and I'm looking forward to seeing more of this world.

As for our main characters, Elias and Laia, I liked them both. It's very interesting to see the diffrences between the two of them and see how society works from both sides. 
Whereas Laia is a 'regular girl' who is brutally taken from her, not very comfortable yet somewhat safe, everyday life and thrust into a rebellion, Elias has been trained, from birth, to be an elite warrior, tasked with keeping the subjugated people in line and dealing with the rebellion.
It's so interesting to see him struggling with the life he's been almost destained to lead and what he belives to be the right thing. 

But the one character that shocked me the most was Helen, Elias' best friend. As we get to know her she seems like a decent person and a loyal friend. I knew of course that she trains by Elias' side and grew up with the same morals and values as he did, and while we don't see her trying to escape this life like he does, the frevor with which she believes in their corrupted ideals truly surprised me. I wasn't expecting her to turn around and realize all that is wrong with their society and system, but I did think that she was just going along with what she was thought and it really shocked me how strong her beliefs are. 
Those of you who've read the book may be surprised at how much I have to say about her, as opposed to anything else, as she isn't a main character, but to me, her character was one that really got me thinking. I don't necessarily subscribe to a black and white reality and I know that there is more than just plain right and wrong, but to see someone so 'normal' (of course taking into consideration this world and society) be so corrupted was kind of a wake up call to me. Usually when it comes to bad guys, and I don't mean those who may be on the wrong side but have a good heart or whatever, I either don't like them, can at least tell there is something off about them based on their character or they turn out to be totally diffrent from who we thought they were. But in this case that's just not the way it is and it confused the hell out of me. 

Another thing that confused me were the love triangles. I generally don't really like them, at least when they go on for more than a few pages and it's not clear from the beginning who's going to be with whom. In this case we had two triangles that both centered around Elias and Laia, and I can't honestly say whether I want them to end up together or with their respective other prospect. 

As from the plot, I can't wait to see where it leads with the next book. It was very fast paced, there was a lot of action and I couldn't put the book down. 

[Overall]

I rated this book 4 stars as there were some small things I didn't enjoy that much, but overall I still enjoyed it very much and it was definetly worth the read!