Book Review: Ember in the Ashes

*Disclaimer: This review can contain spoilers!

*Note: Book reviews are raw general opinions and thoughts I write down after reading a book. I try to keep it as cohesive as possible, but it just might not be as I'm just spitting everything out onto my laptop. There is almost no structure to these, so they'll mostly be in paragraph form. Apart from these general reviews, I might post more structured reviews about certain aspects of the book if I want to or if there's a high demand for it.

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I just finished reading Ember in the Ashes, a novel by Sabaa Tahir. When I first started reading it, I was interested and roped into the plot. I wanted to read more. I read a little bit during a short period of time right before Spring Break started; however, I was unable to continue reading the story as I had to return to school and was warped into the hassle of the semester ending. It wasn't until recently that my summer break started and I decided to pick up the book again in an attempt to keep myself busy over the days. One thing I will admit is that I was unable to thoroughly enjoy the book as it's been difficult recently to enjoy the activities I partake in. Despite this, I trudged through reading the book in order to relinquish my summer boredom. One thing I can say for sure is that the book definitely has an enticing story as it managed to somewhat get me out of my summer gloom.

First off, the story seems predictable. There were many plot twists that I could sense coming and many times where I felt myself preparing to confirmed my intuitions. To my surprise, I found myself pleasantly amused when this turned out to not be as true as I thought it would be. I feel as though this is the biggest factor that continued to anchor me down to the story.

Second, my feelings towards the characters also came into play. I enjoyed the complexity of Elias's character, his inner turmoil and the character growth that he had yearned for finally taking shape. I enjoyed the complexity of his relations with those he cared about, particularly Helene. For once, her character seemed to fulfill a significant place in the story rather than his love interest. Speaking of, while complex, I felt as though the love quad was a cliché concept. I say this though: I do appreciate the fact that love triangles and love quads are classics that could be added into any story. I will admit that it made it much more difficult for me, as the reader, to predict the path of Laia's and Elias's love stories. I personally felt as though the pairs that had the most significant amount of chemistry were Elias and Helene and Elias and Laia. As much of a sweetheart as he is, Keenan wasn't as present in the storyline as much as Helene, Elias, and Laia. It was hard for me to put him inside of the picture--so I guess this was more of a love triangle after all. I might go more into depth in regard to how I feel about each of their love plots in another post, but for now, I'll say that the tensions and unspoken connections between some of the characters were also very interesting to read.

Speaking of unspoken connections, I felt as though a lot of the plot relied heavily on these. Certain events and people were somehow strongly connected, and the explanation for these factors always traced back to the Augurs. Now, I appreciate the fact that the author did this because it ensures that there are explanations as to why these connections occurred. Otherwise, it would be like any other fantasy where it's just so obvious that "they were made for each other." For instance, take Elias and Laia. From the moment Elias met her, he had continuously conveyed that he felt some sort of connection toward her--something that told him to save her a countless number of times and to risk his life for hers. Following the pattern of the storyline, it's evident that this connection has had to been put in place by the Augurs in order to fulfill some part of the prophecy. Furthermore, I feel as though these connections and the continuous explanations the Augurs had revealed was the backbone to the number of plot twists in the story. While it doesn't make sense as you're reading it, the author does ensure that every step is explained in some way or another. This didn't even have to occur through the Augurs. Mazen, for one, explained all the holes in his plotting to Laia (though, this probbaly would have been unrealistic in real life, because why are you informing someone who's not exactly on your side about every move you made?). Apart from these plot twists providing the story with an interesting take, this also made it a fulfilling experience as the reader because it's much easier to move onto the next part of the story when you don't have a thousand questions still lurking behind in the former plot. At the same time, I can see how some readers could have enjoyed those plot holes/cliffhangers more as that's something that some do genuinely enjoy.

One last comment I have regarding this book is how it's structured. As I was reading it, I felt as though it was going a little slow. In the beginning, there was enough that was happening that kept you on your feet, but then as the story went on, it became a repetitive pattern. One chapter was going to be about Laia and what new challenges she'll have to suffer as slave, and then the next chapter was going to be about Elias and what new challenges he'll have to suffer as an Aspirant. It did force me to keep reading as the most seemingly mundane parts of the plot turned into gigantic parts of the plot, causing the story to pick up. I think this is what's ultimately going to have me keep reading the series, just so that I can know what happens next and get explanations to the stories and questions that are still unanswered.

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Overall, the novel was an interesting read. The story wasn't as fast-paced as I would have liked it, but I was nevertheless trapped in the mystical atmosphere of this fantasy world.

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What are your opinions on this read? What are some of your favorite fantasy tropes? What is one thing you would change in regard to how fantasy is written? Share your opinions below!