---
product_id: 23700161
title: "An Ember in the Ashes"
price: "€ 31.70"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/23700161-an-ember-in-the-ashes
store_origin: AT
region: Austria
---

# An Ember in the Ashes

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## Description

BOOK ONE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES • One of Time Magazine’ s 100 Best Fantasy and 100 Best YA Books of All Time • People's Choice Award winner • Bustle's Best Young Adult Book “This novel is a harrowing, haunting reminder of what it means to be human — and how hope might be kindled in the midst of oppression and fear.” — The Washington Post A gorgeous, collectable look for this beloved and bestselling fantasy series that “glows, burns, and smolders.” ( Huffington Post ). The deluxe paperback editions each feature tip-ins with exclusive character art! 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. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR FROM The Wall Street Journal • Buzzfeed • LA Weekly • Bustle • Paste Magazine • Indigo • Suspense Magazine • The New York Public Library • Popsugar • Hypable

Review: A intense read that you can't put down! - Have you ever had a book you couldn't stop thinking about? You run over the plot and characters in your mind while at work? You stalk the author for any information regarding book 2? Well...this was me for An Ember in the Ashes. This book blew me away. An epic story full of courage and wonderful diverse characters. A unique fantasy world that was cruel and wonderful at the same time. I just couldn't put this book down. Today's book is An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. I honestly can say only one other book had me glued to the pages and kept by my side until finished. That was Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. Now I found another book to hold me captive. An Ember in the Ashes was masterfully written. The pace flowed steadily to the point I just read and read. The world the book centers around is brutal, ruled by the Martial Empire who enslave scholars, taking from them libraries, books and their freedom. Scholars live in poverty serving the Martials as slaves. They aren't allowed to read or write for the punishment is death. To maintain such order, the Empire has special warriors with deadly weapons to keep the Scholars in their place. If a Martials' child is accepted into the Blackcliff academy, they train to become these deadly warriors known as The Masks. They must wear silver masks 24/7, so they can form over their faces like second skin, given the name. However, there is a resistance that has been rising for years against the Empire. Striking out when they least expect it. The book moves from two different point of views. Laia is a young Scholar who knows how to read. One night a Mask comes to take her brother Darin away, for illegally drawing images of weapons, burns their house down and kills her grandparents. She can only do one thing, join the resistance and go undercover in Blackcliff to spy so her brother can be freed. It's in the resistance she meets the handsome fighter Keenan who helps her during her time at Blackcliff. She endures much cruelty, especially by the Commandment, the leader of Blackcliff. A woman with much power and cruel determination to search out traitors from the resistance. Elias is a highborn student at Blackcliff, training to be a Mask. But he wants no part of it and plans to desert only to be pulled back in by the Trials. Whoever wins these tests become Emperor. Those that lose die. He must compete against his best friend Helene under the watchful eye of his mother, the Commandment. Elias starts to have conflicting feelings for his friend Helene and the slave girl Laia. His story was my favorite part of the book. I loved his turmoiled emotions and how he sets out to do the right thing. Love triangle haters beware, this book has a double whammy of a love triangle. I really don't like love triangles. Elias has feeling for both Helene and Laia. Laia has feeling for Keenan and Elias. But Elias and Laia's emotions are more connected with the moment rather than true feelings. He likes Laia's looks and it seems to be based on that throughout the book rather than her wit. So who knows where it will lead. I love the connection between Elias and Helene and look forward to see what happens in the next book. They seemed the most perfect for each other. So the love triangle wasn't really that bad because the story is what the book is all about. Sabaa did a wonderful job weaving a realistic story in this fantasy world. It's violent with bloody scenes that make the story much more intense. I gasped. I cringed. I yelled. I was a ball of nerves. The description of the world brought to life every detail of the characters and setting. The action was non-stop and with each turn of the page some sweat gathered on my forehead with concern for Elias...oh and Laia! Sabaa did a wonderful job at this debut novel. I can't wait to see what she has next because I eagerly wait for the sequel..which we will get! Wahoo! Should you read it? YES! What are you waiting for? This masterpiece of a story is something you can't miss. You won't put it down. Trust me. It's a wonderful add to your library collection.
Review: Incredible world building, historically inspired, clean YA fantasy - This is one of those stories that I let the hype surrounding it get to me too much. I really try hard to not let the reviews of others (which I don't read before I've read a book) influence me too greatly. This was one book though that was hard to avoid comments about it. Everyone, everywhere, seemed to love it. So I had it built up really high in my head. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed this story a lot. But unfortunately it didn't quite live up to the massive amount of (positive 5 star) hype that I had seen. The world building is incredible! This is one of those stories that has many plots going on at once; many characters with individual backgrounds; many groups of people all fighting for survival of a different purpose or cause. Within the story itself there are myths and rumors and stories of old that the groups of people pass around. It was incredible really to think that Sabaa has all of this mapped out in her head in a way that's both entertaining for the reader and interesting without being overwhelming. Before you read the story, check out the maps in the front (for me they were in the beginning of the Kindle version book). Study it enough to familiarize yourself with the world these characters live in. It was very handy for me with trying to picture and imagine what was being described throughout the story. I can't begin to explain the depth of what comes along with these characters and what they are going through. The one piece that was lacking more for my personal taste, was a deeper romance added in the story line. There are romantic interests but its nowhere near the focus of the story. But even within those romantic interests, I would've like to have seen more development with them. Both main characters have a connection with someone else and they also find themselves having a connection with each other too....but neither romances were really satisfying to me as they weren't explored more. With one character you had the connection with the lifelong best friend but the feelings don't seem to be fully reciprocated. Then you've got the other character who has an insta-connection (attraction?) with someone they really know nothing about. Both of those scenarios left me with a "meh" feeling...until the two main characters meet each other and my hopes soared for the possibilities only to be let down. Again, this is MY personal preference for what I like to see in books - I don't have to have romance be the sole purpose of the book but I definitely like my love stories to take at a minimum semi-center stage. For those who may not know much about the story, Laia is a scholar (lower-status free born person) whose family is murdered and her only brother arrested. To help rescue him she seeks out the help of the Resistance and agrees to pose as a slave for them in the Empire's military academy, where no spy has ever lived to tell about the secrets within its walls, in exchange for their help. It's heavily fortified and the 3,000 military students within it are taught to not show any mercy, especially to slaves and those beneath them. While there Laia meets Elias, one of the top students, ruthless in battle but is battling an inner war of something much greater. If you love Young Adult Fantasy stories, and stories historically inspired, stories with battles and inner-self struggles, this is one you don't want to miss out on! Favorite Quotes: "The Foretelling is truth. A truth you will soon face. You seek to run. You seek to abandon your duty. But you cannot escape your destiny." "But there are two kinds of guilt, girl: the kind that drowns you until you're useless, and the kind that fires your soul to purpose." "Fear can be good, Laia. It can keep you alive. But don't let it control you. Don't let it sow doubts within you. When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. You heart." Language Rating: 1 (light) Mature Content Rating: 0 (none) Final Rating: a very strong 4 stars

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #14,371 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #40 in Teen & Young Adult Dystopian #52 in Teen & Young Adult Epic Fantasy #55 in Teen & Young Adult Fantasy Romance |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 20,777 Reviews |

## Images

![An Ember in the Ashes - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8180W7UObeL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A intense read that you can't put down!
*by T***Y on May 22, 2015*

Have you ever had a book you couldn't stop thinking about? You run over the plot and characters in your mind while at work? You stalk the author for any information regarding book 2? Well...this was me for An Ember in the Ashes. This book blew me away. An epic story full of courage and wonderful diverse characters. A unique fantasy world that was cruel and wonderful at the same time. I just couldn't put this book down. Today's book is An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. I honestly can say only one other book had me glued to the pages and kept by my side until finished. That was Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. Now I found another book to hold me captive. An Ember in the Ashes was masterfully written. The pace flowed steadily to the point I just read and read. The world the book centers around is brutal, ruled by the Martial Empire who enslave scholars, taking from them libraries, books and their freedom. Scholars live in poverty serving the Martials as slaves. They aren't allowed to read or write for the punishment is death. To maintain such order, the Empire has special warriors with deadly weapons to keep the Scholars in their place. If a Martials' child is accepted into the Blackcliff academy, they train to become these deadly warriors known as The Masks. They must wear silver masks 24/7, so they can form over their faces like second skin, given the name. However, there is a resistance that has been rising for years against the Empire. Striking out when they least expect it. The book moves from two different point of views. Laia is a young Scholar who knows how to read. One night a Mask comes to take her brother Darin away, for illegally drawing images of weapons, burns their house down and kills her grandparents. She can only do one thing, join the resistance and go undercover in Blackcliff to spy so her brother can be freed. It's in the resistance she meets the handsome fighter Keenan who helps her during her time at Blackcliff. She endures much cruelty, especially by the Commandment, the leader of Blackcliff. A woman with much power and cruel determination to search out traitors from the resistance. Elias is a highborn student at Blackcliff, training to be a Mask. But he wants no part of it and plans to desert only to be pulled back in by the Trials. Whoever wins these tests become Emperor. Those that lose die. He must compete against his best friend Helene under the watchful eye of his mother, the Commandment. Elias starts to have conflicting feelings for his friend Helene and the slave girl Laia. His story was my favorite part of the book. I loved his turmoiled emotions and how he sets out to do the right thing. Love triangle haters beware, this book has a double whammy of a love triangle. I really don't like love triangles. Elias has feeling for both Helene and Laia. Laia has feeling for Keenan and Elias. But Elias and Laia's emotions are more connected with the moment rather than true feelings. He likes Laia's looks and it seems to be based on that throughout the book rather than her wit. So who knows where it will lead. I love the connection between Elias and Helene and look forward to see what happens in the next book. They seemed the most perfect for each other. So the love triangle wasn't really that bad because the story is what the book is all about. Sabaa did a wonderful job weaving a realistic story in this fantasy world. It's violent with bloody scenes that make the story much more intense. I gasped. I cringed. I yelled. I was a ball of nerves. The description of the world brought to life every detail of the characters and setting. The action was non-stop and with each turn of the page some sweat gathered on my forehead with concern for Elias...oh and Laia! Sabaa did a wonderful job at this debut novel. I can't wait to see what she has next because I eagerly wait for the sequel..which we will get! Wahoo! Should you read it? YES! What are you waiting for? This masterpiece of a story is something you can't miss. You won't put it down. Trust me. It's a wonderful add to your library collection.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Incredible world building, historically inspired, clean YA fantasy
*by H***9 on September 21, 2015*

This is one of those stories that I let the hype surrounding it get to me too much. I really try hard to not let the reviews of others (which I don't read before I've read a book) influence me too greatly. This was one book though that was hard to avoid comments about it. Everyone, everywhere, seemed to love it. So I had it built up really high in my head. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed this story a lot. But unfortunately it didn't quite live up to the massive amount of (positive 5 star) hype that I had seen. The world building is incredible! This is one of those stories that has many plots going on at once; many characters with individual backgrounds; many groups of people all fighting for survival of a different purpose or cause. Within the story itself there are myths and rumors and stories of old that the groups of people pass around. It was incredible really to think that Sabaa has all of this mapped out in her head in a way that's both entertaining for the reader and interesting without being overwhelming. Before you read the story, check out the maps in the front (for me they were in the beginning of the Kindle version book). Study it enough to familiarize yourself with the world these characters live in. It was very handy for me with trying to picture and imagine what was being described throughout the story. I can't begin to explain the depth of what comes along with these characters and what they are going through. The one piece that was lacking more for my personal taste, was a deeper romance added in the story line. There are romantic interests but its nowhere near the focus of the story. But even within those romantic interests, I would've like to have seen more development with them. Both main characters have a connection with someone else and they also find themselves having a connection with each other too....but neither romances were really satisfying to me as they weren't explored more. With one character you had the connection with the lifelong best friend but the feelings don't seem to be fully reciprocated. Then you've got the other character who has an insta-connection (attraction?) with someone they really know nothing about. Both of those scenarios left me with a "meh" feeling...until the two main characters meet each other and my hopes soared for the possibilities only to be let down. Again, this is MY personal preference for what I like to see in books - I don't have to have romance be the sole purpose of the book but I definitely like my love stories to take at a minimum semi-center stage. For those who may not know much about the story, Laia is a scholar (lower-status free born person) whose family is murdered and her only brother arrested. To help rescue him she seeks out the help of the Resistance and agrees to pose as a slave for them in the Empire's military academy, where no spy has ever lived to tell about the secrets within its walls, in exchange for their help. It's heavily fortified and the 3,000 military students within it are taught to not show any mercy, especially to slaves and those beneath them. While there Laia meets Elias, one of the top students, ruthless in battle but is battling an inner war of something much greater. If you love Young Adult Fantasy stories, and stories historically inspired, stories with battles and inner-self struggles, this is one you don't want to miss out on! Favorite Quotes: "The Foretelling is truth. A truth you will soon face. You seek to run. You seek to abandon your duty. But you cannot escape your destiny." "But there are two kinds of guilt, girl: the kind that drowns you until you're useless, and the kind that fires your soul to purpose." "Fear can be good, Laia. It can keep you alive. But don't let it control you. Don't let it sow doubts within you. When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. You heart." Language Rating: 1 (light) Mature Content Rating: 0 (none) Final Rating: a very strong 4 stars

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ PUT THIS IN YOUR SHOPPING CART RIGHT NOW.
*by L***S on August 12, 2017*

Guys. GUYS. THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. I really can’t say enough about this series and I’m definitely kind of obsessing about it these days. This audiobook happened a few weeks ago before I decided to start writing reviews, but I had to include it because I’m still reeling. Everything about this was amazing and listening to the audiobook only heightened the experience because the narrators were top notch. Buckle up kids, this is gonna be a long one. THE REHASH It starts in the perspective of Laia, a lowly scholar girl who lives with her brother and two grandparents. She’s noticed lately that her brother Darin has been keeping odd hours and carrying around a sketchbook everywhere he goes. When she catches a glimpse into said sketchbook, it’s filled with doodles of weapons—concerning behavior to say the least. A group of masks (or a fancy word for soldiers) comes to their home one night, killing their grandparents and accusing Darin of treason. The two siblings try to escape, but quickly get caught and Darin tells Laia to run. She listens without thinking, barely making it to safety and spends the rest of the book berating herself for leaving Darin all alone. There’s no friends or family she can turn to for help, so she goes to the only connection she has left—the resistance. Through her interaction with members of the resistance, we learn that Laia’s parents used to be a part of it before they were killed and apparently were pretty bad ass. With some aggressive negotiating, the resistance decides to help Darin escape prison if Laia will pose as a servant and gather information for them in return. Feeling guilty with her recent abandonment, she readily agrees. We also get to hear the perspective of Elias—a.k.a. my new fictional husband—who has spent most of his life training to be a mask at the very strict and very prestigious Blackcliff Academy. He’s been there for years and has finally made it to graduation, but he hates it. The life of a soldier is not one he wanted and he’s planning to escape. Elias has spent months hiding rations and supplies and he’s finally ready to blow the joint after the graduating ceremony. As luck would have it, he’s stopped right before he can get away by an Augur, which is basically a big scary-looking fortune cookie that can see the future. For anyone who has read The Mortal Instrument series, they’re pretty much exactly like the Silent Brothers. Anyway, the Augur tells Elias to reconsider his escape plan, saying freedom won’t be all it’s cracked up to be and he’ll have a chance to create his own freedom if he has the will to stay. Since he hasn’t mentioned his plans to anyone, even his best friend Helene, he takes the Augur’s warning seriously. After graduation, it is announced that the Augurs want to look for a new Emperor and have created a competition for four specially selected students to fight for the title. And guess who gets chosen?! There are four trials to this competition and the first person to win two will become the new Emperor. Elias only hesitates a moment before he accepts, remembering the Augur’s words from earlier. All four competitors are forced to meet with the Commandant, one of their superiors (who happens to be Elias’s mother) and a god damn she-devil with no soul. During this meeting Elias happens to notice that his mother has a new servant who is none other than Laia in disguise! DUN DUN DUN!! While Laia tries to dodge blows from the Commandant and gather insider information, Elias has to compete in the nightmare-inducing Emperor trials. All of the character’s lives get intertwined in unexpected ways and there’s an amazing ending that will literally blow your freaking socks off. THE GOOD Oh man, where to even begin. Laia is such an amazing female main character and I love how independent and strong she is throughout the entire novel. The same goes for Helene because even though she had a tendency to get on my nerves, that didn’t take away from her intelligence or killer fighting skills. Reading a young-adult book with strong, independent female leads is always a good day in my opinion. Woo feminism! On the flip side, Elias was also a great character to read about and I loved the alternating perspectives between the two. He’s a strong soldier with heart of gold who just wants the chance to live his own life, and who doesn’t love that?! After watching Elias show kindness to everyone around him while still being smart on the “battlefield,” you can’t help but fall into the old rooting-for-the-underdog trap. And the villains!! Oh my god, I have never hated a character more than I hate the Commandant. All too often I encounter fictional bad guys that are more annoying than evil. You’re not scared of them, you just want them to get out of the way and stop ruining the story. This was different though. Marcus and the Commandant seriously scared the crap out of me. Both of them are so emotionless and determined in their scheming, it makes you wonder if they can even be defeated! Some hardcore Cersei Lannister vibes up in here. The setting is really brilliant too and Tahir has done a great job building up this universe, down to the last detail. Just looking at all the maps makes it evident how much time and thought was put into this. I even listed this book on my website under historical fiction (technically it’s not but…) because The Empire really feels like ancient Rome. That’s not a time or place we hear very often about these days, especially in young-adult books, so it was a refreshing perspective. In terms of narrators, the two voice actors did a great job and really brought life to Laia and Elias. Right now I’m actually reading a hard copy of the sequel A Torch Against the Night and I can hear their voices in my mind as I read. That might be weird of me, but it’s hard to care when I have smooth sounds of Steve West’s accent in my noggin. THE UGLY NOTHING. THIS BOOK IS PERFECTION. FINAL WORD If you haven’t noticed from this incessantly long and rambling review, I loved this novel. Whether you read a hard copy or listen to the audio book, just freaking read it. You can thank me later.

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*Last updated: 2026-06-05*