Hey there my sweets! So i just finished the most amazing of books and i wanted to share it with you all. Now usually i'm really put off by hype. If theres a movie, book or TV show that goes from zero to sixty in like a couple weeks i just don't really want to see it. I only just saw Frozen because of this weird thing i have by being totally turned off by the hype. Now if you are a big reader you might have heard of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. And because of this hype i almost didn't pick it up. But i saw the book trailer for it, and then read the synopsis and decided against my usual type to give it a try. So now i can tell you was it good and better yet was it worth the hype?
First can i say how engaged i was with these characters? Almost immediately i cared about Laia and wanted to follow her along, the same for Elias. Two very different voices to see this world through. Laia is a slave who is fighting to save her family. Elias is a soldier who is fighting for his freedom. The difference between them doesn't change how similar their battles are against the empire, from very different starting points.
Now i have seen a few reviews that complain about the simplicity of the world. Its high fantasy in that its not based in our world and takes a vast mixture of mythology bringing it into what would be their real world setting. But still some of the names for things i have seen ridiculed. I think what Sabaa did here was genius. Sure the people who values knowledge above all others were named Scholars and some might think thats to basic. But i think Sabaa did something that made her world more open to others. Ever Tried to read a series called The Song Of Ice And Fire? I have and the most confusing thing was learning all these complicated names. Places, things, roles, characters everything had a new and complex name. And it sounds amazing and ultimately beautiful. It also confuses the hell out of me sometimes and slows my reading progress. With this world i was sure of who was who, what their roles were and where they fit into the story. It made a high fantasy world less confusing and didn't pull me out of the story so i had to google things or back track.
The pacing was good as well. You were taken all around their realm, you saw flashes of the different peoples inhabiting this world and caught these colors of diversity even while it furthered the story. There was history lessons that didn't feel like school. Information slipped in so you learned things sometimes before, sometimes after the other characters. The women were just as strong if not stronger then the men as well and carried large chucks of the story, the history and the struggle on their backs. It was amazing.
The book itself is amazing quality. Firm binding with a velvety dust jacket and inside those front flaps the most amazing maps ive ever seen for a fantasy world. Every inch of the book is beautiful and not one millimeter was wasted everything used to draw you into this world that has been made for your enjoyment.
So the big question, Is it worth the hype? Short answer? Hell Yes! I was so happy with this book. Beginning to end it took me along for a ride i didn't want to end. I rooted for both of our main characters, and many of the people who touched their lives. It both ended with this desire for more and complete satisfaction at the end of the story. And i couldn't recommend it more if i tried, but seriously a must read.
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