From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

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

Sabaa Tahir

Start date: May 1, 2015

Finish date: May 31, 2015

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: It won the poll for the stand alone BOTM
[close] It won the poll for the stand alone BOTM

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 156 topics — 4,053 comments total

Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Better Than Revenge
By Bailey · 2 posts · 28 views

last updated Sep 15, 2025 07:03AM

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
By Bailey · 3 posts · 30 views

last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

showing 6 of 6 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jan 19, 2017 Ashley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopia-post-apocalyptic, 2017

This book was absolutely beautiful. The world building, character development, plot, and pacing was gorgeous and perfect from cover to cover. I haven’t been this impressed my a series opener in such a long time, and I am so happy to took a chance with this book. Sabaa Tahir’s writing is magical and flowing and effortless, and the world is so addicting it leaves you pining for the next one.

I actually am having a hard time believing that this is a debut novel from this fantastic author. I think we This book was absolutely beautiful. The world building, character development, plot, and pacing was gorgeous and perfect from cover to cover. I haven’t been this impressed my a series opener in such a long time, and I am so happy to took a chance with this book. Sabaa Tahir’s writing is magical and flowing and effortless, and the world is so addicting it leaves you pining for the next one.

I actually am having a hard time believing that this is a debut novel from this fantastic author. I think we have all been deprived of such incredible writing for far too long is a travesty. Before I give my opinion on the story itself, I just want to say that this is probably one of the best debuts I have ever read and I couldn’t possibly have been more impressed even two pages in. She touches realistic emotion like its your very own, making you feel every moment of what each of her characters feel.

Laia and Elias are our obvious protagonists, on the opposite ends of a horrifying spectrum. The world that they live in his harsh and cruel, and it seemed to me immediately that no one could actually be all that happy in the empire, making it quite clear from the very start how badly some kind of revolutionary change is needed to make the entire world a better place.

I felt every feeling that these characters bled out, and to me that means the author felt them even more. Perhaps that’s why this is such a satisfying and addicting read. Every piece of this world creates itself in your mind to such a degree of detail that recalling it is effortless, captivating, and recharging. When I had first started reading this I didn’t know if it had a sequel, so halfway through when I found out I couldn’t tell you the relief that washed over me. How could the author resolve everything in just a couple hundred more pages?! She couldn’t, thankfully.

This is one of those books (and series) that I absolutely will not write spoilers for unless I’m asked directing. The writing was enchanting, the characters were impossibly real and the world felt like it could be outside my door if I looked hard enough.

Bravo, Sabaa, at an absolutely stunning debut. I can’t even imagine how heart-wrenching the sequel will be. ...more

Like · see review

Jun 30, 2019 JazzyReadz💜 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars. I’m sad I thought I would like this book a lot more than I did. Everyone loves it but I just had trouble with it. Overall it’s a good book. I liked it. But I didn’t love it. I had trouble with the romances, they didn’t feel very realistic to me. And I didn’t find myself very connected to the characters. Overall the plot was interesting, but it wasn’t anything that made me want to read and not put the book down. I liked it enough to read the next one, but it’s definitely far from my fa ...more

Like · see review