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A review by emmareadstoomuch
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
5.0
OH MY GOODNESS HOW DO I REVIEW THIS BOOK.
it was amazing. the best book i've read in a long time, and definitely the best dystopian/fantasy/etc. i've read so far this year. OHMYGOD.
okay, the world-building was fantastic. in the accidental highwayman (which i just read yesterday) the world-building was more like world-dumping. none of the terms stuck in my head bc they were just tossed in. in this book, the world was entwined with the plot, so i could keep up. for me, world-building skill is make-it-or-break-it in fantasy. AND THIS DEFINITELY MADE IT.
also, characters! i loved the good ones and hated the bad ones, but all of them were believable as people. i'd like to see more of a backstory for the commandant, but other than that i understood them so well. i adored laia and elias and hated helene (i wasn't sure if i was supposed to think she was good by the end? bc i still didn't. maybe in another book i would have liked her out of desperation but this book has high standards for characters bc IT'S FREAKING AMAZING). i actually loved izzi and keenan too, and i hope they end up together or something in the next book bc maybe my only complaint was that keenan was too good. it wasn't easy to make a decision in laia's love triangle like it was in elias' bc i didn't see a problem with keenan. MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT THE CHARACTERS ARE TOO GOOD.
and the love triangles! they normally bug me bc honestly how often do love triangles happen in real life? versus in every YA book ever? it's like 1,000,000:1. but in this book they actually seemed real and they didn't overpower the FANTASTIC storyline. also, no instalove! which is a bonus bc i see that more and more.
in conclusion, fantastically wonderful amazingness. go read it now.
it was amazing. the best book i've read in a long time, and definitely the best dystopian/fantasy/etc. i've read so far this year. OHMYGOD.
okay, the world-building was fantastic. in the accidental highwayman (which i just read yesterday) the world-building was more like world-dumping. none of the terms stuck in my head bc they were just tossed in. in this book, the world was entwined with the plot, so i could keep up. for me, world-building skill is make-it-or-break-it in fantasy. AND THIS DEFINITELY MADE IT.
also, characters! i loved the good ones and hated the bad ones, but all of them were believable as people. i'd like to see more of a backstory for the commandant, but other than that i understood them so well. i adored laia and elias and hated helene (i wasn't sure if i was supposed to think she was good by the end? bc i still didn't. maybe in another book i would have liked her out of desperation but this book has high standards for characters bc IT'S FREAKING AMAZING). i actually loved izzi and keenan too, and i hope they end up together or something in the next book bc maybe my only complaint was that keenan was too good. it wasn't easy to make a decision in laia's love triangle like it was in elias' bc i didn't see a problem with keenan. MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT THE CHARACTERS ARE TOO GOOD.
and the love triangles! they normally bug me bc honestly how often do love triangles happen in real life? versus in every YA book ever? it's like 1,000,000:1. but in this book they actually seemed real and they didn't overpower the FANTASTIC storyline. also, no instalove! which is a bonus bc i see that more and more.
in conclusion, fantastically wonderful amazingness. go read it now.