Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

When I read this book for the first time in 2015, it was before I regularly wrote reviews for every book I read. I typically don't write full reviews for rereads, but I feel compelled to do so here! When I read this book, it was still being presented (incorrectly) as a stand-alone; that's how long ago I read it. I have bought every subsequent book once they came out (I have a mismatched set due to this); I just haven't been reading. So I am fixing that. The only thing I have from my 2015 reread was my guess as to who the Cook actually is. I am still sure that is correct, even though the age does not match at all.

I am keeping my original 5-star rating, both because I tend to not change ratings upon rereading and because it was a 5-star reading experience. I didn't remember everything, probably even most of it, but I very clearly remembered the ending and a few important big reveals throughout the book. And despite that, I was still on tenterhooks throughout most of my reading experience. I KNEW certain characters survived the book, and I was still incredibly worried they were going to die at multiple points in the book. So, as a surprise to no one, I think Sabaa Tahir is a master at tension.

I really loved being in this world again; it feels so huge and full and well build. I am bananas excited to read the rest of the books in this world (I have an impossible goal to see if I can read the next three before the 31st, I don't think I will. But it would be cool).

I had forgotten how many characters there are in this book. I just remembered Laia, Elias, Helene, the Cook, the Commandant, and vaguely that there were rebels and that Laia has a family. But the cast of this book is so huge, and I loved the interactions between characters and seeing what happened to these people whose fates I had forgotten.

I had also forgotten how dark this world is. It really validates my feelings with some YA that punches are occasionally being pulled. Tahir pulls no punches. She has no qualms about making her evil empire actually do evil acts. This book is so full of terrible people, and more importantly, it has normal people in impossible situations doing terrible things.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I am so ready to continue this series and have all of my feelings crushed. That is all I have heard about the next three.