Megan Pegasus: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Series: An Ember in the Ashes #1

Publication: April 28th 2015 by Razorbill

Source: Library Book

Goodreads Summary: 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.
Goodreads Page

My Thoughts:

	I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I liked parts of the plot. I liked a couple of the characters. I was entertained and found the book to be enjoyable. But there were a lot of parts that I didn't like. Firstly, I've seen people call this a "dystopian." I definitely wouldn't consider it a dystopian. There is no mention of a past world or a time period before the one that Laia lives in. It's as if the way she lives is how it's always been with just some changes in power. For me, it's a pure fantasy novel. This may be because fantasy is not my first choice in reading and therefore I don't know much about what to expect out of a fantasy novel, but the world was pretty difficult for me to fully grasp, especially with the way all of the "races," for lack of a better term, were so separated. I do appreciate that the author/publisher decided to put maps of the world and of Blackcliff Academy in the book because they did help in some ways, but the world building itself wasn't enough for me. I found myself confused for a good part of the time reading this. It took me a bit to fully understand which race did what, like how Scholars had control of the country and were concerned with teaching and learning until the Martials invaded and made it into the Empire. But there were also the Tribesman, Barbarians, Mariners, etc. and I had to keep trying to remember who was who. And even now after finishing it, I still have no idea who the Illustrians were or what they did. Maybe they were another name for the Martials? Too many different races and only two of them are really discussed enough to keep them easily straight, the Scholars and Martials. On top of those, there were people distinguished by their occupations such as Masks, Mercators, etc. It was just a bit too much to keep straight for me. Then I was confused about the mask thing which I know that I am not the only one confused about them. And there's absolutely no explanation given. The masks are said to be metal near the end of the book, yet they meld to people's faces and become impossible to remove. But they take time to meld so sometimes parts of them are sitting on top of someone's face and parts are melded. Yet they can always tell what someone's expression is even when the mask isn't yet melded. And you can "feel stubble" and see black eyes and blushes on people's faces and they're able to kiss people regardless of the metal masks. I'm just so confused. We're never told how this is possible or even how the masks stay on and since it was such a large part of who the Masks were, I would've liked more of an explanation of it. After all of my confusion that I've just talked about, there are randomly paranormal elements to this book. Once again, very little explanation given which is one of my main issues with Tahir's writing style. There's different paranormal beings introduced such as wights, jinn, ghuls, etc. with very little, and sometimes none at all, explanation given of what these different beings are and do. If I hadn't already known what they were, I would've been utterly lost since these are not paranormal beings typically used in the genre and therefore not easily identified like vampires or werewolves. I honestly wish that there hadn't been any paranormal elements. I think it took away from the book and I found myself wondering why she wanted to have the beings in there. They did bring parts of the plot together, but I think that those same plot points could've been done without any paranormal beings. And they had such a small part in the ultimate plotline, I was really just left wondering why they were needed at all and would've definitely liked the book better without them and found the book to be sufficiently dramatic without them. They may bring more to the story within the next book, but not for this one. And they also brought with them the Nightbringer character which is only seen once and then never discussed again which was a common theme with this book since it's only the first in a series. I didn't particularly like the alternating point of views and it took me at least half of the book to really get into each point of view individually which is unusual for me because I normally am okay with the alternating point of views. I think it took me a while to like it because I'm not really a fan of Laia. I thought she was boring and whiny and I just gravitate more towards stronger characters than characters such as her. I never became attached to her. I did sympathize with her when she was hurt by the Commandant but it wasn't really because it was happening to her but because I would be upset if it happened to any innocent character. I did like some of the other characters though. I liked Elias and found him to be my favorite point of view and the one that I looked forward to reading while I drudged my way through Laia's. Although he wasn't anything unique, I did find him to be enjoyable. I also liked Helene. I liked her tenacity and loyalty and the way she kept her head about everything and the way that she made her way through a man's world. I also enjoyed Izzi and was more attached to her than I was to Laia honestly. I liked Keenan too and found him to be surprisingly enjoyable. The romance part of this book was a little awkward for me. I would've preferred the romance to have been isolated to just two of the characters instead of four of them being involved. I don't think all of the romance aspects were needed. It didn't bring much to the story. I liked the way that Blackcliff Academy was pictured. I loved the Ancient Roman characteristics given to the students. I liked how their names were Roman sounding and the way that they are proud of their houses and where they came from. I liked the way that the school was ran and how they are pretty much trained assassins. I found the entire idea to be entertaining and I was very excited when the Trials came into play. I enjoyed the Augurs and thought that they added something special to the book. I loved the way that they were depicted and the way that they knew the future and knew how things were always going to end up. It just added a cool element to the book for me and I definitely felt that they fit in with the feel of the book because of the Ancient Roman characteristics. But some of the minor characters that attended the school were hard to keep straight because they all have such strange, similar Roman-sounding names. Overall, I found myself entertained and found the book to be interesting and enjoyable. But I also found myself frustrated trying to keep everything and everyone straight and had some issues with the lack of explanations given throughout the book. I do want to read the rest of the series. Likes: Elias. Helene. Izzi. Keenan. Trials were interesting. Loved the Ancient Roman characteristics. Dislikes: CONFUSING. No explanation given of the masks. No/very little explanation given about the different paranormal beings. Why did there even need to be paranormal elements?? Laia. Poor world building. Overall: Recommend? Yes. Reading the Next One? Yes.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I liked parts of the plot. I liked a couple of the characters. I was entertained and found the book to be enjoyable. But there were a lot of parts that I didn't like.

Firstly, I've seen people call this a "dystopian." I definitely wouldn't consider it a dystopian. There is no mention of a past world or a time period before the one that Laia lives in. It's as if the way she lives is how it's always been with just some changes in power. For me, it's a pure fantasy novel.

This may be because fantasy is not my first choice in reading and therefore I don't know much about what to expect out of a fantasy novel, but the world was pretty difficult for me to fully grasp, especially with the way all of the "races," for lack of a better term, were so separated. I do appreciate that the author/publisher decided to put maps of the world and of Blackcliff Academy in the book because they did help in some ways, but the world building itself wasn't enough for me. I found myself confused for a good part of the time reading this. It took me a bit to fully understand which race did what, like how Scholars had control of the country and were concerned with teaching and learning until the Martials invaded and made it into the Empire. But there were also the Tribesman, Barbarians, Mariners, etc. and I had to keep trying to remember who was who. And even now after finishing it, I still have no idea who the Illustrians were or what they did. Maybe they were another name for the Martials? Too many different races and only two of them are really discussed enough to keep them easily straight, the Scholars and Martials. On top of those, there were people distinguished by their occupations such as Masks, Mercators, etc. It was just a bit too much to keep straight for me.

Then I was confused about the mask thing which I know that I am not the only one confused about them. And there's absolutely no explanation given. The masks are said to be metal near the end of the book, yet they meld to people's faces and become impossible to remove. But they take time to meld so sometimes parts of them are sitting on top of someone's face and parts are melded. Yet they can always tell what someone's expression is even when the mask isn't yet melded. And you can "feel stubble" and see black eyes and blushes on people's faces and they're able to kiss people regardless of the metal masks. I'm just so confused. We're never told how this is possible or even how the masks stay on and since it was such a large part of who the Masks were, I would've liked more of an explanation of it.

After all of my confusion that I've just talked about, there are randomly paranormal elements to this book. Once again, very little explanation given which is one of my main issues with Tahir's writing style. There's different paranormal beings introduced such as wights, jinn, ghuls, etc. with very little, and sometimes none at all, explanation given of what these different beings are and do. If I hadn't already known what they were, I would've been utterly lost since these are not paranormal beings typically used in the genre and therefore not easily identified like vampires or werewolves. I honestly wish that there hadn't been any paranormal elements. I think it took away from the book and I found myself wondering why she wanted to have the beings in there. They did bring parts of the plot together, but I think that those same plot points could've been done without any paranormal beings. And they had such a small part in the ultimate plotline, I was really just left wondering why they were needed at all and would've definitely liked the book better without them and found the book to be sufficiently dramatic without them. They may bring more to the story within the next book, but not for this one. And they also brought with them the Nightbringer character which is only seen once and then never discussed again which was a common theme with this book since it's only the first in a series.
I didn't particularly like the alternating point of views and it took me at least half of the book to really get into each point of view individually which is unusual for me because I normally am okay with the alternating point of views. I think it took me a while to like it because I'm not really a fan of Laia. I thought she was boring and whiny and I just gravitate more towards stronger characters than characters such as her. I never became attached to her. I did sympathize with her when she was hurt by the Commandant but it wasn't really because it was happening to her but because I would be upset if it happened to any innocent character.

I did like some of the other characters though. I liked Elias and found him to be my favorite point of view and the one that I looked forward to reading while I drudged my way through Laia's. Although he wasn't anything unique, I did find him to be enjoyable. I also liked Helene. I liked her tenacity and loyalty and the way she kept her head about everything and the way that she made her way through a man's world. I also enjoyed Izzi and was more attached to her than I was to Laia honestly. I liked Keenan too and found him to be surprisingly enjoyable.

The romance part of this book was a little awkward for me. I would've preferred the romance to have been isolated to just two of the characters instead of four of them being involved. I don't think all of the romance aspects were needed. It didn't bring much to the story.

I liked the way that Blackcliff Academy was pictured. I loved the Ancient Roman characteristics given to the students. I liked how their names were Roman sounding and the way that they are proud of their houses and where they came from. I liked the way that the school was ran and how they are pretty much trained assassins. I found the entire idea to be entertaining and I was very excited when the Trials came into play. I enjoyed the Augurs and thought that they added something special to the book. I loved the way that they were depicted and the way that they knew the future and knew how things were always going to end up. It just added a cool element to the book for me and I definitely felt that they fit in with the feel of the book because of the Ancient Roman characteristics. But some of the minor characters that attended the school were hard to keep straight because they all have such strange, similar Roman-sounding names.

Overall, I found myself entertained and found the book to be interesting and enjoyable. But I also found myself frustrated trying to keep everything and everyone straight and had some issues with the lack of explanations given throughout the book. I do want to read the rest of the series.

Likes: Elias. Helene. Izzi. Keenan. Trials were interesting. Loved the Ancient Roman characteristics.

Dislikes: CONFUSING. No explanation given of the masks. No/very little explanation given about the different paranormal beings. Why did there even need to be paranormal elements?? Laia. Poor world building.

Overall:
Recommend? Yes.
Reading the Next One? Yes.

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Sunday, July 26, 2015

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

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