“The field of battle is my temple. The swordpoint is my priest. The dance of death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release.” This is the mantra of one of the elite soldiers in Sabaa Tahir’s dark YA fantasy, An Ember in the Ashes. The first in an ongoing series, this book blends political intrigue and revolution with mythological creatures and hints of magic. I picked up An Ember in the Ashes on a whim, but found myself devouring it as fast as possible and immediately downloading the sequel.
Long ago, the warlike Martials conquered the Empire. They rule over all of the Empire’s people, but are particularly harsh on the Scholars, whom they regularly kill, arrest, and enslave. Laia is the daughter of the two legendary leaders of the Scholar Resistance, but after her parents and sister were killed all Laia wants is to live a quiet, peaceful life with what remains of her family. That peace is shattered when Martial soldiers show up in the middle of the night and arrest her brother for treason. Though she’s never thought of herself as strong or brave like her mother, Laia will do whatever it takes to save her brother—even if it means joining up with the Resistance and infiltrating the elite school where the Martials’ most deadly soldiers are trained. Elias is one of these elite soldiers, the most promising member of the newest batch of Masks. But he has a secret: Elias is planning to desert after graduation. After being raised by peaceful Tribesmen, he hates the killing and the violence of Martial society and longs to escape. But his plans fall apart when the Augurs announce that Elias has been selected to compete in the Trials for the chance to become emperor. Elias and Laia are from completely different worlds, but they may be the key to each other’s survival. Both will have to face dangers that they never even knew existed, including strange insubstantial creatures that have begun emerging from the shadows.
This book gets particularly dark for a young adult novel—which I suppose is inevitable when writing about an institution run by an oppressive militaristic regime that trains children as soldiers. However, I felt that the heavy topics were handled well. There’s plenty of violence and scenes of torture, but none of these are gratuitous. Laia endures pain and humiliation but surviving them helps her realize that she’s stronger than she thought. Elias struggles with constant inner turmoil over the violence he’s committed and the people he’s hurt, and these ethical conflicts only worsen as the trials test the limits of what Elias is willing to do to survive. The two paths before him are mirrored by the two women he feels drawn to: Laia, who represents compassion mixed with free-thinking defiance and Helene, who represents unquestioning loyalty to the Empire. The blood on Elias’s hands ultimately drives him to make the most difficult choice of his life.
An unexpected element of the book is the way that it slowly introduces the supernatural. Very subtle magic is part of the story from the beginning—the Masks wear fitted masks that meld into their skin and join with them through unknown means. The Augurs that preside over Martial ceremonies are said to be immortal, as well as able to read minds and predict the future, though Elias initially dismisses these rumors. As the book goes on, Elias discovers that more and more of the scary stories he heard as a child actually have their basis in truth—including the tales of djinn, efrits, and ghuls. It is not just deadly soldiers and duplicitous revolutionaries that Elias and Laia need to fear. Someone at the academy is working with forces of darkness and dragging these ancient creatures of myth into the fight.
If you’re a fan of high-tension, fast-paced fantasy with a smattering of romance, An Ember in the Ashes is definitely the book for you! The first three books in the series are currently out, with at least two more scheduled to be published in the future. You can find An Ember in the Ashes on shelves at your local retailer, or you can purchase it online and support The Gothic Library in the process by clicking on this Bookshop.org affiliate link.