ARC Review + Giveaway: AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir

I am so excited that AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir releases today and that I get to share the news, along with a special introduction from Sabaa herself!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Sabaa Tahir, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a signed copies of the book and some of those awesome sword letter openers we’ve seen around courtesy of Sabaa, Penguin Teen, and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

A letter from Sabaa Tahir.

Dear Readers,

Today, my “baby” AN EMBER IN THE ASHES is finally out in the world! From inception to pub date, this journey took eight years. And what a journey it was: writing, rewriting, revising, editing, querying, submitting; Meeting other debuts, bloggers, booksellers and librarians, and hearing their thoughts on EMBER. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the radness.

And now, the book is here! I am so excited to see it in the hands of readers. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. To celebrate release day, I’m giving away two signed, first-edition hardcovers of the book. Details below!

All my best,

Sabaa

Review:

An Ember in the Ashes was absolutely terrifying yet beautiful in a way. The world is one that I would never want to live in and for that reason alone is what makes it so terrifying. It's beautiful because Tahir was able to create such a world that seems like it's real. As if it's happening across the world now. It probably is. Living a life as a slave where you're in constant fear and in a world full of pain isn't living. The characters showed a lot of spunk, were courageous at times that I wouldn't have been able to, and they showed the type of vulnerability that made me love them even more. I would have to say that every review you've read is telling the truth. This is a must read!

Laia is after one thing; her brother whose been taken by the empire to await execution for not conforming to the empire ways. What's a girl to do when she has no family and no where to go? How will she be able to save her brother when she can't even save herself? Laia isn't your typical heroine that's fearlessly independent and one that can hold her own. That's what I loved about her. You're probably thinking why would you like a "weak" heroine. But that s not the case at all. I never saw her as weak; I saw her as a girl that had time to grow. To be who she was meant to be. That is the best kind of character to follow and love. Which is why I loved her so much. Where as some would show no remorse when they turned the other way, Laia would be the one right there trying to save you and help you.

Elias. Not only is he the best warrior but deep down he's good. He hates his life and the day he's going to do something about it, an Augur tells him that in order to be free he must stay. Stay in the life that's a living hell. Stay in a life of misery. How in the world will he ever become free. It's then decided that him and three other Masks (soldiers of the Empire) will compete in a competition called the Trials. They're a saga of tests to weed out the weak and to find the next emperor. The Trials are tough and test Elias and the other to the death. In the end, what will happen? Will Elias gain the freedom he craves? Or will he succumb to misery for eternity?

I can't recommend An Ember in the Ashes enough. I fell in love with the writing, the characters, even the scary world it's all based in. This is one book you do not want to put off reading. It needs to be read because it's one that you won't forget anytime soon. I know I won't. I'm hoping that there will be a second book because the story ended kind of open ended. I'd like to know more! Sabaa now has a fan for life because I think I will pretty much read anything she writes.

*Thank you to the publishers for providing an ARC for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Title: AN EMBER IN THE ASHES

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Pub. Date: April 28, 2015

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 464

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

Check out the book trailer!

About Sabaa:

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.