Another One Bites the Dust

by andye

AN EMBER IN THE ASHES
by Sabaa Tahir
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Razorbill; First Edition edition (April 28, 2015)
Language: English
Goodreads | Amazon

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 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.

Ok. Listen.

I took full responsibility for not liking that other book everyone else on the planet loved except me. I was prepared to say that my mental faculties were incapable of handling the wonders(?) that was that book.

But really.

New York Times Bestseller?? This book? What is WRONG with everyone? I do not accept that everyone loved An Ember in the Ashes. I just CAN'T!

Basically if I had to sum this book up in one word:

BORING

I mean, there were so many things I didn't like about it, but that's the main thing right there. I can forgive a lot if a book is exciting, well-written etc. But, I was SO BORED.

What is is that everyone is liking about it? I just don't understand? What am I missing?

Ok, ok. I'm not really mad at the book. I'm really mad at myself. This was the #1 book I was looking forward to when I got it at NCTE last year, and I tried to read it so many times, and I just couldn't get through it. SO DISAPPOINTING. I hate it when that happens!!

I finally got the audiobook, and it was really well done, but still. The story just could not hold me.

• I felt zero connection to the characters. I really couldn't stand or understand any of them.
• The love SQUARE was just weird and felt forced to me.
• It really bugs me when the guy in the book who's supposed to be so not sexist says something like "don't start acting like a girl." And that's supposed to be some kind of compliment. Because being like a girl is such a bad thing. 
• Laia was just such a pushover. I know not every girl is kick-A, but I really just like reading about the ones who are...haha. (Not just physically, btw. I like a good kick-a strategist as well)
• I thought it was too unoriginal. This felt like every other dystopian/sci-fi mixed together.
• Legend 
• The Hunger Games
• Red Rising
• Divergent

Overall, this just didn't fit me. I hope you know I was just playing a bit in the beginning. Obviously many people are loving this book, and once again, I'm the odd duck out. But if you're like me, and you can't see the appeal, just know you're not alone!

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