Ember in the Ashes (Tahir)

An Ember in the Ashes 
Sabaa Tahir, 2015
Penguin Young Readers
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781595148032


Summary
An Ember in the Ashes, is the first book in an exhilarating fantasy adventure series about the power of hope in the face of oppression.

Debut novelist Sabaa Tahir tells the thrilling, heart-wrenching story of two unforgettable characters willing to sacrifice everything for the chance to write their own destinies.

In a world inspired by ancient Rome and defined by brutality, seventeen-year old Laia has grown up with one rule for survival: Never challenge the Empire.

But when Laia’s brother Darin is arrested for treason, she leaves behind everything she knows, risking her life to try and save him. She enlists help from the rebels whose extensive underground network may lead to Darin. Their help comes with a price, though. Laia must infiltrate the Empire’s greatest military academy as a spy.

Elias is the Empire’s finest soldier—and its most unwilling one. Since childhood, he has trained to become one of the Masks, deadly fighters who ravage and destroy in the name of the Empire. But Elias is secretly planning a dangerous escape from the very tyranny he has sworn to enforce.

Thrown together by chance and united by their hatred of the Empire, Laia and Elias will soon discover that their fates are intertwined—and that their choices may change the destiny of the entire Empire. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1981-82
• Raised—London, England (UK)
• Raised—Mojave Desert, California, USA
• Education—B.A., University of California-Los Angeles
• Currently—lives in Bay Area of San Francisco, California


Sabaa Tahir was born in London, England, but raised in a small outpost in California's Mojave Desert. She is the daughter of Pakistani immigrants who own a small 18-room motel at a U.S. military base. Growing up, Tahir was an outcast among her peers—the butt of bullying and taunts that she and her family should "go back to where they came from." That childhood experience of exclusion had a profound affect on Tahir's worldview.

Tahir left the desert at 17 to attend the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and after graduation took a job as a copy editor at the Washington Post. It was while working at the Post that she came across a news item that inspired her to write. A group of Pakistani women in the Indian-occupied region of Kashmir had lost all the men in their families. Husbands, sons, and fathers—all were taken away by the occupying forces; they disappeared without a clue as to where they were being held or what was happening to them.

That's the world we live in, Tahir realized. There was nothing she could do. Yet in her imagination, she could do something: she could create a world in which thse oppressed could fight back. Out of that kernel, and after years writing and rewriting, came her first book, An Ember in the Ashes. The book is the first in a planned series and is already optioned for film. The second book, released in 2016, is A Torch Against the Night.

During the first book's creation, Tahir left the Washington Post, moved back to California with her husband, gave birth to two children, and continued writing. The family now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Adapted from Entertainment Weekly and other sources. Retrieved 9/6/2016.)

Book Reviews
Tahir's exploration of the many ways in which we fall prey to one another, and to ourselves, strengthens the fiber of this action-driven book…There's a duality at work in An Ember in the Ashes: The novel thrusts its readers into a world marred by violence and oppression, yet does so with simple prose that can offer moments of loveliness in its clarity. This complexity makes Ember a worthy novel—and one as brave as its characters.
Marie Rutkoski - New York Times


This novel is a harrowing, haunting reminder of what it means to be human—and how hope might be kindled in the midst of oppression and fear.
Washington Post


This epic fantasy set in the Martial Empire has it all: danger and violence, secrets and lies, strong characters and forbidden romance and a touch of the supernatural.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution


Fast-paced, well-structured and full of twists and turns, An Ember in the Ashes is an evocative debut that has left me invested in knowing what happens next.
NPR


Sabaa Tahir spins a captivating, heart-pounding fantasy.
Us Weekly


An Ember in the Ashes mixes The Hunger Games with Game of Thrones...and adds a dash of Romeo and Juliet.
Hollywood Reporter


Blew me away...This book is dark, complex, vivid, and romantic—expect to be completely transported.
MTV.com


Once you get caught up in the story, it’s addictive, and there’s no way you can put it down before you figure out what happens to the characters you have fallen for over the course of the 400 some-odd pages. So I didn’t.
Bustle
 

One thing I can say for sure: this is a page-turner. There comes a moment when it's impossible to put it down. Sabaa Tahir is a strong writer, but most of all, she's a great storyteller.
Huffington Post


(Starred review.) Tahir’s deft, polished debut alternates between two very different perspectives on the same brutal world, deepening both in the contrast.... [A] tale brimming with political intrigue and haunted by supernatural forces.... [Age 14 & up.]
Publishers Weekly


Tahir's world-building is wonderfully detailed and the setting is an unusual one for fantasy novels. All of her characters, even minor ones, are fully realized..... The author doesn't pull any punches; her descriptions of torture, punishment, and battle are graphic and brutal, and her realistic depictions of the treatment of slaves include rape and physical abuse. [Gr 9 & up.] —Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ
School Library Journal


Readers may wince at the cruelty of the trials, which pose friend against friend, and require the competitors to kill others. The trials seem repetitive at times, and the heroics sometimes impossible. A fair amount of double crossing adds to the tension, but the ending is unexpectedly satisfying. [Ages 12-18.]
VOYA


Predictably, action, intrigue, bloodshed and some pounding pulses follow; there's betrayal and a potential love triangle or two as well. Sometimes-lackluster prose and a slight overreliance on certain kinds of sexual violence as a threat only slightly diminish...[this] truly engaging if not fully fleshed-out fantasy world. [Ages 13 & up.]
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available. In the meantime, consider using these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for An Ember in the Ashes...then take off on your own:

1. The setting in An Ember in the Ashes is reminiscent of ancient Rome. Talk about the society, particularly it's slavery and the way that practice undermines a civilization's humanity.

2. Does the Sabaa Tahir flesh out her characters fully? Or do some seem undeveloped, overly cruel, even cartoonish perhaps? What kind of character is Elias, for instance, and why does he want to run away? Here is a child of privilege and yet he is unhappy with the way things are. What changes his mind?

3. Tahir uses multiple points of view, including that of the cruel headmistress of the military school. What does it feel like to see from her perpective? Does it change your attitude toward her character?

4. How and why is violence turned against the members of the empire, making them, in a way, victims of their own society.

5. And what about the violence. Does its frequent use in the novel inure you to it (do you become used to it), or are you continually repulsed by the brutality? Is the use of violence gratuitous, perhaps? Or is it purposeful in furthering the plot and building an overarching sense of dread?

6. Comparisons have inevitably been made to The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones. What do you think?

7. What is the significance of the book's title?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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