Young Adult Fantasy is one of my favorite cross-over genres. I read them all. But what makes this one worth such an early boom? How does a yet-to-be-seen-on-shelves YA have nearly 500 reviews on Goodreads to date?
Roman Empire Inspired Dystopia
The world building in this novel is as intricate as it is simplistic. The first few chapters scream dystopia and have a pace to match what we’ve come to expect from that genre over the last few years … characters running for their lives and their freedom over a sketchbook or the desire to make jams without being beheaded.
But as you get deeper into the world, you see echoes of societies we know, ideals and morays reminiscent of ancient Rome. It’s a class society that currently values martial strength over scholarship. There’s slavery and a Goblet of Fire-esque tournament. A rebel network of patricians. It feels familiar, but also a strange mix.
Love Quadrangle Drama
Because YA Love Triangles are SO 2008. This one ups the stakes with a girl falling for a boy while mooning over another boy who wants her but is also lusting after his long term friend who is definitley in love with him but will probably kill him too. It’s all very Shakespearean. Or Meyerian. Or something.
What to Expect
The book trailer gives you a good little tease of the main four characters. Notice all the ladeeeeezzzz. There is no shortage of female presence in the book.
And here’s the official summary:
I WILL TELL YOU THE SAME THING I TELL EVERY SLAVE.
THE RESISTANCE HAS TRIED TO PENETRATE THIS SCHOOL COUNTLESS TIMES. I HAVE DISCOVERED IT EVERY TIME.
IF YOU ARE WORKING WITH THE RESISTANCE, IF YOU CONTACT THEM, IF YOU THINK OF CONTACTING THEM, I WILL KNOW
AND I WILL DESTROY YOU.
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.
An Ember in the Ashes is going to be a sensation. It ticks a lot of Young Adult Fantasy/Dystopia boxes that are tried and true best-sellers, but it also flips some of those things on their heads, offering up some surprises.
That being said, I had a few problems with it, mainly that it DID resemble so many other books from the fantasy/historical/dystopia genres that it wasn’t terribly original. The prevelance of the love rhombus, but the obvious inevitability of the main couple led me to boredom at times. But the world building is solid, and the ending leaves a generous space for a kick-ass sequel.
So pick it up, and get on the I READ IT BEFORE IT WAS COOL bandwagon, because you will be seeing it again. Or check out this MTV exclusive and read even earlier.
