What I'm Reading Wednesday {An Ember in the Ashes}

Hey y'all,

I'm back with another What I'm Reading Wednesdays. I have gotten back on the reading train lately which is so refreshing and has been helping me to try to get back to a normal bedtime (10:30pm is the goal). This past month my book club read An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. It is a young adult novel and the first in a series, the sequel A Torch Against the Night, was released this fall.

via

The premise:

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.

My review:

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. The masked characters were always hard to imagine and half the time I would forget that some of the characters were even wearing masks that would hardly show emotions.  Once you were further into the novel and various actions were taking place I wasn't emotionally attached to the main charachters. I wanted to hear more about Helene and her side of Blackcliff. I might still pick up the sequel since I enjoyed the book overall but it wasn't one that I had to rush out and grab right away.
3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

What are you currently reading?

Do you enjoy young adult books? What is your favorite genre?

Best,