Hello book besties!Today I am going to share with you a review on my first reads in 2025:An Ember in the Ashes series.I have had this series at the back of my mind for a while now and now that I’ve read it,I will share with you my opinion on it.Let’s get started💞!

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Author: Sabaa Tahir

Genre: YA romantsy

Audience: YA

Rating:⭐⭐⭐.5

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synopsis of book 1

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.

–Goodreads

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Review

Before reading An Ember in The Ashes series I thought it was an arab inspired fantasy with a similar story idea to Rebel of the sands trilogy and The Daveabad Trilogy,but it’s actually not.Yes it includes similar elements like Jinn,but the story is quite different.

Laia is a strong female character and it’s one thing that I like(I dislike weak FCs).She fought hard to save her brother and Elias as well.I liked Elias’s character from the beginning.As for Helene,I really loved her,and I hated the love triangle between her and Laia.I also think Helene deserved better.

Sometimes she can be stubborn and hotheaded which got on my nerves,but she’s one of my fav characters (if not my fav) in this series.Keenan,I disliked him from the beginning and I didn’t like the resistance all together.And I absloutly hate the love triangle between Keenan and Elias as well.

Avitas and Helene were my fav characters and couple in the series.It’s unusual for me to like the secondary couple in a book or series,but here, this couple spoke out to me more and I honestly loved them.

The story in the first book was good but in the next books weren’t my fav.The world building was nice.I personally enjoyed the first book the best.I got bored in the middle of the second ,but the plot twist at the end took me by surprise and saved it a little.The third book wasn’t my fav either.But I liked the last book.The ending was bittersweet honestly.

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Anyways,It was a good read,not ground breaking but nice.

What was your first 2025 read?how would you rate it?

Happy Reading!

Mariam.