An Ember in the Ashes

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. But neither of them are 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.

“The worldbuilding, the plot, the characters–they were all done beautifully. I loved how Sabaa Tahir decided to put diverse characters in an Ancient Greece setting, giving me the best of both worlds. Her worldbuilding with using Urdu in her fantasy languages was something I loved finding the meaning behind. Her brown characters were embedded effortlessly, and she weaved them into the story, ensuring that the readers saw them as belonging. I loved the representation in this book and would absolutely recommend it to all ya fantasy fans. “- Maya Sivakumar, 10th grade student