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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Grief, Murder, War
Moderate: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Slavery
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A Sky Beyond the Storm is the finale of the An Ember in the Ashes series and honestly disappointed me. Reading the first three-fourth, I was sure I would give this book four stars and maybe five if the ending was great. Sadly, I didn’t like the last fourth at all and it almost ruined the series for me.
Laia and Helene are now working together in their fight against Keris who became the new imperatrix. While Helene uses all her energy to protect her nephew, Laia becomes better at controlling her magic and tries to find out more about the Nightbringer to defeat him. Elias meanwhile fully became the soul catcher, leading him to forget almost everything that was before. Still, he has an important role in the fight against Keris and the Nightbringer that he doesn’t know of yet.
In general, I liked the plot of the first three-fourth and like always, all characters have hard decisions to make and have to deal with dramatic things. Though again, the book felt a bit aimlessly at some points and some problems could’ve been solved more quickly, leading to a feeling that the story went in circles from time to time. Adding to this is the passing of weeks in sentences which leads to a slower pacing compared to the previous books.
At this point, I thought about giving this novel a four-star rating. But then we get the last fourth aka the final battle. I have so much to say about this one and like I’ve said at the beginning, it just disappointed me: Our heroes decide that they want to fight Keris and the Nightbringer in the land of the jinns. Laia is able to kill the reaper, but he becomes part of the evil river (idk how it’s called in English lmao) that threatens to destroy the whole world. Laia then just talks to the Nightbringer and is able to stop him in this way which was just so unsatisfying.
Also, Harper’s death was completely unnecessary and only leads to more suffering for Helene, but I honestly expected it. In the end, she has literally no one left who’s important to her besides maybe Elias; I don’t know why Tahir is letting her suffer so much. Darin’s death as well was so predictable and all those deaths just for the sake of killing off characters and nothing more became tiring – at least Quin, Spiro and Afya are alive at the end.
But we also need to talk about Keris’ death. I was so read for a final fight between Helene or maybe Elias and her, but then Laia’s mom appears out of nowhere and kills her without any resistance by her. Laia’s mom honestly felt like a dea ex machina at this moment and this was unsatisfying as well. Furthermore, the impact of the moment where Laia leaves her mom behind for Helene is just gone by this. Keris gets a random backstory as well that’s maybe supposed to explain or even justify her behaviour which it absolutely doesn’t.
I furthermore don’t know what to think about Helene becoming the new imperatrix; she’s probably the best fit for this position but she’s again bound to the empire. The hinted at romance between Musa and her in the last chapter made me kinda mad since only some weeks have passed since Harper’s death, if I remember correctly.
Despite my critiques, I still like the cast as a whole. It was nice to meet characters again which we haven’t seen after a while. Helene is still my favorite character of the series; strong angry female characters always get me. I love how Laia and her became friends and it’s so great to see but sadly, we as readers never get to know how their friendship formed and only see the result. Her emotions are again depicted so well, especially those towards Harper with which she still struggles to deal with. Because of this, I always get emotional when she shows her emotions.
All in all, the whole An Ember in the Ashes series was a rollercoaster ride for me. The first book had a bit too many clichés for me, but I was intrigued enough of the world that I wanted to read more of it. The second and third book were my highlights of the series; the story was just so great, and I loved many of the characters, especially Helene. I appreciate furthermore that the romance was not the focus, but the dramatic and fascinating story. Talking about the drama though, especially towards the end, there was just a bit too much of it, and the finale itself was deeply unsatisfying. Still, I’m happy that I could experience this journey.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, War
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, Murder, War
Moderate: Gore, Blood
Minor: Sexual content
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a mediocre conclusion to what promised to be a great series. It long, slow, and boring, with repetitive angst and worry from characters who keep choosing to delay happiness on offer until right before it gets taken away. This then makes them feel like any happiness they do get will be temporary, and then they delay longer the next time. Once or twice was interesting, but it happens over and over to the point of being predictable. The only couple who actually get a happy ending is one where one of them has technically already died. The Nightbringer was way more interesting as Keenan, and I kind of wish that they had either been two different characters, or that the series had waited longer to reveal his real identity. Being an enemy who's over a thousand years old doesn't actually have to remove a character from being in the running in a love triangle (as most vampire books can attest), but this series seems to have resolved its various relationships by killing off family, friends, partners, and potential love interests seemingly at random. I have no problem with books killing off characters, but the way their vibrancy and uniqueness was bled away before most of the deaths contributed to the dull feeling of this whole book.
I like Elias/The Soul Catcher as a character, and he does the best he can with his magically-induced memory loss. I don't like how that memory loss comes in and out on the whims of a different supernatural being, as it takes coincidence and turns it into something that's explicitly another character's decision to take away Elias's choices and leave him with the Soul Catcher's cold resolve.
It doesn't feel like Laia learned anything, she grows the least of any of the characters and I found her chapters to be very frustrating. Helene adapts to her situation and changes much more, but her character growth tended to come a hair too late to save the ones she loves.
Throughout the series, The Nightbringer is turned from this intense rebel as Keenan into this angry being who can't be reasoned with and doesn't seem to have retained any of the lessons he had the opportunity to learn as Keenan. Laia hangs on to the memory of him, and that serves to hold her back rather than to build the Nightbringer as a villain. He and the Commandant get specifically turned into understandable people by the end in ways that feel way too timely and convenient.
Most of the new worldbuilding is related to the mysterious Storm, but even that was more confusing than interesting. It takes so long to get any new details that by the time I got answers I'd lost most of my interest in the questions. Reading this series is a slow slide from a really intriguing start into a bunch of angst, wishing, and churning the same regrets over and over. It feels like a huge chunk of the third book should have been excised, as well as a bunch of this one, and combined the remaining portions of both books to make this a trilogy rather than a quartet. Collectively, they're padded with indecision, people refusing to help, Elias and Laia worrying about the same things over and over again, and people waiting for other things to get worse before they can do anything. A bunch of characters have information but are either barred from conveying it or just refuse to do so for unexplained reasons. A lot of the momentum is lost by Elias losing his memory and getting access to bits of it again. War is often boredom punctuated by death and terror, but I wasn't expecting 80% of the book to be boring to match it. I only made it through as an audiobook because I could zone out occasionally but still get through it. As much as I loved the first two books, by the time I was a third of the way through this one I just wanted it to be over.
There’s also an instance where a character who died in the third book turns out to be alive and plays a key role in the final big battle. They come out of nowhere, and feels so out of place that other characters question them to try and understand how they’re actually alive. They show up at exactly the right time to do one more thing, and then their presence is the solution to another problem (but they could still have been the solution if they had actually died when originally thought).
The audiobook narrators did a great job with this whole series, they made this boring and seemingly endless story bearable.
As the final book in the series, this wrapped up hanging threads from the previous books, but it tended to do so by killing off interesting characters once they'd been reduced to having no characterization beyond being an ally, family member, or potential love interest to the main characters. This tried to have a new storyline with the Storm and the reveal of the Nightbringer's big plan, but his big plan isn't very detailed and mostly is a roundabout way of burning the world down. Technically this resolves the question of whether Laia and Elias will end up together, but they spent so little time actually building a relationship that even that feels lackluster. Character memory loss doesn't have to steal opportunities for relationships! But pairing that memory loss with a "no attachments, no emotions" persona just wrecked their chemistry for me, since Laia spent a while with no reason to believe that Elias would return to himself or remember her in a meaningful way, or that he could even return to humanity and leave his duties if he did. It's a book, so of course her pining happens to work out, but I don't like how that was handled.
The point-of-view characters from the previous book all returned here, plus a brief view from the Commandant which felt very unnecessary. Elias and the Soul Catcher didn't feel very different, except in what they were willing/able to discuss. The Nightbringer sounds like he did in his brief narration from the previous book, but he feels very different from himself as Keenan.
It would not make sense to start here. It's a very long wrap-up of better stories begun elsewhere, and can't stand on its own.
I don't have a great sense of the plot. They need to figure out the Nightbringer's plan and figure out how to stop him and the Commandant, and they manage to get that information somehow out of beings who knew it but either couldn't or wouldn't give it earlier. All of this takes way too long. For an ending I endured so much book to receive, it resolved so neatly as to feel cheap, which is not how I want to feel about these characters.
I like Elias/The Soul Catcher as a character, and he does the best he can with his magically-induced memory loss. I don't like how that memory loss comes in and out on the whims of a different supernatural being, as it takes coincidence and turns it into something that's explicitly another character's decision to take away Elias's choices and leave him with the Soul Catcher's cold resolve.
It doesn't feel like Laia learned anything, she grows the least of any of the characters and I found her chapters to be very frustrating. Helene adapts to her situation and changes much more, but her character growth tended to come a hair too late to save the ones she loves.
Throughout the series, The Nightbringer is turned from this intense rebel as Keenan into this angry being who can't be reasoned with and doesn't seem to have retained any of the lessons he had the opportunity to learn as Keenan. Laia hangs on to the memory of him, and that serves to hold her back rather than to build the Nightbringer as a villain. He and the Commandant get specifically turned into understandable people by the end in ways that feel way too timely and convenient.
Most of the new worldbuilding is related to the mysterious Storm, but even that was more confusing than interesting. It takes so long to get any new details that by the time I got answers I'd lost most of my interest in the questions. Reading this series is a slow slide from a really intriguing start into a bunch of angst, wishing, and churning the same regrets over and over. It feels like a huge chunk of the third book should have been excised, as well as a bunch of this one, and combined the remaining portions of both books to make this a trilogy rather than a quartet. Collectively, they're padded with indecision, people refusing to help, Elias and Laia worrying about the same things over and over again, and people waiting for other things to get worse before they can do anything. A bunch of characters have information but are either barred from conveying it or just refuse to do so for unexplained reasons. A lot of the momentum is lost by Elias losing his memory and getting access to bits of it again. War is often boredom punctuated by death and terror, but I wasn't expecting 80% of the book to be boring to match it. I only made it through as an audiobook because I could zone out occasionally but still get through it. As much as I loved the first two books, by the time I was a third of the way through this one I just wanted it to be over.
There’s also an instance where a character who died in the third book turns out to be alive and plays a key role in the final big battle. They come out of nowhere, and feels so out of place that other characters question them to try and understand how they’re actually alive. They show up at exactly the right time to do one more thing, and then their presence is the solution to another problem (but they could still have been the solution if they had actually died when originally thought).
The audiobook narrators did a great job with this whole series, they made this boring and seemingly endless story bearable.
As the final book in the series, this wrapped up hanging threads from the previous books, but it tended to do so by killing off interesting characters once they'd been reduced to having no characterization beyond being an ally, family member, or potential love interest to the main characters. This tried to have a new storyline with the Storm and the reveal of the Nightbringer's big plan, but his big plan isn't very detailed and mostly is a roundabout way of burning the world down. Technically this resolves the question of whether Laia and Elias will end up together, but they spent so little time actually building a relationship that even that feels lackluster. Character memory loss doesn't have to steal opportunities for relationships! But pairing that memory loss with a "no attachments, no emotions" persona just wrecked their chemistry for me, since Laia spent a while with no reason to believe that Elias would return to himself or remember her in a meaningful way, or that he could even return to humanity and leave his duties if he did. It's a book, so of course her pining happens to work out, but I don't like how that was handled.
The point-of-view characters from the previous book all returned here, plus a brief view from the Commandant which felt very unnecessary. Elias and the Soul Catcher didn't feel very different, except in what they were willing/able to discuss. The Nightbringer sounds like he did in his brief narration from the previous book, but he feels very different from himself as Keenan.
It would not make sense to start here. It's a very long wrap-up of better stories begun elsewhere, and can't stand on its own.
I don't have a great sense of the plot. They need to figure out the Nightbringer's plan and figure out how to stop him and the Commandant, and they manage to get that information somehow out of beings who knew it but either couldn't or wouldn't give it earlier. All of this takes way too long. For an ending I endured so much book to receive, it resolved so neatly as to feel cheap, which is not how I want to feel about these characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Child death, Sexual content
Minor: Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
dark
emotional
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
i’ve had a weird relationship with this whole series, the first book was enjoyable, the second book left me very disappointed and bored, and i didn’t care enough to pay much attention to the third book, so at this point i just wanted to be done with this series.
in book 3 i noticed that Elias’ chapters were so useless to the story so i literally skipped all his chapters, this won’t effect your knowledge of the book at all because he’s that unneeded. Laia was as annoying as ever, she just got even more special and kept being stupid. and a Helene, the only character i somewhat liked in this series, didn’t feel much like Helene. i saw a review of someone saying that they could not tell if they were reading a chapter from Laila or Helene’s POV and that’s exactly how i felt.
many things here didn’t make much sense, it bugs me how unnecessary it was to kill Harper and Livia, it’s almost like the author does it only to be quirky and say “killing your faves lol” as some kind of millennial-author-humor but it just looks like lazy writing and it was clearly pointless. Helene could’ve perfectly become Empress even if Livia and Harper were still alive so… why? the way Keris died and the last battle was pretty bad, not gonna go deep into that because i don’t want to.
Helene and Laia absolutely loving each other and Laia turning in this super skilled Mary Sue was so irritating, rolled my eyes a lot.
i knew how this book was gonna end before even starting it because it was THAT predictable but the kind of “happy” ending will surely satisfy someone who loved this series. i, however, did not.
in book 3 i noticed that Elias’ chapters were so useless to the story so i literally skipped all his chapters, this won’t effect your knowledge of the book at all because he’s that unneeded. Laia was as annoying as ever, she just got even more special and kept being stupid. and a Helene, the only character i somewhat liked in this series, didn’t feel much like Helene. i saw a review of someone saying that they could not tell if they were reading a chapter from Laila or Helene’s POV and that’s exactly how i felt.
many things here didn’t make much sense,
Helene and Laia absolutely loving each other and Laia turning in this super skilled Mary Sue was so irritating, rolled my eyes a lot.
i knew how this book was gonna end before even starting it because it was THAT predictable but the kind of “happy” ending will surely satisfy someone who loved this series. i, however, did not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Grief
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Pregnancy
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Murder, War
Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Classism
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood