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dark
emotional
sad
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:
Complicated
I really liked the book, eventhough it was a tad too long, up until the end when Harper gets killed off... It's such an unnecessary death in my opinion. I get why Darian was killed, because Laia needed a reason to kill the nightbringer. But Harper?? Can't Helene get anything for herself? Yeah, she gets to be empress but she lost everyone in te process. Idk, it really rubs me the wrong way. Especially since Laia and Elias get such a happy ending together. :/ Suffice to say I cried a lot reading the last chapters of this book. Justice for Harper and Helene... That's also the reason I'm only giving this book 4 stars. It was good, but it left me feeling sad and unsatisfied at the end. I also did not enjoy Keris ending. She was absolutely vile and having childhood trauma doesn't explain away the awful things she did. Those are the thoughts I have right now. Great series, but the ending was not satisfying for me personally.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
I’m actually sad it took me so long to invest myself in this world because Sabaa Tahir is masterful at picking up plotlines laid throughout the rest of the series and giving them real stakes with incredibly complex characters who are very comfortable in their murky gray morality. There’s great payoff without making readers feel like they were purposely led astray with red herrings.
Tahir’s female characters in particular show incredible growth and weave together strength with emotion. Laia’s story embodies the value of empathy and the final scene with Keris is utterly heartbreaking and shows that we as people can suffer greatly and it is our response to that suffering that shapes our future. Helene’s journey is my favorite. She began the series as the token girl having to fight twice as hard as the guys to command respect while nursing feelings for the main male character and being taught those feelings make her weak. She makes mistakes and does horrible things (and has horrible things happen to her) but she learns and grows as she unlearns the awful values passed on by previous generations of the Empire.
There are some heartbreaking character deaths that make sense because of the brutal nature of this world and the Nightbringer’s plan, though that doesn’t make them hurt less. Without them, the story would have felt unbalanced and our main characters need that grief to become the people they’re meant to be.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough! But mind the content warnings if you are sensitive to specific topics.
Content warnings:
Blood, body horror, death, gore, injury, murder, violence, war (on page): this is a story of war between human factions plus humans against magical beings. I don’t recommend this if you cannot stomach violence because it is graphic and prevalent.
Death of parent (on page, flashback):Laia learns her mother is still alive and sees how her father and sister really died.
Domestic abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse (on page):Marcus abuses his wife including while she is pregnant in order to emotionally manipulate Helene who is forced to endure her sister’s torment.
Fire/fire injury (on page):The Jinn burn down a library containing information Laia needs and she is nearly trapped inside.
Classism (on page):The aristocrats of the Empire actively look down on and rebel against Marcus because he is of a lower class than them.
Medical content, pregnancy (on page):Medical content in the form of healing from battlefield injuries & pregnancy content. Livia is pregnant with Marcus’ heir and she experiences some complications including attempts at forcing a miscarriage. Laia delivers her baby during a battle.
Slavery (on page):Scholars have long been enslaved by the Martials. Keris keeps slaves as she attempts her coup. Livia as Empress Regent frees the Scholars.
Sexism (on page):Enemies actively look down on Helene for being a woman. Martial aristocrats do the same before being put in their places.
Sexual content (on page):Consensual encounters between Helene & Avitas and between Laia & Elias. Generally non-graphic and centered on the emotional connection rather than the act itself.
Tahir’s female characters in particular show incredible growth and weave together strength with emotion. Laia’s story embodies the value of empathy and the final scene with Keris is utterly heartbreaking and shows that we as people can suffer greatly and it is our response to that suffering that shapes our future. Helene’s journey is my favorite. She began the series as the token girl having to fight twice as hard as the guys to command respect while nursing feelings for the main male character and being taught those feelings make her weak. She makes mistakes and does horrible things (and has horrible things happen to her) but she learns and grows as she unlearns the awful values passed on by previous generations of the Empire.
There are some heartbreaking character deaths that make sense because of the brutal nature of this world and the Nightbringer’s plan, though that doesn’t make them hurt less. Without them, the story would have felt unbalanced and our main characters need that grief to become the people they’re meant to be.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough! But mind the content warnings if you are sensitive to specific topics.
Content warnings:
Blood, body horror, death, gore, injury, murder, violence, war (on page):
Death of parent (on page, flashback):
Domestic abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse (on page):
Fire/fire injury (on page):
Classism (on page):
Medical content, pregnancy (on page):
Slavery (on page):
Sexism (on page):
Sexual content (on page):
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Medical content, Pregnancy, Classism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
AHHH I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. Its such a good conclusion and though I hate final books this one makes it seem so amazing.. especially with the final Laia POV and its just EEEEE. The Nightbringer POV also really just ads depth to the whole situation. There were really good plot twists and it was just a very fitting ending to one of my favorite book series ever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail
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
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