BOOK ONE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES Instant New York Times bestseller From #1
New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir Amazon's Best Young Adult Book of 2015 People's
Choice Award winner - Favorite Fantasy Bustle's Best Young Adult Book of 2015 "This novel is
a harrowing haunting reminder of what it means to be human - and how hope might be kindled in
the midst of oppression and fear." - The Washington Post "An Ember in the Ashes could launch
Sabaa Tahir into JK Rowling territory…It has the addictive quality of The Hunger Games combined
with the fantasy of Harry Potter and the brutality of Game of Thrones."-Public Radio
International "An Ember in the Ashes glows burns and smolders-as beautiful and radiant as
it is searing."-Huffington Post "A worthy novel - and one as brave as its characters." -The
New York Times Book Review 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.
