**BOOK ONE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES
**
**One of *Time Magazine'*s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
One of **Time Magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time
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.
