An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

Alrightyyyy. I decided to reread this book because I finally wanna finish off the entire series. I've only read the 2 first books of the quartet and never truly read all the way to the end. So here I am. rereading once more, which is probably my entire 2021 at the moment. 

An Ember in the Ashes is one of the first books that I read since discovering the Booktube community online and is what has gotten me into a lot of fantasy books. Sabaa Tahir has an intriguing way of writing this story and she knows how her way around words (she's very quotable). 

Set in a fictional roman-inspired world, a cruel empire is ruling. The book follows 2 characters Laia and Elias who both struggle with their demons. Laia her family gets raided and killed, except for her brother who gets taken to prison. She's determined to get him out of there and asks the help of the Resistance, a group of rebels who want to overthrow the empire. They agree to help her on one condition: spy for them as a slave in the most dangerous school on the most dangerous woman in the empire. 

Elias is a student at Blackcliff, a training school for Masks, where he is best out of his year. He made up his mind to desert the empire and his position the day after graduation. But on the day itself that he finally is fully a Mask, he is offered to participate in Trails. If he wins, he can become emperor of the empire. 

And thus both their stories begin.

The setting is really interesting. As I previously mentioned, it's inspired by Ancient Rome and I honestly could really see it in my mind! Maybe because I visited Italy so often already, but the entire world-building is created around words to how places look. I loved it and fell madly in love with it. Also, the differences between Martials, Scholars, and the Tribes were interesting to see. Martials are basically the 'upper' humans, scholars are the slaves and somehow the Tribes get left alone. So there is relatable discrimination going on which we can see even in our day-to-day life. 

The characters themselves are also an interesting mix. Laia is probably my fave. She's truly - TRULY - broken from what happens to her, but you get to see such a gorgeous development. By the end, she is fearless (not completely but you know what I mean) and takes risks to save other people. It's a contrast because she started out fleeing and running away, which made her feel utterly guilty for leaving behind her brother. The unexpected thing is that all of the changes in her happens so gradually that it feels very natural. She learns, discovers, and takes pain along the way as she grows.LOVED HER!

Elias is a somewhat complex character, but that is because his backstory is already pretty messed up. Basically, he is the son of the commandant of Blackcliff who left him with the Tribes-people just after he was born. Abandoning him. Then, at six years old he gets taken away to the school and learns then and there who his mother is and goes through a hard training of years. Luckily he meets Helene, who is the only girl within a decade to learn to become a Mask. They are best friendos and always have each other's backs. Until, of course, Elias starts to notice that Helene is acting weird and that is mainly how this book starts for him. Oh, and also the wanting to desert-thing because he doesn't like the empire. 

He doesn't necessarily have a lot of character growth in the sense of becoming strong and taking risks, but more so in the part of accepting who he is and what he wants. That's a big theme for him in the book. Along with the Trails, he uncovers more about himself and when he meets Laia she's some sort of moral compass for him. They have good chemistry and I loved their scenes together! Even though they didn't have that many. A great book-couple if you ask me!

All in all, I still love this story as much as when I read it for the first time so the 5/5⭐️'s still stands!

xoxo, peace out
Elke

Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin (Ah, a la reading vie est belle)

 Okay, so this book did what it had to do. Entertain, relax and not make me think too much. 

Set in some fictional world, loosely based on France, 2 characters are forced into a 'holy' union: marriage. Now, the twist is Lou is a witch and Reid is a witch hunter. And thus starts the enemies-to-lover trope we've all come and love to adore. 

The 2 characters are painted as each other's opposites. Lou is free, doesn't care what others think, and just goes through life by day. Takes it as it comes. Reid on the other hand wants to control, learn and do everything by the book. So of course, other than the fact of witches and hunters, these traits are set to also give some good inner dialogue and a fun way of interaction between the two of them. The main characters I loved. The development they had in the book went so gradual that I didn't even really notice until the very end and then I went like 'Oh wow, they actually changed a lot and grew as people??? How did I not notice????' That's when you know you did a good job in building up you're character. When I'm not looking for growth in personality because it's coming naturally. 

Some characters were a little bit off? I didn't understand why Beau, the prince, went along on the quest? He was introduced somewhere on page 300 of the 512 pages and I don't know much about him other than he is a prince? He didn't really add value to the crew. Whether he was there or not, nothing would've made a difference. Another character that felt weird was the girl Reid had feelings for in the beginning. I think the only use of her was to set up the arc for Reid about his past, but she felt flat that all I could think off 'Huh? Reid fell in love with her at the beginning of the book? ARE YOU JOKiNG ME???'

I liked the setting, although I read some reviews that people didn't really like it that much. Oh boy, I ADORED it. I love France so I could imagine everything perfectly (oui oui, mon chèrie). The only thing I will say though is the way the book was written. It was in a style that wasn't overly explanatory.So you got the basics of the outlook, but it was up to me to fill in the rest of the blanks with my 'fantasy'. 

Storywise I was intrigued. It's not the most eventful, action-packed read up until the end. But, what it does well is processing the situations that are happening. Both main characters are flawed and make many mistakes, but they react realistically to it. You don't get crazy, kick-ass magic but a well-formed and explained way of how it works and that you give and take for it. Despite the fantasy in it, it was realistic. 

So yeah, all in all, a good book. I give it a 3.5/5⭐️'s!

xoxo, peace out
Elke

The Shadow Between Us - Tricia Levenseller (The worst book in years)

 This book has to be the worst book I've read in years. I think the last time I disliked a book so much was when I gave 'Three Dark Crowns' a chance and absolutely hated it. How did this get published? Why is this a book you can buy? So many things wrong with it... I won't put a spoiler warning on this review, but I for sure will spoil some stuff. I am so ready to just RANT. 

The premise of the book is basically a girl who has a plan: 1) woo the king, 2) marry him, and 3) kill him to take the whole kingdom for herself. How can a concept like that go wrong? 

Let me tell you what.

There is zero to no worldbuilding . What does the castle look like? I don't know. What does the kingdom look like? I don't know. How is she dressed? Oh, be sure I know even into the littlest details how our main character Alessandra is clothed. But something other than that, like imagining what the world looks like, is too much to describe. It was horrible. 

Then Alessandra herself is just a horrible character. What do you mean with she's cunning and dangerous? I did not have that feeling? Okay, she killed her first love because of heartbreak and hides it for 3 years. Yeah, sure, but she makes it sound as if she's a mastermind in hiding and disguising it when in reality she cuts him with a knife, puts him in a trunk with her initials, and then digs a grave for him somewhere in the woods. Okay, but that doesn't take a criminal genius to do. Heck, be smart and at least burn the body so that there are no remains??? She is a dumb characterwho thinks she controls everyone, is an amazing feminist, and is the smartest person in the room. She didn't have any development and had the worst inner dialogue??? Also, her plan to woo the king is wearing a color different than the favorite color of the king and not wait in line with the other possible suitors for the king?

Then there was the king himself: Kallias. Oh boy, did he have the most confusing introduction. All it takes to get his attention is a girl in a black outfit and her being rude to him. Sure, the 'you're different from the other girls'-trope comes into play here, but at least try to make her stand-out more than just her style and rudeness. He also has some sort of shadow-power, which to me was the most confusing thing ever? Basically, when he touches someone for the first time, he can't use his powers or something? What is that about? So that's why he doesn't want to 'take a wife'. Also, he somehow gets to be super old if he doesn't wed? His father was 300 years old and nobody in the entire kingdom found that odd??? Is everyone naive and dumb who lives there? 

Also, this was supposed to be a 'slow burn romance' with the promised 'enemies to lover trope'. How on earth do you mess that up? There was NO tension at all between the two of them!!!! How they got feelings for each other is a mystery for me because, in all seriousness, they could have fallen in love with a stick or rock and that would have been the same relationship. To just expand that, the entire court and the rest of the characters are just flat-out bland. Do any of these people have brain cells? No, seriously, how odd and weird are they? Let me explain:

There are 4 side stories and this is how they got solved:
1) An old love of Alessandra wants to blackmail her for her status by saying she has slept with him before her courtship with the king. 
She has a weird plan to get rid of him by borrowing money from a friend (??confusing why but ok??) to only hear afterward that the king doesn't mind her having had previous bed-partners... so this plot was unnecessary and was also resolved by page 120...

2) There's a bandit in the kingdom stealing money from the richest and giving it to the poor.
Turned out to be a guy from the court who wanted Alessandra for himself, and was also quickly discovered by her and nothing much really came of it... Also, this was the king's main issue in his kingdom for some reason? 

3) There's an assassin trying to kill the king. Someone other than Alessandra wants to kill him.
Hold your horses... turns out it was Kallias's dead brother who tried to kill him! You can think 'OMG, his own brother was alive and willing to kill him?' Oh boy, not only that... He also lived in the castle as one of his best friends for 4 years! All it took him was some hair-dye and a broken nose to keep him from being discovered. What. A. Mastermind.

4) They investigate the guy's disappearance who was Alessandra's first love (and she killed him).
It didn't matter. It came to light, she told the king, and he pardoned her LAUGHING at the fact that she killed that guy and that he had it coming for breaking Alessandra's heart. Are you OK sir???????

So all these stories didn't matter, had no influence, and she eventually forgot that she wanted to kill the king? In, like, the last 20 pages they also find poison in her room because they were putting her stuff into the king's room and they figure out she wanted to kill him. A little side note here, they already removed 2 times before that, her stuff into another room... 

She also has a weird relationship with her father and a sister, who we eventually never even meet. We only get 2 odd letters from her that show nothing to add to the story. They could have been erased from the narrative and nothing would've changed in the book. 

So when it comes to giving this book a rating I can clearly say that it gets a big fat 1/5⭐️'s. It's a miracle I finished it and am willing to give it a star.

xoxo, peace out

Elke