Going undercover as a slave in her brutal empire's military academy when her brother is arrested for treason, scholar Laia bonds with a talented but reluctant soldier who is being forced to participate in a ferocious contest to determine the next Martial emperor. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)

"Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

BOOK ONE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES • One of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy and 100 Best YA Books of All Time • People's Choice Award winner • Bustle's Best Young Adult Book

“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

The beloved and bestselling fantasy series that “glows, burns, and smolders.” (Huffington Post). 

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. 

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR FROM The Wall Street Journal • Buzzfeed • LA Weekly • Bustle • Paste Magazine • Indigo • Suspense Magazine • The New York Public Library • Popsugar • Hypable - (Penguin Putnam)

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California's Mojave Desert at her family's eighteen-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, listening to thunderous indie rock, and playing guitar and piano badly. She began writing her #1 New York Times bestselling An Ember in the Ashes series while working nights as a newspaper editor. The series has been translated into over thirty-five languages, and the first book in the series was named one of TIME's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time and one of Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best YA Books of the decade. Tahir's most recent novel, All My Rage, released in March 2022 to widespread critical acclaim. An instant New York Times bestseller, All My Rage has received eight starred reviews and the 2022 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry. It is a Read with Jenna Jr. Book Club selection, an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year so Far, and an Amazon Best Book of the Year So Far. Visit Sabaa online at SabaaTahir.com and follow her on Instagram @SabaaTahir and TikTok @SabaaTahirAuthor. - (Penguin Putnam)

AudioFile Reviews

This strong debut featuring two characters who battle to survive a brutal society is perfectly enhanced through its narration. After Laia's family is destroyed, she must pose as a slave in the city's most dangerous location. Fiona Hardingham's soft, cultured tones convey both Laia's overwhelming fear and sheer determination to overcome the horrible abuses she experiences. Alternately, Steve West calls forth the tension in Elias as he struggles to maintain his morality while unwillingly competing to become the next emperor. Secondary characters are well nuanced as Laia and Elias seek comfort and assistance in facing the physical and emotional trials laid before them. Listeners will find themselves drawn in as the narrators bring this society, suggestive of the Roman Empire, vividly to life. J.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Booklist Reviews

Laia's adventures begin after her brother is taken captive by the reigning, warlike Martials, who have subjugated her people, the Scholars. In an attempt to save him, she enters into a dangerous agreement with the Resistance to spy on the fiendish commandant of the Martial's military academy. In the meantime, the commandant's son, Elias, the finest soldier at the academy, is undergoing a series of trials that will determine the next emperor of the Martial Empire, which loosely recalls the Roman Empire, though this one is no stranger to magic and the supernatural. Though born enemies, Laia's and Elias' lives will come together with unpredictable results that involve a love triangle of sorts. First-time novelist Tahir has written an ambitious sword-and-sand adventure story that is notable for its suspense and scope. There are flaws: the diction is sometimes not as fresh as it might be, and some incidents defy credulity, especially those propelling the ending, which, not surprisingly, is inconclusive enough to promise a sequel. Many readers drawn in by the action and romance will doubtless look forward to it.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With 19 international markets already sold, as well as an option to Paramount Pictures, this debut has already earned its upcoming author tour, multimedia ad campaign, and more. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

This epic debut, set in a fantasy empire with nods to ancient Rome and Egypt, relates the intersecting struggles of Elias, an elite enforcer, and Laia, a Resistance spy. Nuanced, multileveled world-building provides a dynamic backdrop for an often brutal exploration of moral ambiguity and the power of empathy. A compelling emergent romance is only one reason among many to anticipate the sequel.

Kirkus Reviews

A suddenly trendy trope—conflict and romance between members of conquering and enslaved races—enlivened by fantasy elements loosely drawn from Arabic tradition (another trend!). In an original, well-constructed fantasy world (barring some lazy naming), the Scholars have lived under Martial rule for 500 years, downtrodden and in many cases enslaved. Scholar Laia has spent a lifetime hiding her connection to the Resistance—her parents were its leaders—but when her grandparents are killed and her brother's captured by Masks, the eerie, silver-faced elite soldiers of the Martial Empire, Laia must go undercover as a slave to the terrifying Commandant of Blackcliff Military Academy, where Martials are trained for battle. Meanwhile, Elias, the Commandant's not-at-all-beloved son, wants to run away from Blackcliff, until he is named an Aspirant for the throne by the mysterious red-eyed Augurs. Predictably, action, intrigue, bloodshed and some pounding pulses follow; there's betrayal and a potential love triangle or two as well. Sometimes-lackluster prose and a slight overreliance on certain kinds of sexual violence as a threat only slightly diminish the appeal created by familiar (but not predictable) characters and a truly engaging if not fully fleshed-out fantasy world. Bound to be popular. (Fantasy. 13 & up) Copyright Kirkus 2015 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

As one of the conquered Scholar people, Laia has grown wary of the ruthless Masks that enforce the Martial empire's laws. But the lesson doesn't hit home until Masks imprison her brother for aiding the Scholar Resistance. Desperate to save him, Laia agrees to spy for the rebels as a slave in Blackcliff, the hellish school where Masks are trained. Her mission becomes all the more dangerous when the empire's prophetic Augurs announce that, for the first time in centuries, four newly graduated Masks will compete for the emperor's throne. One of these "Aspirants," Elias, had been on the verge of desertion before he was chosen, and he only stays to compete because of the Augurs' warning that he will never know freedom unless he undergoes the Trials. Tahir's deft, polished debut alternates between two very different perspectives on the same brutal world, deepening both in the contrast. In a tale brimming with political intrigue and haunted by supernatural forces, the true tension comes from watching Elias and Laia struggle to decide where their loyalties lie. Ages 14–up. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly Reviews

This is not the first time Hardingham and West have worked together to bring a YA novel to life: the two previously teamed up on Maggie Stiefvater's hit The Scorpio Races, and they both have a wealth of audiobook experience as solo narrators. Hardingham narrates the part of Laia, a young woman whose life is turned upside down after most of her family is killed by the Empire (Tahir's nod to ancient Rome). Hardingham portrays Laia's fear convincingly through the novel's first half, when she is roped into spying as a slave inside the household of the Empire's sadistic military commander—who also happens to be the mother of Elias, the character voiced by West. Elias is a top student at the military academy but longs for freedom and a nonviolent life; West does a fine job depicting Elias's struggle to remain honorable in a society that rewards only cruelty. Both narrators also voice other characters; for West, one standout is his sage treatment of an ancient soothsayer named Cain, and for Hardingham, it is the raspy narration of a jaded rebel turned-slave whom Laia meets while undercover. Engaging vocal performances and a fast-paced story line will keep listeners riveted. Ages 14–Up. A Razorbill hardcover. (Apr.)

School Library Connection

Laia and Elias live in an indeterminate world similar to the dark and brutal Middle Ages. Laia is a poor young woman of the lowest class. Elias has been trained as an exceptional fighter for the Empire. They meet when Laia joins the Resistance and goes to the Empire's military academy to save her brother and Elias becomes one of four competing to be the new Emperor. The chapters are told alternately by Laia and Elias, showing how these teenagers' lives are intertwined. The short chapters make for a fast read. The violence included is not overly descriptive for this genre. The female characters are strong. The story ends with Laia and Elias leaving the school to save Laia's brother from a notoriously terrifying prison which sets the story for a sequel.

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 9 Up—This strong debut novel is set in the Martial Empire, a fantasy world based on ancient Rome. Elias Veturius is the scion of a proud Martial military family and an outstanding soldier, but he dreams of escaping Blackcliff Academy, the elite military academy where he has nearly completed his training as a Mask, and his inevitable future as a ruthless killer. Elias and three fellow students will be facing the Trials, dangerous and rigorous challenges that will determine the next emperor. Laia is a Scholar, one of many oppressed groups living under the rule of the Martials. When nearly all of Laia's family is killed and her brother is arrested for having a sketchbook depicting Martial weapons, she goes to the Resistance in desperation. The rebel leaders plant her as a spy at Blackcliff Academy, where she must pose as the personal slave of the Commandant, promising that in return they will rescue her brother. Elias and Laia become romantically involved as they face treachery and political machinations. Tahir's world-building is wonderfully detailed and the setting is an unusual one for fantasy novels. All of her characters, even minor ones, are fully realized. In particular, the Commandant is a genuinely evil and frightening villain. The author doesn't pull any punches; her descriptions of torture, punishment, and battle are graphic and brutal, and her realistic depictions of the treatment of slaves include rape and physical abuse. For fans of Game of Thrones and of Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock (Candlewick, 2010).—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews

Twice in this much-publicized first of a new dystopian series, augurs call a character an "ember in the ashes," destined to spark the regeneration of the Empire. Naturally, the two characters are from wildly opposite layers of society, and are also destined to meet in a pair of interlocking love triangles, with a plot resolution that sends them scurrying off in a tunnel towards volume two. Laia is an impoverished orphan desperate to rescue her brother Darin from execution for treason. To gain the help of the Resistance, she agrees to spy, posing as a house slave to an uncommonly brutal woman, Commandant of the Empire's military academy. The Commandant's estranged son, Elias, about to graduate first in his academy class, is secretly preparing to desert the military. Elias's and Laia's viewpoints alternate throughout. The augurs decree that Elias and three other graduating seniors must compete to be named the next Emperor and his assistant. The two losers will be executed. Readers may wince at the cruelty of the trials, which pose friend against friend, and require the competitors to kill others. The trials seem repetitive at times, and the heroics sometimes impossible. Afair amount of double crossing adds to the tension, but the ending is unexpectedly satisfying. The book has been heralded as a cross between The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but the similarity of survival contests and school setting does not pinpoint its flavor; it will develop its own fan base. With this promising beginning, the author now faces the challenge of sustaining its power in a sequel.—Katherine Noone 4Q 5P J S Copyright 2011 Voya Reviews.