Tag: An Ember in the Ashes

Foreshadowing in the Ember Quartet – Pt. 1

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Sabaa Tahir’s Ember Quartet remains one of my greatest fantasy series of all time. I read it every time and I find my love for it increasing. After re-reading the series (out of order, the last two books first and the first two books after), I realized that there is so much that I did not pick up on even after reading the series in full for the third time. There will be spoilers for the entire series in this article, so please, please, please read the series and then come back to this article!!!

An Ember in the Ashes

  1. Elias’ grandfather’s saying: “The field of battle is my temple. The sword point is my priest. The dance of death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release.” – pg 11 – This is referenced multiple times throughout the other books in different contexts. Elias changes this saying to represent his love for Laia in A Torch Against the Night.
  2. “No, please, no. Disappear, I want to disappear. The Mask blinks, some foreign emotion flickering across his eyes – surprise or shock, I can’t tell.” – pg 18 – Laia’s invisibility powers manifest more in the sequels.
  3. “[The mask] makes my skin crawl, makes me feel like I’m not myself anymore. Like I’ll never be myself again.” – pg 25 – This may foreshadow Elias’ escape from having to live as a soldier.
  4. Keenan comments on Laia’s armlet: “That’s an unusual armlet. . .It’s silver, isn’t it?” pg 57 – already foreshadowing that Keenan is the Nightbringer.
  5. “You are an ember in the ashes, Elias Veturius. You will spark and burn, ravage and destroy.” Cain says this to Elias before the trials begin/are announced on page 65. It’s a reference to the title and I think how Elias will become the Soul Catcher.

These are the first 65 pages of AEITA. I can’t believe how many hints there were to future books from the very first hundred pages.

Did you notice any foreshadowing in the first 100 pages of the Ember Quartet?

Review: A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

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A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir is the best book of the Ember Quartet. I think I love it so much because nearly every aspect is perfect. I first got into the Ember Quartet because I saw that there was a lot of press for ARATG. It was the first book by a brown Asian American person I read where I saw a main character who vaguely looked like me in a fantasy novel. (It is important to recognize that brown Asians have various and different experiences and come from all around Asia and so it’s important to say that if the Ember Quartet was made into a movie, Laia should be played by a Pakistani actress.) There will be spoilers for the first two books of the AEITA quartet.

At the beginning of ARATG, Laia, Helene, and Elias are all split up in different parts of the Empire. Helene is the Blood Shrike, Laia is learning how to use her invisibility powers, and Elias is the Soul Catcher. I appreciated seeing how much character growth happens throughout ARATG, and what sets this apart from the first two books is that we get to see Laia and Helene’s relationship develop, something that was a bit tenuous in the prior books. Elias is brooding this entire book – he pines a lot over his lost life and struggles to fully accept his identity as the Soul Catcher.

Laia remains my favorite character of the three. She is a heroine who defines herself by her kindness and hope. Laia is strong and her emotions are not a weakness. They do not have to be a strength. Her agency is also not defined by the people around her. However, Helene is still my least favorite character. Although she does begin to recognize the Empire as the colonizing force that it is toward the Scholars, she is not yet fully there in recognizing how she contributes to the oppression of the Scholars.

The world building in ARATG is the strongest of the Quartet. The scope of the world expands so much in this book, which is what makes it my favorite of the Quartet. It feels organic and is balanced with the rest of the narrative. For example, Musa of Marinn is a great new character who introduces us to an entirely new aspect of the world, and to wights. At the end of it all, though, Laia is the main character of the Ember Quartet and without her, the narrative would be nothing. She is the heart of these novels.

Why did you read the Ember Quartet? If you haven’t read it, are you planning to?