Book 3 of the Ember in the Ashes series
Note: This may contain spoilers to previous books in the series
Summary
Three characters. Three warriors that do everything they can to protect those they love. Their people, their family, their friends. Each of these characters has felt pain and sacrifice the hardest and they will do anything to prevent themselves from feeling it again. Little do they know that they will have to suffer so much more before things get better.
Helene Aquilla is the Blood Shrike. The sword of the Martial Empire itself. She is fierce and will kill when she deems it necessary. But she is afraid. She's afraid for her sister who is married to the disgusting man that is now Emporer of the empire. Unfortunately, Helene must protect the Emporer she so hates for it is her duty. Of course, the Emporer and the Blood Shrike have a common enemy. The power-hungry Commandant is using all of her deceitful tricks and traps to try and take over the empire and claim it as her own. That may even entail killing the Emporer and the Empress. Helene Aquilla can in no way let that goal come to fruition. How will she stop the Commandant, though, when more than half of the upper class support her?
Laia of Serra is the hero of the oppressed Scholar people. She is the one who has destroyed the Blackcliff school, which trained the deadliest of soldiers, she has saved many Scholars and brought them to safety with the help of her companion Elias Veturius, who so happens to also be the man she loves. Laia's biggest goal is to get her brother to a safe haven so that he can craft deadly weapons for the Scholar resistance and give her beloved people a fighting chance. The only catch is, she must do it more or less alone, for Elias is tethered to the Waiting Place. The Waiting Place where he has sworn to serve for all eternity.
Elias is strong. He must be strong for if he isn't, the woman he loves may perish. He must be strong enough to let her go so that he may prevent the ghosts and spirits of the Waiting Place from breaking free and wreaking havoc upon the world. How to let her go, though? How does he turn his back on not only her but his family and all those he cares for? It must be done. He must become the Soul Catcher.
Opinion
Scale of 1-10:
8
For some reason, I found it difficult to write that summary because there is so much to this book. There is a lot of built-up stories that's happened up to this book, and it's really hard to write about it in just one summary without everyone just being confused. Let's hope I didn't make it confusing!
Anyway, I definitely liked this book. It took a little bit for me to get in the rhythm of it and to get immersed in the story, but I eventually was really interested in what the heck was going to happen next. By the end of it, I was preparing myself for the feelings of heartbreak and betrayal. That right there is the sign of a good book! There were a lot of moments, especially with the character Helene when I just felt really connected with her. I know that sounds weird but I felt like I could feel everything emotion she was feeling. When I first read from her POV in the second book, I didn't think that I would like her as much as I do now. I have a lot of respect for her character. Quite frankly, she's pretty awesome!
One thing that did bother me slightly is that I felt that Laia, one of the main characters, changed just really suddenly. I mean there are moments when the stuff she does in this book seems in character, but other times it kind of blindsided me. Don't get me wrong, there are other books that do this with characters way worse than what happened in this book, but it is something minor that I noticed.
After a couple of times of this happening, I got used to it and now it's just who that character is. It wasn't super drastic, but it was slightly worth noting to me that there wasn't a lot of noticeable development to get this character to that place. This is just my opinion at the moment. I may reread the book and notice things that I didn't before but for now, this is what I think.
Other than that, I think this was an excellent set-up for the final book and I'm immensely excited to read it. I'm definitely going to have the tissues handy when I read this book. I love and hate this author because I know I must mentally prepare myself to feel heartbroken!
Age Rating
15+
The reason I upped the age on this one is that there is one scene that is slightly more graphic in this book. Throughout the whole thing, there is minor cursing and some sexual references.
Language:
The words "damn", "hell", "b**ch", and "bastard" are repeated frequently throughout the whole book. It's very noticeably frequent in my opinion.
Sexual Content:
There are multiple references to brothels and how many soldiers frequent the establishments constantly. There are also comments made about the Empress wanting intercourse with her husband, the Emporer. It is made clear, though that the Empress simply wanted to get pregnant so that, when the Emporer was inevitably dead, she and her sister, Helene, could rule the empire until the child was of age. There is one scene that consists of semi-graphic heavy petting and it talks about the two characters undressing and are about to have sex until they are interrupted. Nothing happens beyond a certain point and it is made clear that nothing happens after the characters undress.
Violence:
There is definitely a lot of graphic violence in this book. The whole book builds up to an obviously bloody war and there are many scenes that may be a bit much. There are characters that undergo torture and it is described how they look afterward. There is a lot of stabbing and slicing and blood that is described in this book. Ultimately, prepare for violence when you open this book.
Here's the link to the book on Goodreads:
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