Cover of An Ember in the Ashes

An Ember in the Ashes

core novel 2015 An Ember in the Ashes

Record

First published2015
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating4.23 (360,245 ratings, collected 2026-08-20)
Page count446
First-edition ISBN9781595148049

Synopsis

Set in a fantasy world modeled on ancient Rome, the opening novel of this series depicts a Martial Empire that rules harshly over the conquered Scholar people. Laia, a Scholar girl living quietly with her family and grandparents, sees her life shattered when Empire soldiers raid her home and arrest her brother Darin for suspected rebellion. To win his freedom, she agrees to infiltrate the Empire's elite military academy, Blackcliff, as a spy for the underground Scholar Resistance, gathering intelligence in exchange for help freeing Darin. Inside the academy she crosses paths with Elias Veturius, one of its most talented students, who secretly longs to escape the brutal military life he has been trained since childhood to uphold, and whose path becomes entwined with Laia's mission and its risks.

Where it sits

Notes

  • From the series record (An Ember in the Ashes): The four-book main quartet set in the Martial Empire, following Laia and Elias/Elias's successor Helene across the whole arc; the primary reading unit and the work this universe is admitted for.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

Sources

← An Ember in the Ashes dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.