An Ember in the Ashes is set in a society based on all of the brutalities of the Roman Empire. The ruling family of the Empire is in its last generation, so a new family must be chosen to serve as the emperors of the Empire. The two main characters, Laia and Elias Veturius, come from two very different parts of the Empire. Laia is a member of the Scholar race, who were conquered by the Martial race five hundred years before the book starts. After her family is brutally murdered, Laia decides to do what she can to get revenge and justice for their deaths. Elias, on the other hand, is the illegitimate son and heir of the Gens Veturia family. Elias, unlike his fellow Martial peers, hates the Empire and everything it stands for. Elias and Laia’s stories clash as they both hate the Empire in secret and follow their own paths to burn it into ashes.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. There were a few moments which I didn’t love so much and thought that the characters should have acted differently in certain situations, but I still rate this book a 5/5. The writing is beautiful, the characters are all very diverse and unique, and the plot is very well thought out. I recommend this book to almost everyone, but would definitely recommend this book for more mature audiences due to themes brought up in the book like domestic violence and rape.