Empire

Heir Duology #2

by Sabaa Tahir

The gripping conclusion to the action-packed, ruthless, and romantic fantasy duology that began with HEIR, from the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning author Sabaa Tahir.

A crumbling empire.
An ancient evil.
A lost homeland.
A lie that could destroy the world.

In the crumbling Martial Empire, crown prince Quil Aquilla and his Aunt Helene are losing a battle against the vicious Kegari horde. Quil’s armies dwindle, his faith falters, and the woman he loves vanished months ago, leaving him broken-hearted. Torn between his duty to his people and his desire to discover Sirsha’s fate, Quil embarks on a dangerous quest for aid—from the most treacherous of allies.

Sirsha Westering finds herself tethered to Div, an ancient evil unleashed by a terrible tragedy. Div delights in tormenting Sirsha, hungering for her magical heart. Even as Sirsha fights for control of her own fate, she is desperate to shield Quil from Div’s destructive power. But Div won’t release Sirsha without a fight. To earn her freedom, Sirsha must uncover Div’s past—and face horrors in her own.

Cero bet-Dafra, former right hand of the Kegari leader Aiz, now finds himself pitted against her. As Aiz slips further into violence and delusion, Cero must discover if his people have any hope of a future or if they’re condemned to an unending cycle of violence. His journey will force him to confront hidden truths, ancient secrets and a lie that could destroy the world.

In Empire, #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir returns to the expansive world of fury and vengeance of Heir, weaving a story of legacy and rebellion, of loyalty and freedom, and of what it means to confront the monsters that lurk within us all.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romantasy, Audiobook, Romance, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

512 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 2026

About the author

**My apologies if I don't respond to emails or friend requests right away! Come find me on Twitter or Instagram @sabaatahir, or on my web site: www.sabaatahir.com

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Reviews

[èvieane]

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ᯓ ᯽ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍pre-release ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ
I DIDN'T EVEN REALISE WE FINALLY HAVE A RELEASE DATE FOR THIS.
It feels like i have been waiting for ages 🫠

[Azanta (azantareads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i will be in mourning until further notice, please do not contact me

[Zoulfa Katouh · Rating 5 out of 5]

empress helene aquilla

[Sophie]

✎ᝰ.┊ pre-read: I read the sneak peek and honestly wish I didn’t. Went from one cliffhanger straight into another and now I have to wait until SEPTEMBER to know what happens. Why do I do this to myself 😫

[Antonella · Rating 5 out of 5]

GENRE:
Fantasy

TROPES & THEMES:
Crumbling empire & ancient evil

Crown prince torn between duty and love

Possession/bond with dark power

Treacherous alliances & rebellion

Found family under siege

Legacy, loyalty, and freedom

Monsters within vs monsters without

CLIFFHANGER:
No ( but there are some unfisnhed storyline that give a promise for futere possible books)

CONTENT WARNING:
Violence, war, possession, manipulation, grief, betrayal, morally complex choices, cycles of vengeance.

RECOMMENDED TO:
Fans of An Ember in the Ashes who crave more of Tahir’s brutal yet tender storytelling; readers who love duologies with high stakes and emotional payoffs; romantasy fans who want both epic battles and intimate heartbreak; anyone who enjoys morally gray characters fighting for redemption in a collapsing world.

Sabaa Tahir delivers a ruthless, heart‑wrenching finale that balances action, romance, and tragedy. It’s a story about confronting the monsters inside us as much as the ones outside ... and it lingers long after the last page.

⭐ Rating: 5/5 (or “5 million stars” if we’re being honest)
Because these characters are unforgettable, and saying goodbye feels like losing friends. I just love them so much.

🎶 rome by dermont kennedy




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
my poor baby Sirsha will be going trough it in this one it seems...

[alyssa✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

when i catch you sabaa …..

[jenny reads a lot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m going to need a few days to recover from having my heart ripped out.

10/10

5⭐️| IG | TikTok |

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted book. All opinions are my own.

[Sue Miz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sabaa Tahir! when I find you Sabaa! 😭😭😭😭

This is officially my 2nd best read of 2026

Book 1 ended with a very heartbreaking event
"I dont just want vengeance Quill, I want my boy back. That will always be my battle" Elias....😭😭😭😭

Book 2 opens with hope
Quil, Sircha, Aish are back with new POVs of Cero and Kerinna and....???

Tahir uses the importance of memory and the power of storytelling to argue that they shape our past, present and future
each character is on their own quest only for them to come together full circle.

I read Heir before An Ember in the Ashes and found that I understood everything. However, with Empire, I do advise reading the quartet....important events and characters from it are essential.

Like Book 1, this one is a well-deserved 5 stars

[Emily McCormick]

3/12/2026: WE HAVE A COVER! WE HAVE A TITLE!! I have been waiting for FOREVER!! No one bother me on September 22nd...and probably for a week after knowing the heartache that will inevitably follow. Calling off school and everything. Ack, I am so excited!!!!! When can we start seeing multiple editions, Sabaa? I need them all. *book dragon smirk*

[genesis canales]

sending prayers up hoping that damage to hel will be minimal because my queen has already been through it sabaa she doesn't need any more pleaseeee

[Brentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is heinous and vile and atrocious and it made me feel like my heart was being cleaved from my chest. five stars.

[Pearla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was gonna yell at you sabaa but you’ve subdued me for now.

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 5 stars

Perfect. Gutwrenching. Brilliant.

Very few people can make me feel the depth of emotion that Sabaa Tahir can, and this book had me weeping from both heartbreak and joy. I love these characters like they're my own family, and I despised the villain with a ferocity very few characters have ever elicited from me.

As with all Sabaa Tahir novels, the worldbuilding is phenomenal, the plot is surprising and devastating, and the character work is BEAUTIFUL.

This is the most bittersweet conclusion not just to the Heir Duology, but also to the whole world of An Ember in the Ashes. I couldn't have hoped for a more flawless end to one of my fave duologies (and fantasy worlds) of all time.

I will be screaming about how much I love this duology and forcing everyone I know to read it for all my days.

A million thank-yous to Penguin Teen for the advance copy!! All opinions are my own.

[Amara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was evil and healing and incredible and idk what to do with myself now
Full review to come

SABAA YOU MEANIE AND INCREDIBLE HUMAN BEING. This book destroyed me and pieced me back together and gave me all the emotions. I feel like my thoughts stay generally the same from heir: I love all the characters so much, the plot is fast paced, and it’s obviously emotionally damaging. Sabaa is a master at writing multi-POV! I feel like usually there’s at least one POV that makes me bored but I adore the whole cast of characters so much that I didn’t feel that way. They all have such interesting personalities, motivations and characteristics. I would go to war for any of them. It also helps that each POV usually ends on a cliffhanger leaving me REELING!!! I also adored the new POVs and I loved their characters and chemistry 👀 I really hope there’s a spinoff with them because I would love it!!!
This book was so action packed, I adored the plot!! There were so many heartbreaking elements, and obviously it can’t be a Sabaa Tahir book without trauma (I was full on sobbing). And THAT ENDING. OH MY HEART 😭
If you haven’t read An Ember in the Ashes/Heir I would definitely recommend so you can read this masterpiece! (All of her books are incredible btw). Life CHANGED.

Spice: 2/5 (very vague open door ish scene Ch 59: 513-514)
Language: none

[Luna]

I’M SOOO EXCITED. Finally the next Sabaa Tahir book!!!!

[Giota (the reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨BRILLIANT✨
ALL the stars for Empire, that was just as good, if not better than Heir and that says a lot!
Leave it to Sabaa Tahir to weave her immaculate writing into a story with so much heart and love and hurt, you don’t know what to do with yourself!
I will not say a single thing about the story itself so as not to spoil it, but I will say that everyone got what they deserved, and that I was so immensely happy for “that” character who finally got their so hard earned freedom 😭🩵
And if I read the clues correctly, there will be more in this world! So YAY to more desperation before salvation to come, like only Sabaa Tahir knows how to😂💁🏻‍♀️
Definitely one of my top reads of 2026 👌🏻

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

spent the last 100 pages of this book in tears and it made me feel physically sick … 5 stars

[Ayushi (bookwormbullet) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Here lies Ayushi. Cause of death: the epilogue in Empire by Sabaa Tahir.

I genuinely can’t believe this duology has come to a close. Empire not only feels like the conclusion to Quil, Sirsha, and Aiz’s story, but also the conclusion to the entire An Ember in the Ashes universe, and I think this thought is making it even more emotional for me. I read the majority of the series before even joining BookTok/Bookstagram, and I feel so bereft without more books in this universe in my future. 😭

Speaking to Empire specifically without spoiling any plot points: I think all Heir and Ember fans will love the direction the story goes in Empire. I personally really enjoyed the closer look at some new characters that we didn’t get too much of in Heir. The inner struggles that each character goes through in addition to saving their people from a malevolent entity (you know, light work) and how they overcome these struggles with the help of their friends and wisdom of their family feels so true to a Sabaa Tahir book. The comedic and romantic moments with some of my favorite characters also had me giggling and screaming!

One funny part about reading this book is that because I've read 6+ books by Sabaa Tahir at this point, I'm super familiar with her storytelling and the direction she takes her plots. Because of this, I was able to pick up on a lot of plot points before they happened, LOL. However, it wasn't funny when the sad plot points you predict will happen end up being true. 😀 As you probably know, no Sabaa Tahir book is safe from devastation. I lost count of the number of times I sobbed reading this book. I need to go back and think about how Empire ranks on the pain scale compared to the rest of the Ember books.

A last note as I wrap this review up: I wanted to add that Empire’s release marks such an incredible feat. A six-book international bestselling series with SWANA characters written by a Pakistani and Muslim author discussing so many important themes like the generational impacts of war, imperialism, and colonization. This series is arguably one of the best epic fantasy series to exist in our lifetime, and I urge every fantasy reader to pick it up if you haven’t already (especially before Empire releases next week!)

Follow me on TikTok | Instagram | Twitter for more book reviews & recommendations!

[LoveBooksAndCats]

I want it and i want to see my Helene getting her overdue happiness

[mads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief review to avoid spoilers: OUCH WTF WHY

:)

Seriously though, this was wonderful as all things Sabaa Tahir touches are. It was satisfying and painful and beautiful and expertly written, finding a fantastic balance between nostalgia and creating something that can stand on its own. There were so many moments that I just felt slightly overwhelmed by how much I love these characters and this world and how incredibly willing I am to read everything she ever writes.

I will say, oddly enough, there was a plot-twist at the end of this book that usually would have annoyed me as it lessened the gravity of something that happened earlier in the story but y'know what? I do not care. I can't say more without spoiling but sure. Let that have been not what it was. Let it be happier.

Now excuse me while I anxiously await the announcement of whatever Sabaa Tahir is writing next.

[Azrah · Rating 5 out of 5]

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**Thank you to Atom Books for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for a review**

CW: violence, blood, injury, gore, torture, murder, death, child death, war, colonialism, confinement, genocide, suicidal ideation, grief
--

Oh Sabaa, the Kehanni that you are 🤌🏽

I am still pretty numb after finishing this book but also so so content. What an emotional rollercoaster, where do I even begin?

Empire not only fantastically wraps up the story of this duology itself but also the Emberverse so far as a whole and whilst reading, it truly blew my mind how each and every piece of the story was so carefully laid out to bring everything together.

We of course continue to follow Quil, Sirsha and Aiz as war, political upheaval and ancient magic continue to sow chaos in the world around them and a few additional perspectives have also been added to share their telling of the tale.

Talk about opening the book and wanting to throw it across the room I WAS NOT READY FOR THAT OPENING POV IN THE SLIGHTEST but in true Sabaa fashion it was the first gut punch of many.

Heir was very much a story where these characters all crossed paths at a time when they were very hesitant on where they stood with regards to the roles that had been set out for them, initially with more self-absorbed aspirations and a journey bringing them face to face with how far they would each go to chase their own ideals.

In Empire though the picture blows wide and while we still very much see their individual arcs as they grapple with their personal hopes and fears, their identities and their duties, the stakes have shifted significantly and everyone’s actions and decisions have a much wider impact than just their own lives which really grounds this story in reality.

Threaded throughout all perspectives was this deliberation on choices in trying times – on weighing your options when there has been a shift in your worldview, picking between self preservation and sacrifice, the cost of retribution vs reconciliation and how even those who are classed as heroes are prone to make mistakes.

There is no doubt a much more serious tone overall and rightly so because war is such a major part of this duology – the effects of it on people, communities, surrounding nations but especially on children.

I am forever in awe of Sabaa’s ability to shape and develop such fantastic antagonists that aren’t just evil for the sake of being evil but are rooted in real emotion and circumstance. That being said there were no doubt various moments when Mother Div and her lurking presence was beyond terrifying haha.

The more light hearted moments of banter and those to do with the romantic subplot(s) were still very much there too though. Quil and Sirsha’s relationship equally broke me apart and put me back together again but hello? Can we talk about Cero and Karinna???? The duo I didn’t know I needed but a dynamic I feel like I should have seen would work so well! They truly stole the show and added so much to the expansion of the story and themes.

I wish we had gotten to know the 4th Elaia child Zuriya a little bit more but I was ever so grateful that alongside these new characters our beloved old MCs had their time to shine too, and yes I mean the painful moments just as much as the wholesome ones.

“Until the after..”
TALK ABOUT EMIFAL FIRDAANT 2.0

What also deserves mentioning is the worldbuilding again! Already expanded on in Heir the scope of the world, its magic and history continued to grow all in such a meaningful way to tie in those central themes of oppression and freedom but also connect EVERYTHING. All those reveals that dropped, I was just stunned but they all made so much sense!! *shakes fist at a certain augur and his crew who seem to always be at the heart of all the mess*

I feel like I have so much more to say but also no words but I guess my last comment has got to be about that ending. It had me in a sobbing mess but was the most fitting way to close things off. I love that it was more of a goodbye for now though 🥹 because if there are more Emberverse stories to tell just know I will come running!

Thank you Sabaa for all the adventure 🫶🏽

[Alyssa {fyrebookdragon}]

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the little Sneak Peek...

What do you mean that's all we get?! Sabaa Tahir, thank you so much for this sneak peek and also... How DARE YOU!

After that first chapter alone, my heart is already torn out of my chest. (Sorry, I had to.)

After only four chapters, you leave us on the worst cliffhanger imaginable!! I swear, Ms. Tahir takes classes on how to torture her readers. I NEED the rest of the book!

[✧༺𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔫𝔢́𝔞༻✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mistress harper.
A baker.
Blonde hair.

YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME 😫

[Melanie Rigtrup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Infinite stars. No notes. I finished this morning at 2 am with tears streaming down my face. This conclusion was everything!! Such a beautiful wrap up! Full of all the usual heartbreaking, gut wrenching moments, but Sabaa has a gift of mending you back together!

At one point I was on a plane bawling hard enough that the guy sitting next to me asked if I was ok! 😂 I don’t know why I read the most heartbreaking parts of stories 30,000 ft in the air! 😂 I also had tears the very first chapter so….yep, good luck!

500 pages felt like nothing as I flew through this book. There are multiple POVs but I didn’t find it hard at all to follow or connect with characters. I think Sabaa had laid foundations beforehand that it just continues to build.

I feel completely honored to have received an ARC from the Queen herself! So thank you Sabaa, Karin and Chelsea!

Everyone read this. And then tell your friends to read it too. Enjoy the journey!! I promise you won’t be disappointed!!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 2 and the conclusion to this story.brilliant characters, full of adventures twists and turns..great writing..enjoyable read.enjoyed this book more than the first.i am more into crime reads as i won one of her books on goodreads I'm addicted...I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

[sofi · Rating 5 out of 5]

sabaa tahir is forgiven for all her sins, this book was an apology for “a sky beyond the storm”

okay wow what a journey- we started off with our trio and we ended the universe with the same trio 🥹 im getting so emotional

i haven’t cried like this since the last time I reread “sky” which was almost a year ago- no one is making me cry like sabaa tahir, i felt like i was suffocating with tears

I won’t write a long review cause there are too many points i want to make and too many amazing characters and arcs i want to mention. maybe the next time I reread i will put all my thoughts into this updated review, but not now.

“I choose freedom” was the best ending she could’ve gotten, thank you, sabaa

p.s. am i delusional or are there multiple hints sabaa might write some type of sequel/novella about kari and cero?? given their story was clearly unfinished and ruh seems to know smth which is ahead of them 👀

[Lunabookaddict · Rating 5 out of 5]

SCREAMING. CRYING. 🥹

[Sanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was this book a tad slow in setting up the story? Yes. Did I spend the last 20% continuously bawling my eyes out, thus warranting a 5 star rating? Also yes 😭

Based on the first 80% I would have rated Empire around 3.75 stars. It dragged a bit here and there, which was sometimes also because of frequent POV changes that (despite creating suspense and me liking all the POVs) took me a little out of the part of the story that I was just getting invested in. However, simultaneously I recognised that the set-up — albeit slow — was necessary to build up towards the final clicking together of all the mysteries that were still left to be unraveled. But when everything came together in that final 20%, it felt like all that set-up was worth it, providing such a great weaving together of all the world-building and an emotional punch in the gut (multiple, actually).

In the final revelations there were some elements where I did wish for slightly more, but still I felt that things came together very nicely, and emotionally this book just truly hit hard. I believe Sabaa mentioned she is not currently planning but also not ruling out writing again in the Ember world. Either way, this is the most beautiful closure she could have ever written.

[Ashley Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

QUICK FIRST THOUGHTS!
I loved this book just as much as the first. How could I not?!

PLOT RECAP:
I remember threatening to describe the plot of the first one and how it was too complicated but now that I've had a bit of distance, I can safely say it's not, and it can be summed up pretty easily:

Aiz: Poor and orphaned in the poorest southern tip of the continent. She's just a ball of rage at her circumstances (and she is totally within her rights to be rageful!) and willing to go to ANY lengths to get revenge on literally everyone who has more than her.

Sirsha: Cast out from her tribe but still in possession of their magical ability to track. She's tasked to find a killer and it becomes way more of a task than she bargained for once she realizes the killer is a magical ancient evil spirit.

Quil: Fated to be emperor but not really feeling it. That makes him sound very simple of course but he has a rich inner voice that's just a ball of anxiety and imposter syndrome (BB!!!). So, he had a father who was a psychopathic murderer, a murdered mother, an aunt who hangs the moon, that he feels he'll never live up to, AND a magical ability to see people's memories.

They are from the furthest reaches of the continent away from each other but they will all come together to be intertwined in a plot to figure out who is eating the hearts of innocent children!

So that's just the plot recap from not even this book but the 1st one, and now for the spoiler part from book 1, because why would you be here if you hadn't read book 1 yet...?

AIZ is chosen of the ancient deity of her people the Kegari, Mother Div, and follows the voice all the way to the desert, where she worms her way into the heart of young QUIL. She also befriends young Ruh, youngest child of Laia and Elias from the EitA series, and uses him to help her chase down the spirit of Mother Div. Welp, she finds a spirit alright, and it's happy to call itself Mother Div if Aiz will let it eat hearts along the path of revenge.

Elias will do anything to avenge his son's death, so he enlists SIRSHA to track down the killer. This leads Sirsha right into Quil's path as he tries to save the Empire, which is now overrun by the Kegari, since Aiz was able to pull power from Mother Div to empower her people to finally strike against the more prosperous Empire. Weird that the killer and the holy deity seem to be the same signal Sirsha's picking up...

So it all comes to an amazing climax at the end with Quil coming to terms with the fact that his former lover is a raging murdering psychopath and his current lover is about to sacrifice herself to destroy the evil spirit. In the end, they seemingly both die, and Quil has to return to the Empire with a broken heart... again.

FINALLY (that took longer than I thought), BOOK 2 picks up pretty much right where we left off, and while there is a recap, which I appreciate, once the book actually starts we go right into QUIL trying to rebuild around the Kegari who are still living in the ruins of his former city. We also follow a few characters that we only met tangentially in book 1: CERO, Aiz's childhood best friend, and KARINNA, sister of RUH. Cero is de facto commander of Aiz's forces that are keeping an iron grip on the Empire, but he's suspected and accepted for a long time that Aiz has gone off the deep end and needs to be stopped. Now, he's kind of the de facto leader of the resistance. Karinna is another ball of rage character who is furious at the death of her brother and completely blames herself, even though there was nothing she could have done of course, and so she's also joined the resistance to try to revenge-kill as many Kegari as possible. SIRSHA discovers that she is not dead but the evil spirit pretending to be Mother Div is now bound to her.

SO NOW, Aiz is still on a warpath of revenge against the Empire and everyone else who disagrees with her, as she tries desperately to hold onto power even though Mother Div is no longer with her. Quil is all over the place trying to rebuild, trying to help the resistance, trying to find Sirsha, trying to get rid of Aiz. Sirsha continues to push everyone away so that Div can't corrupt her loved ones as well. She thinks only the jinn can help her permanently negate Div's spirit. Aiz thinks the jinn are the key to her getting more power and more materials to fly back to her mythical homeland. Quil wants the jinn to help him defeat the Kegari, and help Sirsha without killing her. Cero takes on a secret mission to try to find the Kegari homeland, and Karinna is tasked to go with him, to make sure he doesn't betray the Empire. We, the reader, have no doubts about Cero though. He might be the best character-- no, well, Quil and Sirsha are also awesome. There are a bunch of just really great characters in this duology that I loved reading about.

THE ONLY OTHER THINGS I CAN SAY
Once again, I will not spoil how everyone comes together in the climactic finish of book 2, but it's quite epic, and was a really sad and lovely end to this series. I really really wish this one was a four parter like EitA. I am so sad to be done!! I would take much more of Sabaa musing on loss, isolation, loneliness, belonging, worthiness, and of course, all the subtle and not-so-subtle magic that is such a huge part of these characters' development. I think I only touched on magic in my review for book 1, and in truth, it was only kind of mentioned when applicable in that book. I don't think Quil even used his magic in book 1. Well, magic was a much bigger part of this one, as Cero has more of a role and his magic is much more complex than we were led to believe; Quil really comes into his own with his magic and all the possibilities therein (dude! he can see other people's memories but he can also project memories into other people!!); Aiz has to contend with losing her magic and feeling so powerless because of it (in ways, we hate Aiz more in this one as she really seems to have gone off the deep end, but then in other ways we feel so deeply for her because of everything she has endured and the fact that she is able to do soooooo little to improve her life and make the lives of her poor countrymen better. She really was dealt a horrid hand and I appreciate Tahir walking that fine line of hate and sympathy); and we get so much of Sirsha's people and how their magic works (or doesn't...). I'm fairly certain you only read about Sirsha's tracking magic in the first book, but we get to know much more about the Jaduna and see much more Jaduna magic in book 2. The jinn are also a much bigger part of this book, almost like in EitA, and that felt like a full circle moment.

MY ONLY CRITICISM? Let me give you the most non-cryptic metaphor ever: imagine if all his friends approached trump and said "hey man, what you're doing is really not great, bro. Like... everyone hates you and you've caused nothing but pain." and he was like "ah, man, that sucks, OK, I guess I'll step down and fade away and while I'm at it, donate all my money to charity." Do we think that's a likely ending to this real-life story? Then in my eyes, it's not a likely ending to this fantasy story either.

OTHER THAN THAT! This duology has light and dark, hope and despair, lonliness and belonging. The world building is PEAK! And the characters and their growth are stellar. I can only speak in generalities, it was just a great great great series! I will return to this one again and again and I really truly believe Sabaa Tahir needs to be included among the best fantasy writers in our lexicon.

[Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was me experiencing a pain I could not, and will never again be able to endure. My heart aches, and I don't know what to do with myself. The presence of this story makes me want to claw at myself, and the absence of it will forever wound me for life. I don't want to say my farewell. I still want to see them all. 😭

These people are a crucial reason as to why I think the way I do. My beliefs and ideas have been fundamentally changed since An Ember in the Ashes up until now. These books built me as much as they caused me mental damage. I will be in love with each and every one of them for a very, very long time.

Between them all, Helene held my heart like no other, and I'm so happy, so incredibly happy to have met such a strong, such an admirable character. I love Helene with every fiber of my being, and Helene I shall love forever.

My heart still aches and I'm lost. I know not where to go if not between these pages.

P.s. now that I have taken a moment to breathe, I realize that I have so much to rant about. Why were we glazing Laia so much?? As if she were the only one who'd sacrificed everything LIKE HELLO HELENE IS THERE? I felt like Helene was only appreciated( truly appreciated) by Musa and Quil alone. And Musa, my heart, we didn't talk about him enough.
This was a happy ending, but deadass not for everyone. EVERYONE DESRVED A HAPPH ENDING OH MY GOD