An Ember In The Ashes Summary

An Ember in the Ashes is a novel by Sabaa Tahir that is set in another world where a tyrannical Empire has taken over most of the continent. It is assumed that the world is completely different from Earth, as no geographical markers seem to allude to Earth. The technology is medieval, with the militant Martials of the Empire holding higher technology over the second class Scholars that used to have universities. The story switches between a Scholar named Laia and a Martial named Elias.
The novel begins with Laia waiting for her brother Darin to get home. Darin had been sketching the Empire’s weapons, which is highly illegal. The Empire raids their home, capturing Darin and allowing Laia to escape. Her grandparents are killed in the fighting, but Laia keeps running. Not knowing where to go, and feeling guilty about leaving her brother, Laia decides to contact the Resistance, a group of Scholars (Laia’s people and the natives of the area) that are fighting the Empire to free their lands.
The leader, Mazen, is reluctant about helping out Laia until she reveals that her parents used to be the leaders of the Resistance. Instead of just attempting to free Darin, however, he sends Laia with a resistance member named Keenan to prepare her for a
She struggles with it, not finding a suitable path that nobody knows about. When the third trial arrives, the Trial of Strength, Helene and Elias are forced to fight to the death. Elias wins, but Helene survives because she is wearing a magical shirt, but tensions are running high as Zak is now dead. Laia finds her secret tunnel in Elias’s quarters, but she is kidnapped by the Augurs as the target for the Trial of Loyalty. She is tied up, and Marcus, Helene, and Elias are told to kill her. Elias won’t, so Marcus throws a knife to kill Laia and win the trial. Elias is arrested, Helene is the second in command, and Marcus is up to be