A Court of Thorns and Roses
romantic fantasy
Series · fantasy
An Ember in the Ashes
An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with An Ember in the Ashes (2015). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is A Sky Beyond the Storm.
- Books
- 4 known books (4 novels)
- Published
- 4
- First published
- 2015
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Fantasy
- Last checked
Start here: An Ember in the Ashes (2015) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
An Ember in the Ashes
An Ember in the Ashes (April 2015, 464 pages) opens the quartet in the brutal, Rome-inspired Martial Empire, following Laia, a Scholar girl who agrees to spy inside Blackcliff -- the elite academy that trains the Empire's ruthless Masks -- to save her captured brother, and Elias, Blackcliff's most gifted student, who wants nothing more than to desert the only life he's known.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of An Ember in the Ashes - Book 2:
A Torch Against the Night
A Torch Against the Night followed roughly sixteen months later, on August 30, 2016, matching the opener's length at 464 pages, continuing Laia and Elias's alternating first-person story as their shared rebellion pulls them further from opposite sides of the Martial Empire's caste system.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Torch Against the Night - Book 3:
A Reaper at the Gates
After a nearly two-year gap, A Reaper at the Gates arrived June 12, 2018 at 480 pages, the third book, widening Sabaa Tahir's cast and magic system as jinn, efrits and a mythology-heavy endgame move further into the foreground.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Reaper at the Gates - Book 4:
A Sky Beyond the Storm
Tahir closed the quartet on December 1, 2020 with A Sky Beyond the Storm, its longest volume at 528 pages, bringing Laia and Elias's alternating story -- and the series' class war between Scholars, Martials and the Empire's shadowy magical forces -- to its conclusion.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Sky Beyond the Storm
About An Ember in the Ashes
In the brutal, Rome-inspired Martial Empire, Laia is a Scholar girl whose family is destroyed by the Empire's soldiers; to save her captured brother, she agrees to spy inside Blackcliff, the elite academy that trains the Empire's most ruthless killers, the Masks. There she crosses paths with Elias, a Blackcliff student and the academy's most gifted soldier, who wants nothing more than to desert the only life he's ever known. Told in alternating first-person chapters from Laia and Elias, the story pulls them from opposite sides of a brutal caste system into a shared, increasingly dangerous rebellion, while ancient magic and supernatural threats start bleeding into what begins as a straightforward story of oppression and resistance.
Sabaa Tahir writes violence and moral compromise unusually bluntly for YA — Blackcliff's training is genuinely torturous, and neither Laia nor Elias gets to stay clean-handed as the series goes on. The quartet widens its cast and its magic system significantly after the first book, incorporating jinn, efrits, and a mythology-heavy endgame, while never losing the class-war backbone (Scholars vs. Martials vs. the Empire's shadowy magical forces) that made the premise land in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in An Ember in the Ashes?
Four: An Ember in the Ashes, A Torch Against the Night, A Reaper at the Gates, and A Sky Beyond the Storm.
What order should I read An Ember in the Ashes in?
Publication order, which is also the only order: An Ember in the Ashes, A Torch Against the Night, A Reaper at the Gates, A Sky Beyond the Storm. It's one continuous story with no companion novellas or side material.
Is An Ember in the Ashes finished?
Yes. The quartet concluded with A Sky Beyond the Storm in December 2020, and Sabaa Tahir has since published other, unrelated work.
Who narrates An Ember in the Ashes?
The first book alternates between Laia and Elias in first person; later books widen the point-of-view cast further as the story's scope grows.
Is An Ember in the Ashes a standalone or a series?
It's a complete four-book series, not a standalone — the first book ends on a cliffhanger and the overall story only resolves at the end of book four.
If you like An Ember in the Ashes
Reading order last verified .