An Ember in the Ashes

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Part 1, Chapters 5-10

Parts 1-2, Chapters 11-15

Part 2, Chapters 16-20

Part 2, Chapters 21-26

Part 2, Chapters 27-30

Part 2, Chapters 31-37

Part 2, Chapters 38-40

Parts 2-3, Chapters 41-45

Part 3, Chapters 46-50

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Part 1, Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “The Raid”

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Laia”

Laia lies awake in bed as her older brother Darin sneaks in through the window. He’s been going out at night for months, and Laia fears he is working for the Martials—the warrior-people who conquered the lands of the Scholar Empire and enslaved them. Laia almost calls Darin out on his actions because he’s needed at home, but she is too afraid to ask questions. Darin hears the sounds of Martial soldiers raiding in the distance, which terrifies Laia. Raids usually happen during the day so the Martials can make a show of violence, but the night raids are “for when the Empire doesn’t want witnesses” (5).

Laia hides Darin’s sketchbook, which holds drawings of the forge where the Martials make their unbreakable weapons. While her grandparents stay behind, she and Darin sneak out the back, only to come face-to-face with an elite Mask warrior.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Elias”

Elias is a Senior Skull (Mask in training) at Blackcliff Academy. He has one day until graduation, and he hides a backpack full of supplies in the underground catacombs in preparation to desert the empire. Distant drums boom a rhythm telling soldiers a deserter is on the loose, and as Elias’s best friend Helene comes upon him, he quickly pretends he’s looking for tracks. Helene isn’t convinced, but before she can ask, the drum pattern changes, summoning all students to the central courtyard. Elias leads the way, wondering how Helene would “feel about [his] hatred for the Empire” (12).

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Laia”

The mask drags Darin and Laia back into the house, where he interrogates Darin about the sketchbook, threatening to carve out their grandmother’s eyes if he doesn’t talk. Darin stays strong against the questions, but Laia reveals the sketchbook’s location. The soldiers retrieve it and sentence Darin to prison, where he’ll be tortured for information. When their grandparents argue, the Mask kills them, and Darin attacks the Mask, drawing all the guards. At Darin’s command, Laia runs, and as Darin screams, Laia knows she will hear those screams “echoing in every hour of every day until I am dead or I make it right” (19).

Laia loses the pursuing soldiers in the twists and turns of the city. She takes shelter in a gutted building, where strange shadow creatures call her a coward. Laia is sure the shadows are a hallucination brought on by stress, and the distant sound of soldiers gets her moving again. In an alleyway, she finds an entrance to the catacombs, which are rumored to house the Scholar rebels. With nowhere else to go, Laia sets out to find them, knowing if she doesn’t she’ll “never see Darin again” (22).

Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “Elias”

The central courtyard is full of students—from the maskless yearlings to the most experienced skull upperclassmen. Centurion teachers stand at intervals, their silver masks melded to their faces. Elias’s own mask should have become part of his flesh by now, but it hasn’t because he takes it off when he’s alone. Lately, the mask has been digging into the back of his neck to force the connection, which terrifies Elias because it makes him feel “like I’ll never be myself again” (25).

The Commandant of the school (Elias’s mother) takes her place before the assembly, ordering the Yearling deserter be bound to the whipping post. As she whips the boy, the students cheer and jeer, partly because they enjoy watching the punishment and partly because the school’s rules say they must shout their approval. Finally, the boy dies, and the students disperse, showing emotions from excitement to uncertainty to sorrow. Elias stays behind to offer his mother a hard stare of disapproval. Finally, the Commandant leaves, and Elias stares at the puddle of blood beneath the whipping post. He’s “chilled by the knowledge that if I’m not careful, I’ll end up just like him” (32).

Part 1, Chapters 1-4 Analysis

These opening chapters introduce the world and main characters of the novel. Elias and Laia come from different groups, but both feel the restrictions of the Martial Empire’s rule and seek ways to escape the lives they were born into. Both are fearful of going against the empire, shown by how they react when others are around. Laia can’t bring herself to ask Darin about his actions, and she gives up the sketchbook’s location at the first sign of adversity. Elias is afraid to tell Helene how he truly feels, and he worries that his plan to escape will end with him on the whipping post. These fears set up for each character’s growth throughout the rest of the book, as well as for the external conflicts they face.

An Ember in the Ashes is based on the Roman Empire, and Tahir’s name for the empire has lexical significance. The word “marshal” is an adjective meaning things that are related to war, such as the entire Martial society. The empire rules by martial law, where the military also acts as the government or supersedes the government in specific situations. The Commandant is in charge of Blackcliff, but she also has a say in the running of the city. The Scholar people are either enslaved or allowed to live freely so long as they conform to Martial rule. Stepping too far out of line earns harsh punishment, used as a show of dominance and control by the empire. The freedoms afforded to some Scholar citizens are an illusion designed to keep them compliant. If the Scholars wish to keep their partial freedom, they must adhere to a certain way of life, which supports the book’s main theme The Power of Choice.

The shadow creatures in Chapter 3 are ghuls, which feed off fear. They can only be seen by certain people, but it is never made clear who can see them or why. Laia has not seen them before, suggesting she is more scared than she has ever been. The ghuls foreshadow the fantastical elements that run through the rest of the book and series. In Chapter 3, Laia believes she is hallucinating the creatures, which shows how stress and fear can affect us, and also introduces the theme Fear Is Inescapable. As a rule, the Scholar people don’t believe mythical creatures exist, so she assumes her mind is playing tricks on her.

Chapter 4 introduces the brutality and violence of the Martial Empire. Blackcliff students face harsh conditions and training regimens. If they make mistakes, they are punished, and those who try to desert are always caught and sentenced to death by whipping before their peers. Blackcliff students endure much physically and are psychologically conditioned to see others as expendable once they’ve strayed from their purpose. The students cheer for the whipping both because they have been taught to enjoy violence and also because they know they will be punished if they don’t. Some students enjoy the violence more than others, for which they are rewarded. Elias’s refusal to cheer shows how he is different from other students at Blackcliff. He doesn’t condone the violence, and he isn’t afraid to be punished for his beliefs. He is afraid of being caught when he tries to desert, showing that bravery has a limit.

Masks are named for the silver masks they wear. The masks are made of living metal, which is similar to quicksilver (the chemical mercury). The Mask who attacked Laia’s family in Chapter 1 was fully trained and committed to the empire, meaning his mask had melded into his flesh.

By contrast, Elias’s mask has not fused with his skin because he is not committed and because he takes it off, another way he shows his disapproval of the empire. The mask’s attempts to dig into Elias’s flesh suggest the mask has a will of its own or has been enchanted. The fact that the masks grow to be a permanent fixture on the Masks’ faces illustrates how the Martial training effectively erases the identity of those who adhere to it. The masks are a permanent uniform that makes it impossible for a Mask to be anyone other than a Mask, and erases individualism.

Elias’s resistance to allowing the mask to fully adhere to his face introduces the theme of What Makes Us Who We Are, in that the mask seems to be attempting to fully connect with Elias and force the Mask identity on him, but he attempts to retain a bit of himself when it is safe to do so. It is also important to note how Elias is closely related to a number of high-ranking individuals in the Martial Empire. This close association makes it particularly unusual that Elias is struggling with the lifestyle he has been training for, and it makes it even more difficult for Elias to rebel against his own family in addition to the culture in which he was raised and trained.