An Ember in the Ashes

This has been on my TBR forever and I can't believe I waited for so long. It was grittier and darker than expected for it being YA, and begs the question why do we label things without explicit sex YA. I'm not saying young adult readers shouldn't read this they absolutely should, I'm just saying if this was written by a man it would just be a fantasy book.

It was a little slow to start but that's only because I can tell she has so much world to build. The characters really feel fleshed out from the beginning, at the lowest of their lows and just begging for a character arc.

Read this if you are okay with being emotional devastated numerous times in each book.