Waiting on Wednesday: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine in which we share a book that we are eagerly anticipating!

Publisher: Razorbill

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Release date: April 28, 2015

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

Why I’m excited: Rome-like world? Contest to choose new emperor? What sounds like an epic love story? Tons and tons of great reviews? I’m a sucker for big, sweeping worlds like this, and I’ve got to say that this one sounds awesome. I was a little wary of it at first because of the hype, but I’m not going to lie, I can’t wait to dive in to this one.