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Sylah was destined to win the trials and be crowned Warden of Strength. Stolen by blue-blooded rebels she was raised with a Duster’s heart; forged as a weapon to bring down from within the red-blooded Embers’ regime of cruelty. But when her adopted family were brutally murdered those dreams of a better future turned to dust.
All can join but not just anyone can win; it requires great skill and ingenuity to become the future wardens of Strength, Knowledge, Truth and Duty. There’s also so much dialogue and inner monologue that I felt was unnecessary. Also, one supposed main character barely shows up too so not sure why this was mentioned in the synopsis. The audiobook was almost 20 hours if that tells you anything. I won’t be continuing this series and it wasn’t bad - just not for me. I seem to be an outlier here so don’t listen to me if you want to read this one but honestly, I was too bored.There are three main character in this book – all female and of different castes: Sylah (Ember), Anoor (Duster) and Hassan (Ghosting). The twist is, that Sylah and Anoor grew up in the ‘wrong’ caste. Sylah is one of the Stolen, the twelve two-year-old Ember children who were swapped by the rebel Sandstorm for Duster children (such as Anoor). Most of the changeling Duster children were discovered and killed, but Anoor’s Ember mother could not have her reputation tarnished by admitting that the Sandstorm had infiltrated her home, so kept Anoor’s secret. Sylar was brought up by the Sandstorm to help lead the revolution and to topple the Embers: There are so many themes in this book, love, loss, addiction, revenge, and racism all set in an immense fantasy world. The world-building was vivid and rich, and while it does follow the age-old assassin, enemies to lover’s trope, this book does it with ease. The plot followed smoothly and had lots of twists and revelations which I didn’t see coming. I loved the character of Sylah, she was just so beautifully flawed, hard, edgy, and suffering from extreme loss and addiction. Anoor is a rarity, having reached young adulthood after being left in another child’s place on the Night of the Stolen. Although most parents killed the replacement children, the Warden of Strength at the time did not. Too many people would question her ability to protect the empire if they knew she had failed to protect her own daughter, so she hid the fact that her child was taken. She raised Anoor as her own, sending her to an elite school and arranging for her to mix a dash of her blue blood into a servant’s red to do blood magic. However, the Warden despised Anoor and made it clear she resented her for not being her trueborn daughter. Wishing to prove herself after a lifetime of abuse and belittlement, Anoor enters the tournament that will decide the next Disciple of Strength, who will prepare to succeed her mother when her term ends in ten years. But when she agrees to teach Sylah blood magic in exchange for being trained for the various strength trials, Anoor comes to realize just how sheltered she’s been from the horrors the other classes endure—and determines to win so she can better their lives, blue- and clear-blooded alike. In particular the first part of this book was rough to get through. I wouldn't call anything that happens infodumpy... For the most part El-Arifi utilizes the "the protagonist and the reader learn things together" trope in a successful way. Some of the information does feel like it could have been massaged into the narrative a little better, and maybe in the final version of the book things are. Also the entire subplot of Sylah being a drug addict? I think it's nice to have another drug addict main character in a fantasy world to join the likes of Rin and Lan, but.... here... the self medicating made them first couple of chapters particularly hard to get through. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.
Herndon, Jaime (2022-08-29). "SFF I'm Reading Right Now to Escape the Hellscape That is Our Timeline". BOOK RIOT . Retrieved 2022-12-12.Hassa added her rage to the burning coals that were always glowing white in her mind. Ghostings were the dregs of the empire because Embers made them that way. Even Dusters thought they were lesser. They were all wrong. They didn’t know the truth. and of course, this book is sapphic. sylah and anoor, that’s all i want to say. another thing about the characters: sylah struggles with addiction. even in such a heavy fantasy setting, this is real, and the way it’s written and respected within the story made my heart hurt for her.
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