Sabaa Tahir Books in Order: An Ember in the Ashes and Beyond
Author of the An Ember in the Ashes quartet — Roman Empire-inspired fantasy with dual perspectives, a slow-burn romance, and one of YA fantasy's most compelling casts.
About Sabaa Tahir
Sabaa Tahir spent years working as a night editor at The Washington Post before An Ember in the Ashes became one of the most anticipated YA fantasy debuts of 2015. She built the world of the Martial Empire from her knowledge of ancient Rome — its slave economy, its military culture, its brutal efficiency — and set inside that world two characters who couldn't be more different: a Scholar girl with nothing left to lose, and a soldier trained from childhood to be a weapon who wants to be something else. What makes the series exceptional is Tahir's refusal to let either character be simply good or simply lucky. Laia makes terrible choices. Elias fails people he loves. The world grinds on them both. By the fourth book, you have spent hundreds of pages with these characters in extremis, and Tahir earns every emotional beat of the conclusion. The quartet is complete, and she has since returned to the same world with the Heir duology — while All My Rage showed she can leave fantasy behind entirely and win a National Book Award doing it.
Where to Start: An Ember in the Ashes
Start with An Ember in the Ashes. The quartet is a continuous story — the later books depend entirely on the events and character development of the earlier ones, and all four are published, so you can binge straight through without waiting. Then read Heir, which returns to the same world about twenty years later with a new cast; it reveals what became of several characters from the quartet, so it is a poor place to begin. The two graphic novels are optional prequels and read best once you already know the characters.
Sabaa Tahir Books in Order
An Ember in the Ashes
A complete four-book series — read in order. Roman Empire-inspired YA fantasy with dual perspectives.
- 1
An Ember in the Ashes
An Ember in the Ashes, Book 1 · 2015
“Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.” Under the Martial Empire — a world inspired by ancient Rome — defiance is met with death.
Note: Start here. A gripping entry point that works well on its own.
- 2
A Torch Against the Night
An Ember in the Ashes, Book 2 · 2016
Elias and Laia run for their lives after the Fourth Trial, hunted across the Empire as Laia sets out to break into Kauf — the Empire's most secure and dangerous prison — to save her brother.
- 3
A Reaper at the Gates
An Ember in the Ashes, Book 3 · 2018
War looms inside the Empire and beyond it. Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, fights to protect her sister's life, while Laia knows the fate of the world rests on stopping the Nightbringer.
- 4
A Sky Beyond the Storm
An Ember in the Ashes, Book 4 — series conclusion · 2020
The finale. The long-imprisoned jinn attack villages and cities alike, and at the Nightbringer's side Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress.
Ember Graphic Novels
Standalone illustrated prequels, co-written and illustrated. Optional — best read after book one.
- 1
A Thief Among the Trees
An Ember in the Ashes graphic novel · 2020
A standalone graphic novel set years before the novels: Elias, Helene and Tavi, in training at Blackcliff, are sent to steal a heavily-guarded poison on Isle South.
Note: With writer Nicole Andelfinger and artist Sonia Liao.
- 2
A Spark Within the Forge
An Ember in the Ashes graphic novel · 2021
A standalone graphic novel prequel: before everything was torn apart, Laia lived quietly with her Nan, Pop and brother Darin in the Scholar district of Martial-ruled Serra.
Heir Duology
Set in the same world as An Ember in the Ashes, roughly twenty years later. Read the quartet first.
- 1
Heir
Heir Duology, Book 1 · 2024
“An orphan. An outcast. A prince. And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.” A new generation takes centre stage in a saga set in the same world as An Ember in the Ashes.
Note: Reveals the fates of several characters from the original quartet — read that first.
- 2
Empire
Heir Duology, Book 2 — duology conclusion · 2026
The conclusion to the duology that began with Heir: “A falling empire. An ancient evil. A lost homeland. A lie that could destroy the world.”
Releases September 22, 2026
Other Work — Not Fantasy
Tahir's contemporary YA novel — National Book Award and Printz Award winner. Listed for completeness — it is not a fantasy title.
- 1
All My Rage
Standalone contemporary novel · 2022
A contemporary novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, crossing generations and continents between Lahore, Pakistan and Juniper, California.
If You Like Sabaa Tahir, Try:
The same found-family dynamics and morally complex characters set against a brutal fantasy world. Six of Crows in particular shares An Ember in the Ashes' interest in characters who are shaped by systems of violence into something harder and more complicated than heroism.
Maas's Throne of Glass series shares the Roman-inspired worldbuilding, female protagonist trained as an assassin, and slow-burn romantic tension. Strong overlap in readership between the two series.
Black's The Cruel Prince shares An Ember in the Ashes' interest in protagonists who survive dangerous institutions through cunning rather than power, and the enemies-to-complicated-something dynamic is similar in both.
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