Sabaa Tahir Books In Order

Publication Order of An Ember in the Ashes Books

Publication Order of An Ember in the Ashes Graphic Novel Prequel Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Sabaa Tahir is the author of the An Ember in the Ashes series. She made her debut in 2015 with the release of the first book in the series, An Ember in the Ashes. The novel was a big hit and made it all the way to number two on the New York Times bestseller list. The book has since been named one of the 100 best fantasy books of all time by TIME Magazine, along with its follow-up A Torch Against the Night.

Tahir’s parents emigrated from Pakistan to the United Kingdom and then moved to the United States. She was raised in Ridgecrest, California in the Mojave Desert region. As a child she enjoyed reading fantasy from a young age. She also would raid her brother’s comic book stash and played guitar. As a child, Sabaa Tahir often felt like an outcast and that she didn’t quite belong to the world in which she lived. Luckily, she found solace in literature. Literature has kept a solid presence in Tahir’s life ever since. She has said that reading changed her life. When she grew up sje felt feeling voiceless and powerless, but fantasy books helped to give her comfort and as she grew up she realized she could find that sense of power and voice if she simply started writing.

She had a creative mind as a youngster and had dreams of becoming a sea pirate. However, her parents tried to push her into a more responsible career and led her towards medicine. She did a brief stint working in a hospital before deciding that was not for her and instead went on to study journalism.

Sabaa would attend UCLA where she studied journalism. She took an internship at the Washington Post in college and would go on to take a job there after her graduation. She worked nights as a newspaper editor and it was at this time that she began writing An Ember in Ashes. Tahir now makes her home in the San Francisco area. In addition to books and writing, she enjoys indie rock, garish socks, and all things nerd.

Tahir wrote her first book An Ember in the Ashes and got some great success from that book. It was named as Amazon’s Best Young Adult Book of 2015, a People’s Choice Award winner for Favorite Fantasy, Bustle’s Best Young Adult Book of 2015, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time. Buzzfeed called it one of the best YA fantasy series of the last decade.

An Ember in the Ashes is the first book in the series of the same name. The book focuses on two people, Leah and Elias. Leah is a slave and Elias is a soldier. However, neither one of them is free under the Martial Empire. In this place, defiance is met with death. Those who don’t vow their lives and bodies to the Emperor face the risk of execution of not only themselves, but their loved ones as well and all that they hold dear. It is a brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia and Elias live.

Laia lives with her grandparents and her older brother. They are not rich, they eke out their living in the backstreets of the Empire. They know what happens to those who challenge the Empire and do their best to stay clear of them. Then everything changes when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason. She wants to help him and makes a deal with the rebels. They will rescue her brother if she joins the Empire’s military academy and spies for them.

Laia agrees and at the military academy, she meets Elias, the school’s best soldier. He is also the most unwilling of them all. He wants nothing more to be free of the tyranny that he is being trained to uphold. Elias and Laia grow close and realize that their destinies are intertwined. The choices they make together will change the fate of the Empire itself.

The series continues with A Torch Against the Night. The book picks up after the events of the first book and now Elias and Laia are running for their lives. Laia is determined to help her brother by breaking into the Empire’s most dangerous prison and Elias is determined to help her succeed, no matter what the cost. However, there are dark forces working against them both. The bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and more are in their way and the two must fight every step of the way to stay ahead of them.

Sabaa is also the author of All My Rage: A Novel. The book flashes back to Lahore, Pakistan where Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller. They have recently gotten married to Toufiq in an arranged marriage and now their lives with change for good as they move to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel with hopes of getting a fresh start.

In the present day in Juniper, California; Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. The two have always been outcasts in the small town and understand each other in ways that no one else does. They are close as can be until a fight destroys their bond and drives them apart.

Now, Sal runs the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health is starting to fail and his father is drinking too much. Noor is having struggles of her own, working at her uncle’s liquor store while making plans to escape this town forever. Sal’s attempts to save the family motel are starting to spiral out of control which brings him back to Noor. Now, the two must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.