Honestly, I went into this with very low expectations because this book was so hyped and because I tend to get bored by too many similar YA tropes and plot lines in YA fantasy/dystopia. I borrowed this book from the library because I only buy books of which I'm quite certain I'll like them and want to re-read them again sometime in the future. 
 BUT...this book surprised me! 
 In the beginning I was a bit annoyed by Laia's POV and I felt like the story dragged a bit. However, I was also in a major reading slump at that time. I put the book down for a while and then decided to try the audiobook. Listening to a few chapters and making progress with the story eventually pushed me to pick up the physical book again. 
 As I kept reading, I loved the story and the characters more and more. My favourite character is Helene, the complicated friendship between Helene and Elias was one of my favourite aspects of the book. The other aspects that I really enjoyed were the setting (sort of based on ancient Rome) and the cruelness of the Commandant ( I feel like this story and the society it portrayed really benefited from a 'pure' evil character). 
 Concerning the downsides, I had two issues: 1) Laia. Honestly she was the least interesting character in my opinion. At the start of the story I was so annoyed by her constant 'slogan' of "must save Darin" "must find the resistance"etc. I get that the reader is supposed to understand her motivation and desperation, but it got really repetitive. As the story went on she seemed to get more and more naive, which made me wonder if she actually realized in which society she was living (view spoiler)[ especially when she kept believing that Mazen was telling the truth (hide spoiler)]. 2) The lack of in-depth exploration of the 'supernatural' element. When the Ghuls were introduced I expected to be introduced to a whole new dimension of the story, but I'm still not sure what their role in the plot was. The same goes for the Efrit. Why introduce something only to mention it a couple of times? I'm hoping that Sabaa Tahir intentionally left these elements largely unexplored so that she can delve into this more in A Torch Against the Night. 
 Anyway, I was able to sort of get over my dislike of Laia and I expect more paranormal awesomeness from the next installment, so still a solid 4 stars overall. 
 I'm really looking forward to picking up A Torch Against the Night, despite the mixed reviews, because: 1) Helene's POV, 2) so much stuff is still unanswered. I am waiting until it arrives in my library though. But I did buy myself a copy of An Ember in the Ashes when I saw it on sale for EUR5 because I enjoyed it so much :)