Point of View

Sabaa Tahir tells her novel An Ember in the Ashes in the first-person, limited-omniscient perspective from the points of view of both Elias and Laia. Each chapter alternates in being told either by Elias or Laia, presenting two sides to the same story until the halves of the story intertwine at the end of the novel. The first-person perspective allows readers to fully understand both Elias’s story and Laia’s story. When taken together, the reader has an overview of the story that neither Elias nor Laia has. Laia can only tell events from her perspective, and to the degree that she knows what is going on. The same is true of Elias. Together, the reader is given two unique and intimate glimpses into the unfolding plot, though full knowledge of everything going on is still withheld, creating a sense of drama and suspense...