An Ember in the Ashes Informational Text

An Ember in the Ashes Glossary

Mask- The term Mask refers to the highly trained soldiers of the Empire.  At the age of six, children are chosen to begin training to become masks.  They are mostly male, but there is one female once in a generation.  The Masks get their name from a mask that they wear over their face.  This comes from the mask that Typhus I wore when he began the Empire.  These masks eventually bind to the faces of these soldiers so that they can never run away with out being seen.

Augre- These guys are nuts.  They are the religious figures of this story.  So far, we know that they have been around for something like one thousand years.  They also have the ability to read minds and have visions into the future.

Scholars- The Scholars are a group of people who have been conquered and oppressed by the Martials.  The point of view character Laia is a Scholar.  Before the Empire took over, the Scholars were a group of people who valued knowledge over anything else.  They were not prepared for war when the Empire invaded.

Martials- This is the members of the Empire.  They are equivalent to the members of the Roman Empire.  They are the invaders.

Resistance- These are a group of Scholars that live in the Catacombs and are trying to subvert the Empire.

An Ember in the Ashes

Which storyline is more interesting? Laia or Elias?

I was trying to find the best way to make an argument about this book when I realized that the most obvious thing people will probably talk about is which storyline they like the most.  I know that eventually this probably won't matter because I'm sure they come together, but for now, I'm going to think about it.  To me, the most interesting storyline in this book is Elias'.  While both characters are in a position where their lives are at stake, Elias is putting himself in this position by choice.  Laia was forced into running for her life, which while interesting, is not quite as interesting as Elias because we get to slowly learn his reasons for leaving.  We have read three chapters from each character, and up to this point, there aren't too many characters around Laia.  She had a family, but they are all gone, and she just ran into the rebels at the end of our reading.  With Elias we get the slow leak of information about his mother, father, and about the weird religious stuff going on with the Masks.  Laia's positon is changing too frequently, and Elias' is developing over time.

Son of the Mob Again

Discuss what you would do differently from one of the characters in the book.

There were parts of this book that were frustrating to me because I would not have gotten into this situation in the first place.  If I were Vinnie, or even Kendra, knowing what my dad does, I would know that there is no good way that this relationship could end.  Sure they might be having a good time and like each other, but in the end, her dad is an FBI agent investigating his dad.  I also think that if I were Vince it would be hard to not become involved in the family business.  His dad follows his own moral code and is honest when he does business, but sometimes he just needs to send a message to people in a less than legal way.  I think that if I were in Vince's position I would be trying to get involved with the family.  I mean, Vince was brought up in this environment and I don't really understand how he has managed to be able to not let it influence him.  That being said, if I were in the position of trying to distance myself from the family business, I would not have used the leverage of my father to impress a girl.  Maybe I am just too cynical of the world, but I have a hard time viewing a teenage relationship as something important enough to go through all this trouble for.