A Reaper at the Gates is Sabaa Tahir’s third book in the Ember in the Ashes Quartet. It is another outstanding book in the series. I read the three books in three days, and now I feel like I’m stuck in the Waiting Place until 2019 when the final book comes out.
This review contains spoilers for An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night.
When we last left our fearless characters at the end of A Torch Against the Night, Elias had died, but in exchange for his life, he had agreed to become the Soul Catcher, which allowed him to return to the mortal world and help Laia and his friends in the outside world, when he wasn’t working with the ghosts. Darin had been busted from Kauf prison, but he wasn’t like his former self. Laia had discovered that she was gifted with the power of invisibility, and was starting to become a leader (although she didn’t want to admit it). Helene’s family had been killed, with the exception of Livia, who was now married to the sadistic emperor.
Can things get any worse? I asked that while I was reading A Torch Against the Night too. Unfortunately for these characters, things continue to get even darker in the third installment of this series.
Like the last book, A Reaper at the Gates is primarily told from the perspectives of Laia, Elias, and Helene. A lot of the time, they are dealing with their own battles, so it makes sense to follow these three. The Nightbringer also has a couple chapters from his perspective.
After she accidentally gave away a piece of the Star to the Nightbringer (dumb dumb dumb!), Laia goes on a quest to prevent him from getting the final piece. She’s also trying to help the scholars rage against the machine (the Empire, that is) and not get killed. Meanwhile, her brother wakes up, and she needs to help him get back to work making Serric steel weapons.
Elias has his own battles to face. He’s taking over as the Soul Catcher, but he’s still trying to help Laia, whom he loves. If he doesn’t do his job as Soul Catcher well enough, there could be disastrous consequences. Unfortunately, there is a tug at him to give up his care about the world in order to do his Soul Catcher duty.
Helene is dealing with politics in the Empire. Keris Veturius is trying to undermine her at every step, and there are enemies trying to wage war on the Empire. Meanwhile, her sister Livia is in danger, both with the Emperor and with Keris.
A Reaper at the Gates is even darker than A Torch Against the Night. The characters deal with court intrigue. They learn secrets. Many of them grow as people. Some of them seem to be fighting a losing battle.
One of the subplots of the series is the relationship between Elias and Laia. If I were to give this relationship a tag on Archive of our Own, it would be sloooooooow burn. At least they finally realize that they love each other in this book, and are willing to admit it. There are a couple of really nice scenes between the two regarding their love for each other, but with Elias’s new gig as Soul Catcher, is their relationship doomed? You may or may not find out the answer in this book.
At the end of A Reaper at the Gates, the characters don’t run off into the sunset and sing Kumbaya. They still have a lot to deal with. You may finish this book and, like me, feel like you will be stuck in the Waiting Place until 2019 when this book concludes. I’m personally a little scared though… I really hated chapter 50 of Allegiant, and I hope to not see another repeat of that. However, the darkest hour is just before the dawn. Perhaps there was a little foreshadowing involved when Laia said what Nan once told her “as long as there is life, there is hope.” While things will look bleak when you finish this book, you will want more, and fortunately, there is one more book to hopefully set this world right once again.
Other books in this series I have reviewed: