Genocide, child soldiers and rape may not be topics people typically associate with fantasy books geared to young adult readers, but Sabaa Tahir has won fans around the world for her willingness to address such real-world atrocities in her New York Times best-selling “Ember in the Ashes” series.
Her protagonists fight to survive in a dystopian society where they don’t know what it’s like to feel safe. The Peninsula-based author says that’s a daily fact of life for millions of people of color around the world.
On Dec. 1, Tahir published “A Sky Beyond the Storm,” the final book in her four-part series, ending a journey that began 13 years ago when she was working as a Washington Post copy editor. Tahir had come across a story about Kashmiri women whose male family members were seized by the military and never seen again. Tahir, whose Pakistani family comes from that part of South Asia, wondered what she would do if she were one of those women.
From that story emerged Tahir’s heroine, Laia, a slave in a Rome-like empire, who searches for her brother, after he’s arrested for treason. Along the way, Laia meets and falls in love with Elias, a deeply conflicted soldier in the empire’s top military training program.
The adventures of Laia, Elias and other luminously drawn characters have been translated into more than 30 languages and put Tahir into the pantheon of top fantasy writers. Time magazine named two “Ember” books among the 100 best fantasy novels ever written.
As Tahir looks forward to launching her next book — “different from anything she’s done before” — she reveals what it’s like to finish a phenomenally popular series and why it’s important for her books to tackle current events.
Q. After the first “Ember in the Ashes” book, was there pressure to publish a sequel?
A. The readers trusted me enough to read the first book, so I had to make sure the sequel made them equally happy and then the sequel after that and the sequel after that. It’s a weight off me to have the final book done. But it’s also very emotional, because I’ve been with these characters for 13 years, and they feel like family to me.
Q. Did you set out to write fantasy that would be considered groundbreaking because it features protagonists of color and depicts cultures not often seen in the genre?
A. I ultimately wrote what I wanted to read, right? I actually never imagined I would have readers of color all over the world seeing themselves in these characters. The story was inspired a lot by the news stories I read at the Washington Post — stories about war, genocide, refugee crises and dictatorships — things that predominantly seem to affect people of color. I didn’t see a lot of books that addressed situations like what it feels like to be an outcast, where you are rejected simply because of where you come from, who you are, what you believe. I have felt that as a Muslim in America.
Q. Did you worry that YA readers wouldn’t be ready for such themes?
A. I know that as a 14 year old, I was ready for that. I do think the books are for 14 and up. I feel these topics can be addressed if proper context is given. It was very important that my books wouldn’t have suffering for suffering’s sake, and that if I’m going to talk about war, then I talk about the cost of war, what it does to children, to families. Ultimately for me, I think writing this series was therapy. It allowed me to create a world and let the good guys have a shot.
Q. Were your parents always supportive of your writing?
A. Early on, I took the classic path of the South Asian kid. I did well in high school, then I went to UCLA and I got a job in journalism. It wasn’t the job they necessarily wanted me to get. My parents told me, you’re going to be a doctor. But once they realized that wasn’t for me, they were like, we just want you to be able to stand on your own two feet.
Q. What’s it like to have super fans — the Emberlings — as they are called?
A. One of the really great things about becoming an author is just how much fun it is to tour and talk to your readers. When I understood there was no way a tour could happen, I was really sad. But it’s good we live in a time when we can do virtual events. I love my Emberlings, and I’m going to be really excited to see them in any form.
Q. Did you always intend to write fantasy for young adults?
A. I just started writing a fantasy, and then I realized that it might belong in the Young Adult section. Laia is 17 when she starts the series, and she’s 19 in the beginning of the last book. Elias and Helene are 20 at the beginning of the series and they are 22 now.
Q. Didn’t your mother encourage you to write a fantasy?
A. My mom had been listening to me whine about a book I was trying to write that was more memoir. She was like, “You don’t know what you’re doing. Why don’t you write a fantasy?” I said, “No mom, no one will take me seriously, if I write a fantasy.” She said, “No one will take you seriously if you don’t finish a book,” which is a classic South Asian mom burn. Then when I was working at the Post and the stories started coming across my desk. That’s where the idea started to germinate.
Q. When you’re doing world-building, how do you come up with the names of characters?
A. Almost every single one of the names of my characters has a deeper meaning. So the name Laia means “sweet voice,” and you see how storytelling matters a lot to her. The name Elias is a Hebrew name, which means the Lord is my God, which indicates submission, in the sense that it’s submission to a higher power. While there is no religion in the book, I thought the name was fitting, because a lot of Elias’ journey is submission to fate and destiny. Helene was the name of an Amazon queen, and that seemed fitting for her.
Q. I know you love all your characters, but whom did you really like writing?
A. I loved writing the Nightbringer. He’s the villain of the series. He challenged me to think deeply about villainy. I ultimately wanted people to feel a little bit uncertain when it came to him. I wanted people to say, well, he’s not wrong. When you can relate to the villain deeply and understand why they are so angry, that makes for a powerful character. He’s a character who really just wanted to be left alone.
Q. Isn’t that true for all your characters?
A. They’ve had all this strife and struggle, but they all want to feel safe and for their loved ones to feel safe.
Q. Were there any news events in the past couple years that made it into “A Sky Beyond the Storm?”
A. I would say, the ongoing refugee crisis coming out of the Middle East and into Europe. That had a big impact in “Torch Against the Night” and “Sky.” I also was thinking about what was happening to the Rohingya in Burma and the Uighurs in China.
Q. Your book draws inspiration from the imperialism of ancient Rome. You say your book isn’t religious but is there mythology from other cultures?
A. I drew a lot of mythology that is common in the Muslim world, from stories my mom told me when I was a child. I think there’s also the general concept of fate, of the universe having a plan, that is sort of broadly referenced in the book.
Q. There’s a sense, too, of the world being out of balance…
A. That was important to me, too. It’s the idea that sometimes things are so broken, you have to tear them down, before you can end up with a better world. That was also a big part of the story.
Q. Can you talk about the way the book has the living co-exist with the dead at certain points?
A. There is this idea of the Waiting Place: It’s a place where somebody called the Soul Catcher passes along the restless dead to a more peaceful after-life, I guess you could say. One of the fascinating things about writing books is that you are doing therapy as you’re writing, but you may not realize it until years later. You realize, “Oh wow, I was working out my feelings of death.” There is this desire (to bring) those among us, who lived the most troubled lives, to a quieter and more peaceful place. In this world I’ve created, even the most tortured person can find peace eventually.
Q. Your passages about the Waiting Place and death certainly resonate.
A. We’re faced with such an overwhelming amount of death right now. I don’t think anyone has gone through this pandemic untouched or not known someone who has been deeply affected. That makes you meditate on death a lot. I wrote much of this book before the pandemic but was editing it after the pandemic was in full swing, and I incorporated as I edited.
Q. Was there anything else that was particularly meaningful for you to write about?
A. The women in this book really reflect the women in my life. They reflect that level of strength and power and effectiveness and courage. My hope is that younger readers who read this book will see this normalization of women of all kinds — whether they are brave or not, whether they’re a villain or not. I tried to put a ton of women in this series, because that’s so much of my world. So it’s kind of a love letter to them.
I think of how dude-heavy fantasy books can be. I didn’t see myself as a person of color in (many fantasy) books. I definitely didn’t see myself as a woman. We’re in the process of remedying and fixing. I think YA fiction in general has been fantastic about addressing that and having a lot of female-led stories.
