Best to hear what to expect in Tahir’s own words, right?
EW caught up with the no.
Check out the official cover and our conversation below.
Sabaa Tahir.Credit: Joseph Siroker
The novel publishes Dec. 1, 2020.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Youve finished this series, and its been quite the journey.
How are you feeling right now?
Penguin Random House
SABAA TAHIR:Overwhelmed.
How did it go by so fast?
Its like watching a kid grow up.
Along with the joy, I also feel sadness.
And some of them we will be saying goodbye to forever.
Ive been very emotional.
I used to say that Im not really a crier.
I cant say that anymore.
A Sky Beyond the Stormtakes us deeper into the mind of our main villain, the Nightbringer.
Exploring the relationship between Laia and the Shrike was one of my favorite parts of this story.
This ending when did you figure it out?
Ive known the shape of the ending for years.
It was the details that I had to figure out.
What are the characters saying to each other?
Where are they emotionally?
How do I get everyone to where I need them to be?
I will say that I reversed a death at the last minute.
It felt inauthentic, and I never want to kill characters for shock value.
Also, my mom threatened to never cook for me again if I killed any of her favorites.
That particular change that was a bit of a surprise.
Did you struggle getting to that last page, or did the pieces neatly fall into place?
At first, I struggled.
Mostly because I was saying goodbye and I did not want to.
When I was a little kid and the world became too much, Id sit in a laundry basket.
It was a safe place.
Obviously, Im too big for that now.
But sometimes often the world is still too much for me.
My characters and the world ofEmberare my laundry basket.
I turn to them in some of my darkest moments, my loneliest.
I turn to them when I lose faith in the world.
I put my pain and hope and frustration into my work and into these characters.
It was strange to feel like I would not have that outlet anymore.
But once I accepted it, the words came more easily.
The last few chapters poured out of me.
It felt like those words were sitting in my head for years, waiting for me to discover them.
Journalists close out stories by writing -30- at the end.
When I wrote my -30- at the end ofSky, I wept.
Apparently, I am a crier.
The only emotion thats come close to that is giving birth.
Because metaphorically, thats what writing a book is.
You asked fans what side character they hope to see.
Did their responses surprise you?
Anything it’s possible for you to tease out of that?
I adore Musa of Adisa.
I was surprised and gratified to see that so many of my readers did, too!
Hes a sort of older sibling figure to Laia, and serves as an important side character inReaper.
He takes on a bigger role inSky but is as irreverent and arrogant as ever.
Im excited for the Musa fans to hang out with him again.
Whats something that might surprise fans about this conclusive book?
On a lighter note, the title came to me very late just a few months ago.
That night, at 2 a.m., the title hit.
More seriously,Skyis my favorite of the fourEmberbooks.
Maybe because I poured my soul into it.
Ive spent hundreds of pages considering that question.
WithSky, I think I finally answered it.
This has been such a major series in YA.
Many up-and-coming authors cite it as a primary inspiration.
What she said and the joy with which she said it was the best kind of shock.
Without those authors and journalists and their work, I would never have writtenEmber.
I understand deeply what it means to be inspired by someone elses writing.
For me, theres no higher compliment.
I felt invisible in fantasy and in young-adult fiction.
I felt the struggles that affected me, or my family or my people were invisible.
Our mythology was invisible or worse, co-opted and appropriated.
I wrote EMBER because I wanted brown kids as heroesandromantic leadsandside charactersandvillains and everything in between.
I wanted us front and center.
So if the books have resonated for other writers, then I am so thankful for it.
It is an enormous privilege to write this story.
My hope is that theEmberQuartet keeps making an impact.
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