Book Review:
Title: A Torch Against The Night
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Release Date: 8th September (UK)
I received an early copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
“So long as you fight the darkness, you stand in the light.”
A Torch Against the Night takes readers into the heart of the Empire as Laia and Elias fight their way north to liberate Laia’s brother from the horrors of Kauf Prison. Hunted by Empire soldiers, manipulated by the Commandant, and haunted by their pasts, Laia and Elias must outfox their enemies and confront the treacherousness of their own hearts.
In the city of Serra, Helene Aquilla finds herself bound to the will of the Empire’s twisted new leader, Marcus. When her loyalty is questioned, Helene finds herself taking on a mission to prove herself—a mission that might destroy her, instead.
An Ember in the Ashes was one of my favourite books of 2015, possibly even of all time, so going into the sequel I had extremely high expectations, but also wariness in case of second-book syndrome (nobody likes second-book syndrome.) But honestly, there was no need for the wariness, because this book matched - no wait - exceeded my expectations and was just as good as the first.
This book picks up right where we left off. Elias and Laia are on the run trying to escape the martial soldiers, as well as trying to break her brother out of prison. Like the first, we have both Elias' and Laia's POV, but we also have a new POV that belongs to Helene where we follow her journey as the new blood shrike. In AEITA, I liked Helene's character, but I didn't love her (her love and obsession(?) towards Elias irked me a bit). But after ATATN, I can say without any hesitation that I love Helene and that she is now definitely one of my favourite characters! I have so much respect for her. She is so brave and strong and a complete inspiration.
My feelings for Laia on the other hand were a bit different. I loved her in AEITA, and I do still love her, yet there were a few times where her actions and decisions annoyed me a bit. I mean I sort of understood her reasoning for these things, but they were still annoying. (I wish I could go into more detail, but I don't want to spoil anyone...)
And Elias? My love for Elias is eternal! He is such a great person. His choices are almost never to benefit himself, everything he does, he does for others. If I had only one word to describe Elias, I would choose 'selfless', because he is by far one of the most selfless characters I have ever read about.
Sabaa Tahir really knows how to write such brilliant and complex characters. And her world-building as well as story telling skills? Amazing! This book is essentially a journey book, of getting from point A to point B, and usually these kind of books feel filler-like and are 90% of time boring. But this book is in the other 10%! While getting from point A to point B, there was truly never a dull moment. We were constantly meeting new characters, finding out new information (some real crazy stuff!) and I loved it! The majority of the book was read in one sitting where I was literally at the edge of my seat. At one point in the story I literally closed the book and just sat there for 5 minutes thinking WHAT THE HELL! (To be fair, this happened about 3/4 times in total) My emotions were put into a blender and it was turned on full speed. I was happy, then angry, then sad, then shocked, then annoyed, then happy again. By the end of this book, I was emotionally drained - I think I still might be!
Before I wrap up this review, I want to quickly touch upon the romance aspect of this book. So, in AEITA, I shipped Elias & Laia together, but I wasn't completely invested into it, because there was a lot of room for things to change, which in turn could change my feelings. Now, after finishing ATATN, I have two firm ships that I'm positive I will stick with till the end of the series. I'm not sharing them because once again, spoilers, but I feel like the majority of people who also read this book will feel the same as me (or at least I hope they do.)
Overall, this was a fantastic sequel and I can't wait to see where Sabaa Tahir takes this story, because if you haven't heard already, AEITA is now going to be a FOUR book series! I'm so excited!
5 Stars
Goodreads