writehollydavis
Written on Apr 13, 2022
Book two in the New York Times bestselling series • One of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time • A USA Today bestseller
“Fresh and exciting...Tahir has shown a remarkable talent for penning complex villains.”—A.V. Club
A gorgeous, collectable look for this beloved and bestselling fantasy series that “glows, burns, and smolders.” (Huffington Post). The deluxe paperback editions each feature tip-ins with exclusive character art!
Elias and Laia are running for their lives.
After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.
Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars' survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.
But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.
Bound to Marcus's will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape...and kill them both.
- ISBN10 1101998881
- ISBN13 9781101998885
- Publish Date 29 August 2017 (first published 30 August 2016)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
- Imprint G.P.Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers'
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 480
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101998885
Reviews
lessthelonely
Written on Jan 6, 2022
OK, so here's a double review for once, since I don't want to wait to read the rest of the series before reviewing it all, since I know I'll take a long while to read the 3rd book. If you want to know, I first read An Ember in The Ashes in 2021, at the beginning of the year, around April. I only got A Torch Against The Night this last Christmas. Justification: I read it physically and I'd like to complete the collection physically, and with my Kindle, I was very much entertained with books.
Anyways, I'm sorry to say you won't have a full-fledged review of An Ember In The Ashes, but you should know I gave it 5/5 stars, which I'm going to keep because I don't think you can ever change what the truth was when I read that book: I loved it and I gave it 5 stars. My one complaint with it is the lack of LGBTQ+ presentation, which is more nitpicking, in my opinion, than anything else.
Other than that, I remember I had to get used to the way the author writes emotion - it's very much visual and ethereal, almost like a dream sequence and since I had never read anything like it before, there was a clear adaptation period for me. After that, I was doing the thing I usually do which is just devouring the book. Back then, my reading speed was slower than it is now, but I do remember I finished the book quickly and told myself I could wait for Book 2. And wait I did!
This is the gist of it, but here's my edited Goodreads review if you want to hear my thoughts from back then:
OK... Fine, I think it was time to give a book 5 stars.
I started reading this book in the middle of watching "Damages". The first few pages were interesting enough, but they didn't really grab me that much for me not to want to keep watching the third season. But then, at some point in the early pages, stuff just picked up and kept going all the way up!
I believe it was after the ending of Part I? Might be completely wrong. This book understands character, this book understands plot and most importantly, it understands writing! The vivid descriptions of emotion (though, sometimes, the sort of "magical realism" with fantastic creatures seemed too much in the beginning), the thought process of the characters, their motives... It's all perfectly clear!
To be honest, it wasn't a book that wowed me with plot twists - I was more enthralled in the characters' dynamics, but I do have a little qualm with this book: the disposable love interests for the main characters. I find no joy in having characters that appear to exist solely to hinder the main couple's inevitable romance. And this isn't an argument from shipping, though I do ship the main couple, but from the fact that it's HEAVILY OBVIOUS what the main ship is. It's in the book's back, though indirectly! Laid out in perfectly understandable terms for whoever reads it.
Outside of that, this is an instant favorite for me. 5 stars. Gotta save up to buy the next one.
I do have a lot of things I definitely want to bring up about Book 2, though I think this is on-par with book 1 if not a bit better: this book is very much in love with its romance. That's what I meant in the Goodreads review you just read: there is a character introduced for the sole purpose of creating a love triangle. Did I enjoy how this character stopped being considered a valid option? Yes. And I also think it was beneficial to show how Laia interacted with said character as opposed to interacting with Elias - it was very on the nose, which isn't to say it's bad! I just think that even in that, the target audience for this book would read those segments and have the point fly right above their heads.
Romance in this book is sort of like Jane The Virgin in the sense that it uses a love triangle to show emotion. But one of the strongest parts (though also flawed) of that show was that the show treated both Michael and Rafael with the same respect: none of them were perfect. Here, Keenan is clearly the bad choice and though I appreciate the respect for my boy Elias, I also think anyone who was more invested in Laia ending up with Keenan might find this... in poor taste. After all, the idea of a straight love triangle is definitely that the girl can end up with either guy... This is also why love triangles are, inherently, a losing trope: you write a love triangle because you want to make it seem like either way is possible... but then authors always unwillingly reveal the resolution of it.
That's why I sort of don't like the back and forth between Elias and Keenan - it's painfully obvious Elias is the end goal, but I will give it to the author: making a point to show how Keenan isn't right was a good call. It made for a more entertaining read.
But Laia and Elias are almost like subplots in this book, not going to lie. Or, at least, I was way more invested in Helene, which I think was the point. The fact that there's this big twist delivered in the beginning actually made me fume because it involved something I definitely didn't want to happen. And though I did know the plot was going to make it technically meaningless outside of practicality, it still got a reaction out of me. You hate every single antagonist and feel for every single protagonist, and I also really love that there are little very much useful reminders of stuff I forgot after reading Book 1 one year ago: for example, stuff about Helene and the Trials.
Helene has great development here. I sure hope she gets past some flaws she has. I do think she's walking towards a self-sacrifice ending, which I'm not all that mad about.
Other than that, this book has action, great worldbuilding, and fantasy, plot twists that actually made my eyes go wide and is on par with book 1! So, there you go! Read both of these!
ATTENTION: The following is only regarding Book 2, A Torch Against The Night. Book 1 is 5/5 stars!
herseriallife
Written on May 23, 2021
alindstadtcorbeax
Written on Jun 21, 2020
Whew this installment most definitely UPPED THE ANTE at every turn! I loved the first book but this was seriously just mind blowing! Consider me invested, entertained, & a *liiiiitttttle* (a lot, naturally) OBSESSED AF.
I love how far on her journey to becoming a TOTAL badass Laia is! My girrrllllllll! At the beginning of book one, she was really kind of inherently unlikable because her inner dialogue was running on a constant negative feedback loop that became somewhat arduous & utterly exhausting. NOT ANYMORE, MY FRIENDS! She’s an actually incredible person, & instead of feeling sorry for herself, will stop at nothing to help others. Plus, shes just plain cool AF. When, exactly, that happened, I am not even sure. BUT the fact remains that she is amazing!
I also effing LOVE Helena, now. I really do. Everyone is changing for the better!
So many things I loved about this book, but RTC! Because On to Reaper At The Gates!
*squeeeeee take 3!*
(Interestingly enough, there were a lot of aspects of this that brought the Poison Study books to mind, which is an added bonus because those are incredible!)
Also, though, I have to say the two things that brought this down .5 a star:
• HOLY HELL, I cannot stand love, erm, quadrilaterals? (Not a triangle, and pretty much involves 4 main people, so...) I REALLY hated how the most “involved” in a way didn’t even seem authentic to me. They made me feel NADA.
• WILL LAIA & ELIAS EVER CATCH A BREAK?!? Aagghhhh! I feel like there should be SOME reprieve longer than a brief, BRIEF moment. I love slow burn but this is like... RIDICULOUSLY frustrating, because these reasons don’t even seem like ones that should actually keep them apart?
*mild keyboard smash*
Jo
Written on May 24, 2019
It's been around two years since I read An Amber in the Ashes, but even though it's been a while, I absolutely loved it, and really wanted to continue with the series. And A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir is an awesome follow up!
This is a difficult book to talk about plot-wise, because a lot happens that is quite spoilery. A Torch Against the Night starts off moments after the end of An Ember in the Ashes, and follows them as they escape and journey to Kauf, the prison where Laia's brother, Darin, is being held. The focus of this book is getting to Kauf to try and free Darin, so most of the book is the journey northward. Because of this, in some ways, it's a slower, quieter book, but that's not to say a large number of things happen along the way, things I can't talk about. But it's not just a boring story of them travelling from A to B. They discover a lot on their journey, various things happen to them, and things get very interesting, indeed.
It's told from the perspectives of Laia, Elias, and Helene, though we get more of Laia and Elias than Helene. I can't really talk about the character arcs or development for Laia and Elias without spoiling things, but they are so very interesting and exciting! Even so, I absolutely loved her chapters! She is a really complex and interesting character. She believes in the Empire, and their superiority to everyone else. But she hates the new Emperor, Marcus, and the Commandant, Elias' mother. Marcus has given her the mission to hunt down Elias, and she's torn between doing her duty and going after the man she loves, or not and risking her family. Because Marcus is a heartless, cruel and ruthless emperor, and will have the respect - or fear - of his people, and will absolutely follow up on his threats. I have conflicting feelings for Helene, because she's not a bad person. She has been brought up, like most around her, to believe that she is superior to others, that the Empire is everything, and the Scholars are below them. They're nothing, and their ill treatment is deserved. And it's just so difficult, because I definitely felt for her and the situations she finds herself in, the decisions she has to make, but at the same time, she doesn't bat an eyelid at the treatment of the Scholars, though we never see her treating anyone badly. So I switch between really liking her as a person, and feeling sorry for her, to feeling absolutely disgusted at some of the views she has, and wanting to scream, "What is wrong with you?!"
As I've said several times, there's a lot I can't talk about. But there are a number of discoveries, things that are sure to become important later down the line, there are interesting developments, there are a number of questions that aren't answered, and there are a few jaw-dropping twists that I absolutely did not see coming, and they are just so exciting! It's a real emotional rollercoaster, and I seriously just want to give both Laia and Elias a hug! A Torch Against the Night is an incredible sequel, action packed and completely captivating! I absolutely cannot wait to read A Reaper at the Gates, and see where the story takes our characters next! I have a feeling it's going to be epic!
layawaydragon
Written on Jul 20, 2017
nannah
Written on May 5, 2017
This is a hard book to review. There's so much happening that the plot doesn't really come together until it's time for it to resolve. And I mean . . . once it came together, I loved it. But it all just took way too long. And along the way, it was just misery on top of misery on top of misery.
After the first book, Laia and Elias are escaping Serra and the Commandant. They need to break into one of the worst prisons of the Empire to free Laia's brother, who may have the secrets the Scholars (people like Laia and her brother) need to fight back against the elite determined to wipe them out.
That's just brushing the surface, though. There's also jinn, Tribal wars, lots of inner political battles, ghosts, etc. While these add depth to the universe, they also complicate the plot, and too much of it can really bog the plot down. Sometimes it got to the point where I wasn't sure what the main plot really was anymore? Not that it wasn't entertaining! I just . . . began to get a little lost.
There was also the matter of the love triangle . . . (s). Love triangle on top of another. Exhausting! Laia loves Elias, but Laia also loves Keenan, and they both love her, but Helene also loves Elias?? The drama!! Along with everything else going on, this just seemed to push things over the edge. I just didn't have any patience for the love drama. I read a post somewhere that fits my reading experience perfectly: "Why do writers think folks want unnecessary drama involved in their couples? I don’t want drama. I want them to conquer exterior drama together while communicating well.".
Anyway, I never didn't enjoy the book. I just wished it was put together in a more cohesive way.
inlibrisveritas
Written on Nov 22, 2016
Full review to come!
Beth C.
Written on Oct 10, 2016
kimbacaffeinate
Written on Aug 28, 2016
The first tale had two POV’s those of Elias and Laia, but in A Torch Against the Night Tahir introduced Helene’s narrative and it was bloody brilliant. Helene has become Blood Strike, and her story at times stole the show. She is given the impossible task of capturing and killing Elias. Elias and Laia are on a quest to rescue her brother Darin. Their quest is filled with danger and discoveries. Tahir delivered an addictive story with twists, turns and betrayals. At times I could do nothing more than stop in place, hold my breath and listen.
“But you, Helene Aquilla, are no swift-burning spark. You are a torch against the night - if you dare to let yourself burn.”
Saab Tahir continued to flesh out the world, giving us a firmer grasp of the hierarchy, political climate and supernatural elements of this world. Laia continues to surprise, and I am curious about her ultimate role as this story continues.
Tahir’s writing is vivid and her prose like musical notes to my ear. Not only did she capture the emotions of each character she brought each scene to life. As Elias and Laia traveled a sandstorm kicked up, and she allowed me to experience it. I could taste the sand and hear the relentless wind. We travel through villages and forests as we make our way towards the prison. Along the way, we learn more about the characters face Helene’s pursuit and pick up allies. It was intense and Tahir did not spare our feelings as she conjured up this brutal world.
“It takes only a split second for life to go horribly wrong. To fix the mess, I need a thousand things to go right. The distance from one bit of luck to the next feels as great as the distance across oceans. But, I decide in this moment, I will bridge that distance, again and again, until I win. I will not fail.”
Tahir’s writing lends itself perfectly to audio and the narrators certainly enhanced my experience. I adore Fiona Hardingham accent and it lends itself perfectly for the voice of Laia. Steve West brings Elias to life. I particularly loved Katherine McEwan’s rendition of Helene. I felt she captured Helene’s insecurities and struggles. At this point I cannot imagine enjoying this series any other way.
Audio provided by publisher, This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer