A Torch Against the Night (Ember Quartet, #2)

by Sabaa Tahir

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
• 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

[littleread1]

I don't know how my heart can be both broken and full, but this book managed to do that. I HAD to stay up late to finish it, and hopefully sleep will bring me the clarity I need to put coherent words together to explain my feelings without spoilers.

FULL REVIEW

What can I say other than amazing. A Torch Against the Night is without a doubt one of my top reads of 2016. Picking up exactly where An Ember in the Ashes left us, we start with Elias and Laia attempting to escape Blackcliff and Serra intact. While Ember had only their points of view, a third is added into Torch, that of Helene, Elias's best friend during his training at Blackcliff. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to know her point of view, however she became almost as important as the other two.

There is almost no down time in Torch, for anyone. The entire story had me anxious to see what happened next, but nervous to find out. We see many familiar faces, and there are a few moments where our heroes get to enjoy some peace, but those are few and far between. I was shocked and destroyed a few times, and there was a twist I did not even a little bit see coming that wrecked my soul in the worst and best possible way. I can't really explain it here without ruining the story for you, but read it and you will see what I mean. And I am happy to discuss it with you privately. Email me, message me, tweet me - I need NEED to discuss this with someone.

The ending was pretty much exactly what I needed. It obviously doesn't wrap everything up because this is a trilogy, but it doesn't leave us in the middle of an escape like Ember did. So if you are one of those people that don't like to read cliffhangers, relax, this is one you can read before the next book comes out.

If you have yet to read Ember, what are you waiting for? It is one of my all-time favorite books (I own an ecopy, the audio book, AND hard cover) and Torch does not suffer from "second-book syndrome." Read it. Love it. Then talk to me about it.

[tweetybugshouse]

I reading this as part of the tour hosted by ARC Around the World Tours . This is the second book in this series and it picks up with the hot stopping action that left us at the end of book one. This book certainly does not shy away from the cruelty and violence of the characters. You almost hope that the actions that are being carried out don't but they do it so close to reality it scary.
Be ready their is a lot of heart ache to be had in this story. I really liked that we got to learn a lot more about Helene character and how she comes in to her role as the blood shrike you really hurt for her as you follow her story line she gives up so much for the empire in this book, ya just want her to get her happily ever after though it does not look like that happens in this book by the end.

One other thought i had on this book is that it did a really great job of sharing the culture of the empire. I feel like i really know this world that laia, helene, and elias are growing pu in. Their a lot of hurt and i hope that at some point we get to see a great remaking of this world.

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

Initial reaction:



An Ember in the Ashes was one of my top five reads of 2015 and, if you read it, you know that I was basically dying to get A Torch Against the Night for the last year! I got the opportunity to read an advanced copy and snatched it up in a hurry, fully expecting to be totally blown away by this second installment.

A Torch Against the Night picks up right where Ember left off, with Laia and Elias on the run from the Empire and on a mission to save Laia's brother. Helene receives a prominent position next to Marcus and must decide whether her loyalty is to the Empire or to Elias, who has essentially left her for Laia. These three characters are the focus of the story with alternating points of view between them. I've seen people talk about how different the characters were in this book, but I can't say I really saw that. Laia is forced to become more of a badass out of necessity and Elias has to change his approaches for his own reasons as well, but I felt these were realistic changes based on circumstances. At the end of it all, I still absolutely adore Elias!

I also really enjoyed reading chapters from Helene's perspective, although I did roll my eyes at first. I didn't love her in book one, but after Torch, she is one of my new favorite characters! Her struggle was real and I felt so much sympathy for her as she tried to decide which side she was on. I can't wait to see where her story goes!

The villain(s) in A Torch Against the Night are, frankly, terrifying! And yes, there are several of them, although they all seem to be working together. Of course, the Commandant and Marcus are the two most obvious baddies in this story and I won't ruin the rest for you. These two are peas in a pod and are both unsettlingly despicable. There is literally nothing they won't do for power over the Empire and beyond and I love it because I never felt that the characters were quite safe enough for me to relax.

Then there was the romance... In An Ember in the Ashes, there was a hint of a love triangle with Keenan, but it seemed to be squashed by the end. If you want to keep believing that, skip this book! Because Keenan is back and so is the triangle. Honestly, this is one of the things I was most confused about with A Torch Against the Night. It seemed pretty straightforward at the end of Ember! I love angst as much as the next person, but the whole tortured affair between Laia and Elias had me wanting to bang my head into a wall and then when Keenan showed up, I wanted to throw myself through the window. But I trudged on. And yes, it was worth it, but I'm still bitter about the romance.

The story, while action packed, was slow for me at times. It took me much longer to read this book than I thought it would. The beginning was exciting and so was the ending, but a lot of the middle was traveling and talking and I'll admit I was bored. There were a lot of new developments in Torch and it actually went off in a much different direction than I'd anticipated! Although I wasn't expecting it, I really ended up loving where it went! There were a couple big twists that I really didn't see coming, which is one of my favorite things in fiction! I love being taken totally by surprise and Sabaa Tahir totally shocked me on more than one occasion!

The world of A Torch Against the Night was even more impressive than that of Ember! I loved learning more about the tribes and getting to spend a decent amount of time with them. Although this book was A LOT of traveling across different terrains, the upside was reading the amazing descriptions and feeling like I was there. One forest in particular was just amazing and I'm anticipating reading a lot more about it book three! And of course there was Kauf Prison itself. As terrifying as it was, it was fascinating.

A Torch Against the Night was easily one of my most anticipated reads of 2016 and I was so glad I got to read it early! I did enjoy it a lot, but I have to say this was not as perfect for me as An Ember in the Ashes. There was a lot of lag in the middle and I didn't love the love triangle, but it was still a solid second book! (I enjoyed it enough that my copy is still on pre-order.) The ending was incredible and, of course, here I am waiting for another year to find out where the story goes. If you loved An Ember in the Ashes, chances are you'll really like this one too!

[Stephanie]

This one was pretty good, but I felt it lacked the urgency and suspense that the first book had. Helene for Queen, though.