Book Review: A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir (Spoilers for An Ember in the Ashes)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is going to be another book review, this one for A Torch Against the Night, the sequel to An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

Because this is a sequel, there will be spoilers present in this review for An Ember in the Ashes, so if you haven't read that book and wish to, I'd recommend leaving. On the other hand, this review for A Torch Against the Night is spoiler-free.

For the people who have either read the book, have no interest in reading this, or don't care about spoilers, enjoy the review!

This novel picks up almost exactly where An Ember in the Ashes ends. Elias has physically broken free of Blackcliff Academy, along with his mother, the commandant of Blackcliff. Laia is no longer the Commandant's slave. She's finally found out where her brother, Darin, is being held and is still on her original quest to find and liberate him. Helene Aquilla, one of the main side characters of An Ember in the Ashes (and the only female recruit in her class) is the Blood Shrike to the Emperor. 

The chapters in this book aren't as even and straight-forward as in An Ember in the Ashes. Helene has a point-of-view in this novel, and the chapters between characters don't really follow a pattern. They're more scattered. 

The chapter pattern (or lack thereof) was something that partially annoyed me, but that's a personal issue and not one that has anything to do with the story itself. I prefer knowing how many chapters I have to read to get to a POV I really wanted to read about at that time (usually due to an end-of-chapter cliffhanger), and I like chapters to be consistent, but that's a minor detail which doesn't affect my actual rating since I've read a lot of books that do this.

The writing in this novel is as good as the writing in the previous one, if not better. I love Sabaa Tahir's writing style, and I always find myself reading quotes from this series because I love the writing and characters so much. 

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As far as the characters go, I really loved reading about Laia and Elias again. They are still some of my favorite YA characters. I enjoyed reading Helene's perspective as well, but the main chapters I was looking forward to reading were Laia and Elias'. 

Helene is a complicated character whom I don't connect with. She's a very strong character and well-written, but I can't really connect with her on an emotional level. I read her perspectives and I was interested in her story, but there was something lacking on it, and I think it's just that her personality and mine don't really overlap. There are very little similarities between me and Helene and most of the time, I only half understood some of her choices. 

I really enjoyed Tas. He was so innocent and pure. He's a sweet, kind boy whom I want to read more about.

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One thing I really love about Sabaa Tahir's characters are the siblings. I really loved the relationship Helene had with Livia (I kind of ignore Hannah, and I honestly sometimes forget she even exists), along with the relationship between Laia and Darin. I also thought it was interesting how she handled Marcus and Zacharias. I hate Marcus as a character, however his relationship with Zak made for an interesting layer that I wasn't expecting.

As far as Laia goes, I really like her mentality. Instead of being the kind of girl who runs off with the guy because he's attractive, she runs off with the guy (in this case Elias) because it's practical and she wants/needs his help to save her brother. The sibling dynamic itself is really enjoyable, which is surprising, since Laia and Darin aren't really in the same room more than twice in these first two books. 

I love how Sabaa Tahir was able to show the relationship Laia and Darin had without needing to have them in close proximity together. As a reader, it would definitely be more ideal to have them interact, but in this book, that isn't 100% possible. Because Laia cared about Darin, I cared about Darin, which is something books can't always accomplish for me. Sometimes a character cares about another character and I don't really care (as heartless as that may seem).

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I thought I would enjoy this book (I normally enjoy the first sequel that's released in a series), but I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. It was incredibly enjoyable and made for a really fun time. I wanted to pick up A Reaper at the Gates immediately after I finished it (though I ended up reading it a few days before I was able to check out the e-book for A Sky Beyond the Storm this previous December). 

I ended up rating this book a 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I was really engaged and invested in the story and the characters. The ending was very shocking. It left so many things open for seemingly endless doors to possibilities and outcomes. The cliffhanger itself was really well done. 

Overall, I enjoyed A Torch Against the Night almost as much as An Ember in the Ashes. I definitely didn't like it more than the first book, but I think it's either just below it or on the same level. Writing this post just makes me want to re-read this series, but I'm insanely busy right now. That'll be something for me to look forward to in the future.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌