Book: A Torch against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2)
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Pages: 452 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: August 30th, 2016
Goodreads Synopsis:
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.
My review (contains spoilers):
This book starts where the last one ends, so the timeline is without a break. We find out so much more about Helene and Elias’ tribe. I loved how the different characters are interacting with each other, how their stories got more complex and entwined with the story of other characters. There is also so much character development, especially with Helene, who went to absoLUTE QUEEN in this book. She becomes more independent, more sure of herself, but still true to herself. I love her character so much and I need so much more of her.
Elias and Laia’s relationship deepens, too. In book one I was quite afraid we’d have a love triangle between Laia, Elias and Helene, but ATATN solved it so well and I’m so happy about not having another triangle!
Elias is a very precious human who has to be protected at all costs.
The Commandant gets even meaner and more cruel (if that’s even possible). I hate hate hate her. She has her fingers basically everywhere, knows everything and is everywhere, slaughtering innocents. I just… nope, get her away from me.
I love Sabaa’s writing style, it’s so exciting. I can feel with the characters and I have all these pictures in front of me.
I am just very much in love with this series and I need more of it.
Rating:
★★★★★/5
