Another of my perplexities about Laia’s character is linked to her supposed powers and, more generally, to the world building. I am of the opinion that explaining half of what the fuss is about to create suspense and explaining nothing at all are two very different things. Hint for the aspiring authors out there: the first is good (if you know how to do it) the second is bad (even if you think you know how to do it). Why? Basically, because since I haven’t got the littlest clue regarding why on earth Laia is turning into a special snowflake, I just perceive it as the most random thing I’ve ever read. Sorry not sorry. a b Breznican, Anthony (September 2, 2016). "A Torch Against the Night author Sabaa Tahir lights fantasy with dark truths". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved July 11, 2021. This is the sequel to the thrilling story of An Ember in the Ashes. What is A Torch Against the Night about? What an absolute rollercoaster of a ride, I was up and down and up again, all of the curveballs, the DECEIT! But while it’s true that Elias and Laia are inexcusably static, the third main character, Helene, gave me more food for thought. She is deeply torn between her due loyalty to her family and the Empire and the strong relationship that binds her to Elias, and from the very beginning she resolves to act according to the obligations of the first. Since she’s but a human being, she questions her decision again and again. I totally agree with the author’s choice to give Helene doubts about her doing, since seeing how strong Helene’s attachment to Elias and her loyalty to the Empire were, any other path for her would have felt like a bit out-of-character. The thing is that Tahir does not know how to give a character its due depth. Helene is complex only on the surface: deep down, she’s flat as paper, just like the others. She is the only interesting character of this book, and I could not care for her less than what she does.

We get so many new and intriguing characters brought into this book, not only that but we get the point of view from Helene. Initially in the first book, I wasn’t Helene’s biggest fan, but I liked her so much more in this book and the fact that we can see her thought process makes things so much better! The character progression in this book was done BEAUTIFULLY, we seem the grow and become stronger. Though mistakes are made we see how they learn from them. I think what was so well done, was Elias’s realising of what he should and should not take on as his own. I seriously have all of the heart eyes for Elias I’m not going to beat around the bush here! For the longest time Keenan was on my radar, he really really wound me up, (not to mention he was messing with my ship!) the reason why he annoyed me so much was that he seemed to undermine everything that Laia would do, and I was having none of that! Then this book comes along and made me excited, worried, then a little bored in the middle there, but then I was torn apart and heartbroken. A Torch Against the Night follows three POVs; Laia, Elias and Helene. Laia a talented Scholar girl who has such strength and bravery in her heart that Elias, The Mask, can’t help but care for her and admire her…perhaps love her a little. Helene, A Mask and now the Emporer’s Blood Shrike told a heartbreaking story of hunting down the man she loves deeply to kill him to save her family and gain respect from the entire Empire.

The sequel to Tahir’s bestselling smash An Ember in the Ashes finally comes out in August, and let me tell you, it does not disappoint.”— Book Riot

I'm not sure I'll be able to get more opinions into this review, because I'm starting to feel that my excited brain is starting to confuse everything again.. So I'll stop here. I know I just mentioned Tas, but when he slapped Elias and was like You named me, I want to hear my name on other peoples lips I was SCREAMING The book is written and paced well. It alternates between POVs of Elias, Laia and Helene. The world building has expanded, and we meet some old and new characters, along with new details about the supernatural being. Izzi and Keenan have been tailing Elias and Laia. They eventually catch up to them and tell them that they are going to help them break into Kauf Prison to save Darin. Izzi notices Elias is unwell, but Laia denies it because she had promised Elias to keep his condition a secret. While the four of them are traveling to Nur, a sandstorm hits, injuring Izzi's remaining eye. When she is in the caravan traveling to Kauf, Gibran Ara-Nur develops a crush on her. However, when the caravan is searched for Scholars, Izzi is found and killed. Elias helps her spirit cross over into the afterlife.I knew it was coming, I knew that Tahir is an evil author and tortures her characters, but this book still broke me. Like the first book, TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT is a fast paced, bloody, and political tale. However, there’s far more magic and mysticism in this one, which is an aspect I particularly enjoyed as our three favorite characters discover and learn to hone their magical skills. Magic is secondary to the emotion and self-discovery enveloping Elias, Laia, and Helene as they’re forced to make decisions that never quite turn out the way they hope (i.e. everything is always a disaster and it’s amazing).

This sequel is going to be my most favourite I guess. I laughed a lot during the unexpected moments of humour; cried my heart out like there's no tomorrow. I cannot believe I would cry this much while reading the series after I read the first book.If you’ve read any of my updates, you’d know how terrified I was going into this- that I was expecting the worst.. and now I’m just sorry that I even doubted Sabaa Tahir. Because absolutely every part of this book was brutal, but also perfection. A good chunk of the book is a perusal. Granted, the protagonists did escape a rather messy situation last time round, but the chase dragged on for far longer than I wanted it to. At one point I actually put the book down and considered if it was going anywhere in particular. The idea of the poison was just lame. It seemed like the author had included it to prevent Elias from being such a successful killing machine, that way there was a change of him being capture or even killed. I really didn’t like it.

Sabaa Tahir built up so many big secrets and magic to discover. She does reveal each of them with all the power a human mind can imagine and she does make each of them BIG. Each of the betrayals would maim your mind, each moment of 'I trust you' delivered so real. I freaking love her writing! My fav characters have to be Harper and Helene in this book. I am seriously reading to see where their relationship goes because that was unpredictable.This time around, Laia makes a lot of mistakes. Disastrous one after disastrous one. But I liked that instead of drowning in guilt, she turned a critical eye against her actions and learned from them. Betrayals change her. New allies shape her. And love strengthens her. Where to even begin with this review… After reading An Ember in the Ashes, I was so excited to get my hands on this. I can now safely say I was not disappointed in the slightest! This book continues exactly where the first one left off and it was done so beautifully, even within the first few chapters my heart was nearly bursting from my chest at the suspense and worry for all of the characters! We got so much more information in this book that I was NOT ready for! I mean the twists and the turns had me screaming at my book like OH MY GOD! I honestly had to put the book down and just sit there and then message Fathima and Tania being like Can you believe it!