A Torch Against the Night, by Sabaa Tahir

Hey all! 
I just finished reading A Torch Against the Night, by Sabaa Tahir! 

This is book 2 of her series, book 1 being An Ember in the Ashes. If you want to see my review for that, click here!

*I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in 10 days... the internet has been crazy, and so has my homework. I am almost done with a tag though! It’ll probably be posted tomorrow :) 

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. 


As per usual for second books in a series, this will be a little more more difficult for me to review without spoilers, so apologies if any spoilers show up! 

So A Torch Against the night was one of my most highly anticipated books for 2016, since the release of An Ember in the Ashes. I can easily say that it did not disappoint! 

A Torch against the Night starts right where book 1 ends; Laia and Elias are in tunnels, running away from the Martials, the Commandant, the Blood Shrike... basically a whole list of people who want them dead or in jail. They are on their way to the Kauf, a huge prison in which Laia’s brother is locked up. He knows how to make weapons from Serric steel, a rare skill to have. 

I ship Laia and Elias so much. The two of them are incredibly sweet and determined. They somewhat have a Will-Tessa relationship. Elias knows he might not last, and thus does not want to hurt Laia by getting too close to her. There is a love triangle-ish thing, but it’s ok! 

Helene has become the Blood Shrike - she is the emperor, Marcus’s right hand, he has to do as he says, no matter the costs. And his bidding? To kill Elias. This breaks her, as he is her best friend, the one she loved. She knows this will ultimately break her. 

This book is their journey through tunnels, the desert, forests and rain, to get Laia’s brother out of jail no matter the costs. 

I absolutely love the setting this book is set in! Like I mentioned in my last review, it’s a mix of desert land and middle eastern mythology (Jinn’s, spirits etc..), and ancient rome. The combination makes for such interesting components to the story! 

Now it’s really difficult not to gush about spoilers, so I’m just gonna go right into them! ! Highlight the bottom list to see what’s written! 

• KEENAN is the Nightbringer!? I knew I couldn’t ship him with Laia, he was too open and touchy-feely. That was just an amazing plot twist! I kinda just sat there like ‘oh no nope no what?’...
• I’m glad they got Laia’s brother out of jail - their whole scheme to do so was impressive! 
• I almost cried when Elias died. I mean, the fact that he’s not totally dead was a relief - I’m kind of glad that he replaced the Soul Catcher in her job - he can still visit Laia and the others who are still alive, but only for short amounts of time. It was heartbreaking! 
• The murder and attack/rebellion of the scholars and Elias’s tribe was terrible.
• And even worse was the killing of Helene’s family just to teach her a lesson, so she would work with Marcus. That was not okay. 

Anyway that’s all I have (time to) say about A Torch against the Night! It was really great! :D 

I’m giving it a 4.5/5 feathers! 

Have you read A Torch Against the night? What did you think about it? Let me know! :D 

Have a great day!