A Torch Against the Night

Book 2 of the Ember in the Ashes series starts immediately where Book 1 ends- seamlessly. For me, Book 2’s are usually a disappointment in that their sole purpose is to set up Book 3. In this case, Book 2 is every bit as good as the first one.

Characters- The characters have realistic flaws. No one is pure good or pure evil, which I appreciate. Main and minor characters are done well, have stories you care about and no one exists just for the sake of being able to kill them off later to create “fake” drama. Everyone serves a purpose and has a story you care about, which is why it hurts so bad when something terrible happens to them. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t elaborate- but understand that the danger to show more characters is REAL, Sabaa Tahir has no qualms about torturing, maiming or killing characters. (Which I equally appreciate and hate….LOL)

Story- I love the story arc, I have read plenty of books in which a strong female lead is trying to work against the ruling class to save the world….but somehow this is done better than I have ever seen it done. I also appreciate that one of the villains is also a woman, so often the female MC is fighting against a patriarchy. I also appreciate that there is more than one villain and there is still WAY more going on than we have been apprised of. Even within the villains, there are folks working to their own ends……just so much drama. I am not sure how Tahir finishes this in two more books, although she obviously did.

Writing- There is a lot going on, but I appreciate the short chapters and descriptions that are “just enough.” I can read a few chapters after work and my tired brain can handle it. There are some Fantasy books that I need to read during the summer when I am not working so that my brain can keep up with large casts of characters, or dense, description packed world building.

Much like Book 1, there are things either depicted on the page or talked about that some readers may find triggering: Including but not limited to torture, child slavery, slavery, child abuse, starvation, physical abuse, death, violence, gore, genocide, executions, family loss, murder, coercion, manipulation, toxic relationships and I may have left some out. The violence and other triggers are not gratuitous, and add to the drama and tension in the story but for some folks this may be difficult or mentally distressing to read about. You will have to decide what is best for you and your mental health.

This book is full of tension and much like Book 1, I had a love/hate relationship with turning the page- torn between needing to know what happens next, and scared to find out what happened next. This is not a lazy afternoon read- this is a fly by the seat of your pants, stressful, adrenaline filled, angst ridden, mile a minute, tension fueled ride and I enjoyed every minute of it. This book is like Game of Thrones and Hunger Games got together and had a book baby, WOW. show less

This book was fantastic!

It had everything I love in a book: kick-ass heroines who take care of what needs doing despite what it may cost them and those around them, like-risking adventure, and hard-as-steel friendships.

There was such huge growth in all of the main characters we saw and some of their losses really pained me to read about, which in turn circles back to the list I made above about why I love them so much.

I particularly enjoyed Elias here because he had such awful guilt tormenting him, but he never even once let that stop him. Alfya was also really enjoyable though we didn't get to see nearly enough of her.

The stakes were definitely raised in this book and I can only hope that the good guys will win without too high of a cost.

I think that this second book in the series that began with An Ember in the Ashes is better than the first book, and the first book has been wildly popular. This second is definitely not a standalone, however.

Note: Spoilers for Book One, but none for this book.

In Book One, we met Laia, a young woman determined to rescue her brother Darin from the prisons of the Martial Empire. Laia and her family are Scholars, enemies of the Martials. Laia manages to enlist the help of an elite Martial soldier named Elias Venturis. Elias, though skilled in killing, has somehow remained good on the inside, and is sickened by what the Empire asks of him. In particular, he loathes the sadistic commandant, who happens to be his biological mother.

As Book One show more ends, one of the worst of the Martials, Marcus, has become Emperor, and Helene, long the best friend of Elias, has become (not by choice) Marcus’s chief assassin. Elias decided to flee the Empire, and he and Laia are on the run, racing to try and rescue Darin from the notoriously bad and impenetrable prison to which he has been taken.

This book is almost all action from the moment it begins - taking up right where the first book ended, and adding even more violence and brutality to the tale.

The focus shifts back and forth among Laia, Elias, and Helene. All of them struggle with competing loyalties, and accommodation to their roles in the changed Empire. The females are intelligent and brave, at least up to a point, but there is no doubt they are the heroes of the saga. [Note if I said “heroines” it would imply they were only sidekicks to male heroes. So one has to choose the “masculine” form of the word to indicate their prominence in the story.]

There is also a time limit to something that will happen in this book, adding a lot of tension and energy to the story, and making one want to race through to the climax.

Discussion: There is more depth to this book than just the usual YA tropes, of which there are plenty. But there is also much sadness, loss, pain, suffering, and a sensitivity to feelings of loneliness and horror. There is guilt, loyalty, and love, and triangles, albeit with fuzzy edges.

The books raise questions we continue to face in real life: how, in the face of tyranny and threatened death, can we stand up for justice, and at what cost to ourselves and our families? Is it wrong to take the “easy” way out? How do we live with ourselves for the bad choices we have made?

There is also an ongoing theme of the fear of hurting those we love, and the advice not to lock oneself away from others because of it: “What point is there in being human if you don’t let yourself feel anything?”

And perhaps most importantly for these fallible characters, there is the admonition not to let failure defeat them:

“Failure doesn’t define you. It’s what you do after you fail that determines whether you are a leader or a waste of perfect good air.”

In the Acknowledgments, the author thanks some of her fellow YA fantasy authors for their friendship and chats, and interestingly, I can see the influence of some of them in this work. When one of the characters speaks of love, it particularly reminds me of Renée Ahdieh:

“You are my temple. You are my priest. You are my prayer. You are my release.”

Evaluation: It isn’t often that a “book two” of a series is better than the first book, but I think it is true in this case. I didn’t always like the choices made by the characters, but couldn’t help liking them or hating them for who they were, and really enjoying the story. show less

Enjoyed it even more than the first one (in part because I didn't have to hear the horrible voice the narrator used for Helene in the audio version of book one). Excellent plot with twists I didn't anticipate. Amazing and varied female characters. Really good ethical dilemmas. Her world building is very good as well. The sections with the Dreamcatcher were sometimes a bit choppy, and I'll be interested to see how she develops this strand in the final book.

I love that this book carried so much momentum and urgency. Again, with the lightening pace that didn't feel TOO fast but made it hard to put down! I really enjoyed getting Helene's perspective and feeling completely torn about who to root for throughout the book. The story kept me engaged, and managed to build upon the character depth I so enjoyed from the first novel.

The best books are the ones where the line between good and evil is so blurred, and the characters so balanced with a bit of both, that you're left torn in trying to decide which side to root for!

Definitely read it.

I love that this book carried so much momentum and urgency. Again, with the lightening pace that didn't feel TOO fast but made it hard to put down! I really enjoyed getting Helene's perspective and feeling completely torn about who to root for throughout the book. The story kept me engaged, and managed to build upon the character depth I so enjoyed from the first novel.

The best books are the ones where the line between good and evil is so blurred, and the characters so balanced with a bit of both, that you're left torn in trying to decide which side to root for!

Definitely read it.

As I thought after finishing An Ember in the Ashes, I couldn’t read any other book till I binged this series and so I started this sequel immediately. And just like the first book, this was almost a single sitting read because I couldn’t put it down at all.

I felt the pacing of the book slowed down a little this time; not that it’s any less tense or intense, just more of a slow journey. The twists and turns are also much more pronounced, and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop all the time. And as I was reading quite fast, I didn’t stop to think of what was coming, so every reveal was very surprising and I really enjoyed the experience. The world is still pretty bleak and hopeless, and I can’t even imagine what more show more horrors are in store in the next book.

This time, I really can’t choose whom I liked more. Laia is as determined as ever to get her brother out of the prison, but seeing her fight and suffer and see the destruction of her loved ones and lose confidence in herself, but also finding her strength once more, was great to read about and I admired her so much. Elias is more tortured than ever, but I totally did not see the turn his story took and I’m quite perplexed with what’s gonna happen next with him. Everyone seems to take advantage of his empathy but I hope it’ll always prove to be his strength. Helene on the other hand is put to every test possible and I’m amazed at her will power and loyalty that she still holds on. She is fighting on all sides while trying to keep herself safe and sane, and after what happened towards the end, I’m even more curious to see how she changes and what destruction she will cause to her enemies.

In the end, this was as engaging as the previous book and I’m so glad I got to read the books back to back. And right now, I’m rushing to pick up the next one because I can’t wait. show less