Sabaa Tahir

An Ember in the Ashes 2. A Torch Against the Night

annika

Ashley shackelford

Nova

4.5

a much more hooking experience compared to the first book & i enjoyed it thoroughly. helene’s pov just made it so much better. cant wait to see the commandant annihilated

mahek

Tatiana

A Torch Against The Night - 4.5

This was a phenomenal sequel to An Ember In The Ashes. Once again, Sabaa Tahir has outdone herself with excellent pacing, plot twists, romance, and political discord.

So much happened within this book making it impossible to put down. Laia, Elias, and Helene all become even more real along with their stories and abilities. The reader really finds themselves engrossed in their growth and progress and I swear I am kept on the toes because I genuinely cannot tell you what is going to happen next.

The reason I gave this 4.5 stars is simply because of the genius that is the first book in the series. Largely this book is mostly taking place in a journey and I’m not the biggest fan of journey stories. That being said, this could very well be the best journey based book I’ve ever read. 

I am both extremely excited yet terrified for the next book. I just know my heart and soul aren’t ready to get ripped to shreds. 

Oh well...

Whitney Nicole

Ok WOW. First I’ll say this, I keep seeing everyone being like “omg I love Helene!” But maybe that comes further on in the series cause in this book I couldn’t STAND her. Slave owner sympathizer 🙄 whatever. 

But OMGGGGG Elias’s storyline!!! He reminds me of a Greek tragic hero. Sabaa Tahir definitely makes use of the POV changes, an aspect of books I can easily find annoying if it’s not done correctly. And Laia….OHHHH LAIA. Watching her journey into becoming a strong badass ?? PRICELESS. Cant wait to read the next one!!

Jaden Nelson

These are the kinds of books that make me remember why I am a crazy reader. I don't know how to really express all of my feelings for this book, and if I tried it would probably just be several paragraphs of me showering it in compliments in all caps. When I was around halfway through this book, I was thinking that I would probably give it only 4 stars because it was great, but boring for a while, which almost put me in a slump. BUT, basically the last half of the book is like SIKE YOU THOUGHT, in your face plot twists and emotional catastrophes that truly made this book 5 star worthy. I really could go on all day about how much I love this and would recommend it TO EVERYONE but I will just say that I will probably reread book 1 and 2 when BOOK 3!!! come in 2018ish(I think it will be worth the wait). Happy reading this binge worthy book and series!

I was really disappointed in this one, considering how much I liked the first book. Some of the things I appreciated in the first book were either pushed further or were just not done as well and wound up getting on my nerves as a result.

If you're a fan of pining and romantic indecisiveness, this book is definitely for you. Alas, I am not a fan of that. It was constant, especially during Laia's chapters, though you definitely get some in Elias's chapters as well. The characters would be so much better if their chapters weren't filled with their hormone overflow.

The actual storyline itself was decent. Summarized, it seemed like it got contrived a lot more to burn time so Keenan and Laia's relationship could grow and so Elias's relationship with the grim reaper gal could grow. I wish that they could have gotten to Kauf a whole lot faster. I felt like a lot of things felt like filler.

Helene was the only character where I truly believed she was worth reading the chapters for. Her story was intelligent and well paced, in spite of the slow movements of the characters she's supposed to be tracking. She had clear motivations that were tempered with hard choices and while you got a little of the hormones here and there, you mostly got her doing her best to tread water in the game of thrones, so to speak. (I'm trying not to spoil here.)

All in all, I'm not sure what this means for me for future books. It definitely wasn't quite what I hoped for.

Kirsten Simkiss

I was really disappointed in this one, considering how much I liked the first book. Some of the things I appreciated in the first book were either pushed further or were just not done as well and wound up getting on my nerves as a result.

If you're a fan of pining and romantic indecisiveness, this book is definitely for you. Alas, I am not a fan of that. It was constant, especially during Laia's chapters, though you definitely get some in Elias's chapters as well. The characters would be so much better if their chapters weren't filled with their hormone overflow.

The actual storyline itself was decent. Summarized, it seemed like it got contrived a lot more to burn time so Keenan and Laia's relationship could grow and so Elias's relationship with the grim reaper gal could grow. I wish that they could have gotten to Kauf a whole lot faster. I felt like a lot of things felt like filler.

Helene was the only character where I truly believed she was worth reading the chapters for. Her story was intelligent and well paced, in spite of the slow movements of the characters she's supposed to be tracking. She had clear motivations that were tempered with hard choices and while you got a little of the hormones here and there, you mostly got her doing her best to tread water in the game of thrones, so to speak. (I'm trying not to spoil here.)

All in all, I'm not sure what this means for me for future books. It definitely wasn't quite what I hoped for.

alexandra

3.5/5 —
it was frustrating then the ending was like OMG WTF

HELENE AQUILLA CAN UNMAKE ME AND ILL STILL BARK AND PURR

anarh

Beatrix Haase

4.5/5

Such a great book series. Super excited for the next books to come!

🧸

“You are my temple,” I murmur as I kneel beside her. “You are my priest. You are my prayer. You are my release.”

my emotions reading this 📈📉📈📉📈📉📈📉

I will never forgive the author for keenan that was such a betrayal I fucking liked him 😭

menna

I'm so attached to these characters its not even funny anymore i just want them to be okay. 

the writing is still as magnificent as ever! i love the way Sabaa Tahir tells the story. The character development of both Laia and Elias are so good!! i love the new characters introduced especially Afya Ara-Nur!! My feelings about the Nightbringer are still as complicated as the first time i read this,, i mean I'm SO ANGRY at him but for some reason i don't hate him??? 

this book definitely broke my heart. I think it was so much heaver than the first one especially the kauf scenes.

dija

WHAT IN THE BLEEDING SKIES WAS THIS???? 
















































A masterpiece, that's what it was.

Jamieson

“But you are no swift-burning spark. You are a torch against the night - if you dare to let yourself burn.” 


it took me over 12 months to finish this book, but I did finish it. I don't know why this book took so long because it was mostly enjoyable and was quite tense at times. But something about it wasn't gripping. Even the tense scenes give me that feeling that I had to keep reading. It's like they were tense in theory (a prison escape? intense!), but not in practise (a prison escape? I'll read this later) I'm not sure if its Sabaa Tahir's writing or what. 

I do think part one was kind of slow, but once you get into part two and especially parts three and four it is much more fast paced and exciting

but one thing I do love about this series without pause is the central characters. I adore Laia, Elias and Helene as characters. Elias especially grew on me so much in this sequel. every character has such a well defined personality, and clear motivations which make them interesting to follow. Sabaa Tahir does such an excellent job at portraying a wide range of women especially, both in terms of personality and ethnicity. In fact, the effortless diversity of this series is one of the highlights. Laia is south asian coded, and Elias is south asian/middle eastern mix coded and I absolutely love this series for setting up these characters to be the heroes of the story (also shout out to those cover changes that feature poc you're doing amazing)

Helene also got such an interesting arc this book, and I enjoyed following her inner conflict. Helene's interaction with the Empire and the politics going on became more nuanced which was nice to see.

My one character issue is Marcus - I don't think he's as fleshed out as he should be. His character is just confusing and I don't understand why he is the way that he is. 




I'm not exactly sure why I kept putting this book down because I genuinely don't have many complaints about it. I love the world, the characters, and the storyline, and I'm so excited for the next book. It's a sham it took me so long to read this.


  “Don't lock yourself away from those who care about you because you think you'll hurt them or they'll hurt you. What point is there in being human if you don't let yourself feel anything?”

there were so many plot twists that I'm sitting here, stunned, looking into the void.


also the elaia moments made me so sjdjwkggkw

Jasmine

SIX UNFORGETTABLE STARS!!
That is one damn good book and this series already has a spot in my favorites! I dove into this almost after immediately finishing Ember in the Ashes and I still can't even comprehend how much I loved it!! It's now been over a month later and I'm still thinking about it and I'm so crazy I am for this series. Now I'm just going to be dying while waiting for it to be June so I can read Reaper in the Gates!! HURRY UP TIME!! This YA Fantasy is perfection and the pacing of this was so damn amazing! The level of enjoyment and investment I have in these characters exceeds any criticisms I could possibly have, and to me it's everything I could possibly want from a fantasy series. 6/5 phenomenal reading experience!! AHHHH LOVE IT!!

Olivia

I can't think enough to construct an actually review but HOLY COW i loved this book. I loved it as much as the first one and i hate that i have to wait for the next one.

tina

third read: nov. 26, 2020 
3.5 stars but during the first and second reads i gave this book 5 stars lmao ???? was it because i read this right after rhythm of war 😭 was that it 😭 aside from that tho i read this back when i was in high school and that was the time i really enjoyed fast paced and plot driven books more. unfortunately, me and my tastes have changed, and as i read more i learned that the thing about constantly fast pacings is that it leaves little room for well-established character arcs and worldbuildings and that’s rly what this book lacked for me. i still really liked it and i still care about the characters, but now that i am much more aware of what i like in books i feel i should definitely voice out my criticisms even though i do love this series with all my heart. 


second read: dec. 28, 2018 

first read: oct. 7, 2016


  "You are a torch against the night- if you dare to let yourself burn."


I had a huge feeling that I was going to LOVE A Torch Against the Night before I even acquired a copy. Mainly because I ABSOLUTELY LOVED AN EMBER and it was one of the BEST books that I've ever read last year so I was expecting that I would love this as well, if not more, then as much as I loved the first book. I am really glad that A Torch didn't disappoint me. We immediately started where we left off and that WAS SUCH AN AMAZING WAY TO START THE BOOK. It was so thrilling, exciting, and frightening at the same time!! I actually think that this was even better than the first book, and that's saying a lot because An Ember was AMAZING.

I love how Sabaa Tahir doesn't shy away from all the brutality and cruelty. And all the gore in this series is not actually inappropriate because the Empire is a fucjing mess. It's full of evil and darkness and so much secrets. The villains were still SCARY AF. I am honestly so terrified of them. They're vile, wicked, cold-hearted and they scare the crap out of me.

MY BABY LAIA, I AM SO PROUD OF EVERYTHING THAT SHE'S DONE IN THIS BOOK. I love how she's a different kind of heroine. A lot of women in YA lit today always seem physically strong and badass, but Laia's not like that. She's not brave. She doesn't have any badass skills. But she's determined to do whatever it takes for the people she loves. I think that's a really heartwarming thing to see. Laia might not be as badass as Helene, but she has such a big heart and that's what truly makes her strong and beautiful. That's how I see Laia. 

She'd seem frustrating in this book because of the stupid decisions that she makes that lead to disastrous outcomes. But that just makes her character realistic. Flawed. Imperfect. And despite every mistake that she has done, she doesn't let herself drown in her own guilt.

I never thought I'd say it, but I've really come to LOVE Helene in this book. SHE HAS REDEEMED HERSELF. I can still remember how much I hated her in the previous book because of her view of the Scholars. She was frustrating and infuriating and I couldn't see why so many people liked her. Loved her, even. But she was amazing in this book. She's definitely more badass in this one. And I'm so happy I'm starting to really love her character.

MY SON ELIAS CONTINUES TO BURN!! I loved Elias from the first book and I still do. There were many things that happened to him here, but I'm not gonna go into detail because I'll only be spoiling.

Overall, THIS BOOK KILLED IT. I LOVED IT SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!! DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE READ THIS YEAR. 


  "So long as you fight the darkness, you stand in the light."

Vajas Johanna 

4.5 maybe but honestly I'm a bit disappointed, it started so well and the first book was really good but now, I don't know...

Isabela H 

This book is amazinggggggggg.

Not only do we continue to follow the thrilling plot through the eyes of Laia and Elias, we also dive into the POV of Hel, a character that I am currently obsessed with (I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!)
Simply cannot wait to read Reaper at the Gates (I NEED to know what happens RIGHT NOW)

--- second read! ---
Bro ok I was highkey disappointed by my reread of Ember in the Ashes but oml Torch Against the Night was even better than I remembered. Both the overall plot and the development of each character escalated so quickly but in a way that I really appreciated because it was just fast enough to keep me engaged while still not being so fast as to be rushed. SO READY FOR REAPER

Yora

Ik vond de characters mwa en het verhaal ging wat langzaam, maar verder leuk

Klara Kirbis

** spoiler alert **
           keenan is the nightbringer. elias becomes the soul catcher. laia cant decide between men. Tas is so cute imo🙈🙈 afya is a badass, i like her.
poor helene 😭

An Ember in the Ashes 2. A Torch Against the Night

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