Review: A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir

My Thoughts

The exciting and intense next chapter in a vividly imagined,
epic fantasy series. As expected, it left me clamoring for more!

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Synopsis

Elias and Laia are running for their lives.

Following the events of the Fourth Trial, an army led by Masks hunts the two fugitives as they escape the city of Serra and journey across the vast lands of the Martial Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—and save her brother, whose knowledge of Serric steel is the key to the Scholars’ future. And Elias is determined to stay by Laia’s side…even if it means giving up his own chance at freedom.

But Elias and Laia will have to fight every step of the way if they’re going 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.

Helene’s mission is horrifying, unwanted, and clear: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

My Review

Sabaa Tahir’s much-anticipated follow up to An Ember in the Ashes delivers in every way we’d hoped. The stakes have never been higher and the tension is acutely felt as Elias and Laia run for their lives.

“Shadows gather, Elias, and their gathering cannot be stopped.”

Laia is determined to free her brother from Kauf—the Empire’s deadliest prison—and only Elias can help her. With past guilt heavy on their shoulders and a desperate hope fueling their journey, together they trek across the Martial Empire, but not without problems.

More blood spilt and more impossible choices make an already difficult quest seem futile. Helene—Elias’ best friend and now Blood Shrike to the vicious Emperor Marcus—chases close behind with orders to kill them. Political plots abound, rich with shifting alliances and tangled truths, ratchet tension even higher, especially as the story takes some surprising turns.

Elias and Helene’s inner turmoil delivers emotional punches. They struggle under the weight of their own burdens, as they try to do the right thing in situations where every choice begets serious consequences. Their lives have been shaped by sacrifice, sharpened by the solitude that plagues them and the duties they feel bound to.

“Most people… are nothing but glimmers in the great darkness of time. But you… are no swift-burning spark. You are a torch against the night—if you dare to let yourself burn.”

And despite the story taking a darker turn, an ember of hope still burns in every character who fights the oppression they’ve endured.

A Torch against the Night sets the stage for exciting things to come in this rich, radiant Roman-inspired fantasy.

“There’s hope in life.”

Reading Order

http://amzn.to/1JcEXyR

Two more books expected in the series.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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