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Sabaa Tahir: A Torch Against the Night - The Ember in the Ashes Book 2

 I've been working my way through this audiobook for months. With my busy schedule, the birth of my son, and my struggle through my AP curricular books, I haven't had much time to read. That being said, I've started driving significantly more, and am now putting on audiobooks in the car again. I apologize for any misspelling of character/location names - I listened to the audio and don't have a paper copy.

A Torch Against the Night picks up immediately after An Ember in the Ashes concludes. Laia and Elias are desperately trying to get to Kauf prison to rescue Laia's brother. Helene is just as desperate to track Elias down - not because she wants to kill him, but because she knows what will happen to her family if she doesn't. Elias is badly poisoned from the encounter with his mother, Karis Veturia, better known as the Commandant. Elias's brush with death has left him hanging between worlds: the living, and the Waiting Place, where spirits go before passing on. Laia desperately tries to find a cure for the poison, which only gives him a temporary relief. Elias knows one truth: he's dying. He is determined to help Laia free her brother before it happens. Will their plans succeed?

I have a love/hate relationship with A Torch Against the Night. Overall, I did enjoy it. There were a few things that upset me, and I was frustrated feeling like Elias's fate was sealed, however Tahir did finally give a temporary way around Elias's impending death.

I love the characters in A Torch Against the Night. While in the first book, I felt that Laia was a whiney teenager who had no backbone, I can see that Tahir did that to give her a bigger arc. I think locking her into a less whiney role would have limited her ability to grow as a character. I definitely feel that she still has room to grow, but I have appreciate how far she's come since An Ember in the Ashes. 

Elias on the other hand, has a shallower character arc, but I feel that Tahir gave him some character flaws that she's allowing him to confront and overcome. His development didn't need as large of an arc as Laia's, but I still feel that he came a long way.

I love Tahir's use of lesser-used mystical creatures like the Nightbringer and the dijin. I've only ever read one other series that uses them, and I think it adds to the setting of the story.

I do have to say that I would love a map - imagining the world is a little hard without it. I'm sure there's a map in the paper versions.

I found myself frustrated at points with this book. While Tahir is telling an amazing story with a lot of depth and range, I was disappointed in some of the things she chose to do. After all the work to get Izzy out of Blackcliff, I was very disappointed that she died. I basically quit reading there for a while over that part alone. I felt that Izzy had so much potential and Tahir threw away a great supporting character that I'm not sure needed to happen.

Some of the middle of the novel does drag a little, especially as the characters get stuck for a while, but overall, I highly enjoyed the book.

Overall, I rate it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

PG-13 for violence


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