A Torch Against the Night is a good follow-up book to An Ember in the Ashes. It was action-packed, was emotional, and had a lot of plot twists.
The story starts immediately where it is left off in book 1. The escape of Blackcliff and Serra. Elias and Laia are now officially on the run to Kauf prison where Darin, her brother, is kept up locked away. They want to break in and get him out.
The world-building of this book was 'thicker' than compared to the last one because they now travel over the entire empire. You get introduced to new cities and characters further along with the story. Everything was written out beautifully. Sabaa Tahir knew how to create a vibe in every city, area, or woods they were.
As for the characters... instead of following just Laia and Elias, we now also follow Helene. Helene her setup of this story is an interesting one. She starts off being tortured because Elias has gotten away and then afterward gets send on this quest to catch him and bring him to the emperor so she can prove herself as a worth 'bloodshrike'. This is an internal struggle because if she fails, her family will be executed, and if she wins, Elias will be executed. Helene has her own crew who go with her with one new addition Avitas. He starts out as an 'open'* spy for the commandant, but the relationship between him and Helene change in some way. It was interesting to discover her thoughts and to see how she views the world around her. What are her morals? What does she stand for? What is she fighting for? Character growth is there, but not as much as I hoped for, though I expect that the next book will bring that about...
Elias's story in this book is tricky. He promised Laia that he would help break out her brother, but during their escape from Blackcliff he got poisoned by his mother. He has a side story where he gets dragged in and out of the 'Waiting Place' which is a place where ghosts dwell who don't want to move on yet. Though not dead yet, he knows he has borrowed time and decides to shut everyone out. Including Laia. The ending also has some interesting reveals about his personal life (but I won't spoil that for you just yet), so you deffo have to read this book if you love him!
Laia, the little lion as she is, is still determined to get out her brother. She gets reunited with Keenan and Izzi and the four of them (including Elias) set out together. Although she has feelings for Elias, he is shutting her out which somehow is drawing her closer to Keenan. So the love triangle in this book is really present. But of course, revelations will be made that will keep you on the edge of your seat for wanting to read the next book!
This was a good one too, although not as good as the first one (which is unfortunately often the case with book-series) it's still worthy of 4/5⭐️'s!
xoxo, peace out
Elke
*they basically know he reports everything back to the commandant.
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