A Torch Against the Night - Sabaa Tahir

 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.

An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

Alrightyyyy. I decided to reread this book because I finally wanna finish off the entire series. I've only read the 2 first books of the quartet and never truly read all the way to the end. So here I am. rereading once more, which is probably my entire 2021 at the moment. 

An Ember in the Ashes is one of the first books that I read since discovering the Booktube community online and is what has gotten me into a lot of fantasy books. Sabaa Tahir has an intriguing way of writing this story and she knows how her way around words (she's very quotable). 

Set in a fictional roman-inspired world, a cruel empire is ruling. The book follows 2 characters Laia and Elias who both struggle with their demons. Laia her family gets raided and killed, except for her brother who gets taken to prison. She's determined to get him out of there and asks the help of the Resistance, a group of rebels who want to overthrow the empire. They agree to help her on one condition: spy for them as a slave in the most dangerous school on the most dangerous woman in the empire. 

Elias is a student at Blackcliff, a training school for Masks, where he is best out of his year. He made up his mind to desert the empire and his position the day after graduation. But on the day itself that he finally is fully a Mask, he is offered to participate in Trails. If he wins, he can become emperor of the empire. 

And thus both their stories begin.

The setting is really interesting. As I previously mentioned, it's inspired by Ancient Rome and I honestly could really see it in my mind! Maybe because I visited Italy so often already, but the entire world-building is created around words to how places look. I loved it and fell madly in love with it. Also, the differences between Martials, Scholars, and the Tribes were interesting to see. Martials are basically the 'upper' humans, scholars are the slaves and somehow the Tribes get left alone. So there is relatable discrimination going on which we can see even in our day-to-day life. 

The characters themselves are also an interesting mix. Laia is probably my fave. She's truly - TRULY - broken from what happens to her, but you get to see such a gorgeous development. By the end, she is fearless (not completely but you know what I mean) and takes risks to save other people. It's a contrast because she started out fleeing and running away, which made her feel utterly guilty for leaving behind her brother. The unexpected thing is that all of the changes in her happens so gradually that it feels very natural. She learns, discovers, and takes pain along the way as she grows.LOVED HER!

Elias is a somewhat complex character, but that is because his backstory is already pretty messed up. Basically, he is the son of the commandant of Blackcliff who left him with the Tribes-people just after he was born. Abandoning him. Then, at six years old he gets taken away to the school and learns then and there who his mother is and goes through a hard training of years. Luckily he meets Helene, who is the only girl within a decade to learn to become a Mask. They are best friendos and always have each other's backs. Until, of course, Elias starts to notice that Helene is acting weird and that is mainly how this book starts for him. Oh, and also the wanting to desert-thing because he doesn't like the empire. 

He doesn't necessarily have a lot of character growth in the sense of becoming strong and taking risks, but more so in the part of accepting who he is and what he wants. That's a big theme for him in the book. Along with the Trails, he uncovers more about himself and when he meets Laia she's some sort of moral compass for him. They have good chemistry and I loved their scenes together! Even though they didn't have that many. A great book-couple if you ask me!

All in all, I still love this story as much as when I read it for the first time so the 5/5⭐️'s still stands!

xoxo, peace out
Elke

Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin (Ah, a la reading vie est belle)

 Okay, so this book did what it had to do. Entertain, relax and not make me think too much. 

Set in some fictional world, loosely based on France, 2 characters are forced into a 'holy' union: marriage. Now, the twist is Lou is a witch and Reid is a witch hunter. And thus starts the enemies-to-lover trope we've all come and love to adore. 

The 2 characters are painted as each other's opposites. Lou is free, doesn't care what others think, and just goes through life by day. Takes it as it comes. Reid on the other hand wants to control, learn and do everything by the book. So of course, other than the fact of witches and hunters, these traits are set to also give some good inner dialogue and a fun way of interaction between the two of them. The main characters I loved. The development they had in the book went so gradual that I didn't even really notice until the very end and then I went like 'Oh wow, they actually changed a lot and grew as people??? How did I not notice????' That's when you know you did a good job in building up you're character. When I'm not looking for growth in personality because it's coming naturally. 

Some characters were a little bit off? I didn't understand why Beau, the prince, went along on the quest? He was introduced somewhere on page 300 of the 512 pages and I don't know much about him other than he is a prince? He didn't really add value to the crew. Whether he was there or not, nothing would've made a difference. Another character that felt weird was the girl Reid had feelings for in the beginning. I think the only use of her was to set up the arc for Reid about his past, but she felt flat that all I could think off 'Huh? Reid fell in love with her at the beginning of the book? ARE YOU JOKiNG ME???'

I liked the setting, although I read some reviews that people didn't really like it that much. Oh boy, I ADORED it. I love France so I could imagine everything perfectly (oui oui, mon chèrie). The only thing I will say though is the way the book was written. It was in a style that wasn't overly explanatory.So you got the basics of the outlook, but it was up to me to fill in the rest of the blanks with my 'fantasy'. 

Storywise I was intrigued. It's not the most eventful, action-packed read up until the end. But, what it does well is processing the situations that are happening. Both main characters are flawed and make many mistakes, but they react realistically to it. You don't get crazy, kick-ass magic but a well-formed and explained way of how it works and that you give and take for it. Despite the fantasy in it, it was realistic. 

So yeah, all in all, a good book. I give it a 3.5/5⭐️'s!

xoxo, peace out
Elke