Reviews with content warning for Gore - A Torch Against the Night

"A Torch Against the Night" by Sabaa Tahir is a total heartbreaker. I accidentally spoiled myself with fanart, but that didn't make the emotional punches any less powerful. Helene's journey, which had me torn in the first book, now has me rooting for her with all my heart. Elias, my poor baby, deserves the freedom he yearns for after everything he's been through and I hope gets it in the end.

Now, Laia... I love her, but girl, why so naive at times? Letting a certain someone

(Keenan, I knew something was off about that scoundrel)

manipulate her had me shouting at the pages. It's 3 a.m., I should be sleeping, but nope, I'm diving into the third book right away. Tahir's storytelling is relentless, and I can't resist finding out what happens next.

Content Warnings

anarmandameg's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Content Warnings

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

caseythereader's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Content Warnings

bzliz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book builds greatly on the foundation laid in its predecessor by adding Helene’s point of view. Its addition allows readers to see vastly different slices of the world and 2-3 plot lines that bump together occasionally but lead to crucial information that I’m sure will be necessary in the next book.

There’s an interesting theme of isolation between our three leads- Laia with Keenan, Elias with the Soul Catcher, and Helene’s loss- and how they face this isolation and forge ahead shows how special they are. This is also a spot I find frustrating as a reader because I’m certain these characters will all have to trust each other eventually to defeat the final evil but they don’t right now so they lack the full picture that they’d have if they worked together.

Sabaa Tahir excels in creating complex characters that thrive in murky gray morality and I absolutely love it. I was concerned about Helene’s story being consumed by lovesick feelings but I’m thrilled she’s coming in to her own. Elias’s journey is fascinating- he does everything in his power even as he’s dying to fulfill his vow to Laia (obligatory: Ladies, don’t settle. If he wanted to, he would.) and it leads to a big twist I know will be crucial and probably necessary as the series builds. And I already didn’t care for Keenan (he has big Gale energy) but there’s no way I could have predicted his deeply layered secrets.

I appreciate the well balanced push-pull between the different forces at play. It can be frustrating when you read something where the villains never slip up and are always one step ahead. Even as the Commandant builds her secret plans, Helene manages to foil some, which is a huge accomplishment when you consider the Commandant’s unearthly ally. Laia and Elias also discover a weakness in the Nightbringer despite the power imbalance between them. These successes make the world grim but not entirely bleak.

Content warnings: this world is brutal and survives on groups enacting violence upon each other. I’d recommend you stay away from the series if you can’t stand true cruelty.

Content Warnings

rinku's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Now, after reading the whole An Ember in the Ashes series, I can say that A Torch Against the Night is my favorite book of the series. There’s so much plot and not one moment to catch a breath since the atmosphere is constantly tense and threatening.

After the events of the first book, this book instantly starts with a great action sequence: Laia and Elias are on the run from the empire, trying to flee the city and finding a way to free Laia’s brother from prison to continue the fight against the empire. Besides them, we get a third POV, namely Helene’s perspective. This was great for two reasons: One, it was good to have a POV inside the empire, and two, this gave her character so much depth and made me like her so much. She gets the mission to hunt down and kill Elias, or otherwise her family will die. Hence, for all of them, the stakes are so high. Additionally, I liked all of the three POVs and it was so hard to see how much they were struggling with themselves and their missions.

What made this book especially great was the plot and the story. The whole story is just so dark, brutal, and often leaves you with a hopeless feeling. The pacing was amazing as well; I was first scared that Elias’ and Laia’s travel would be boring but oh boy, it wasn’t. There is always something often unpredictable happening that makes you want to continue reading.

Particularly towards the ending, so many shocking things happen, leading to more suffering for our characters:

It’s revealed that Keenan is the Nightbringer who thus betrayed Laia. Helene also fails her mission, leading to Marcus killing her whole family which was just so sad. Elias dies in the end as well, trying to save Darin on his own. He then becomes the soul catcher and gets revived through this

. With all of those conflicts, you just want to know how the story will continue and how the characters will deal with them in the future.

What I also really like is the writing itself. With all the violence happening, <i>Tahir</i> creates a constant tense atmosphere where you have to worry for your favorite characters. Furthermore, everything feels so real and the settings are just so great.

I mostly said what I think about the characters above, but I find it so amazing how Laia never gives up. When

Izzi and Keenan came

, I was a bit scared that we would get a love triangle, but we didn’t. I also start to like Helene quite a lot and I just wanted to hug her at some moments. Besides this, I can’t stress enough how pure evil and brutal the villains of the story are, creating a true threat for our characters.

In summary, A Torch Against the Night was my first five star read in months, and for a good reason – the plot is engaging, the characters are amazing, and the writing and settings create a great atmosphere.

Content Warnings

madamenovelist's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...