A Torch Against the Night
Ratings184
Average rating4.1
DNF @ 60%
I'm so so sad I don't like this book. I kept pushing and pushing hoping it would click, but the more I read the more I dislike everything. I'm not sure if it's me, my mood regarding YA or fantasy books right now, or just the book itself.
This series is about to consume my life. Each character is given such detail and is fully flushed out, the plot is enthralling, and I'm always waiting for more. Look for another review tomorrow when I shirk all responsibilities to read book 3 (kidding... kind of).
This triumphs just like the first book. It avoids the dreaded second book syndrome, maintaining the same intensity, high stakes, and emotional depth that made the first installment so incredible. The world expands in exciting ways, diving deeper into the politics, magic, and danger that loom over the characters. The pacing is flawless, with action, heartache, and twists that keep you on edge.
The character development really shines in this sequel. We see even more growth, especially with Laia and Elias, as they face impossible choices and personal struggles. Their journey feels raw and real, and the romance continues to build naturally without overtaking the story. Every relationship is layered with tension, trust, and betrayal, just like you'd expect from a romantasy this rich.
What stands out is how the book balances all its elements so well—nothing feels rushed or forced. It builds on the foundation of the first book, adding even more complexity to the world and characters. It's a perfect continuation and absolutely avoids the pitfalls that many sequels face.
Nice enough
Imma be totally honest....it's a fine enough book. Not blowing me away yet, a little predictable and like things I've read before (although in fairness I think those books might have drawn their inspiration from this one...looking at you We Hunt the Flame)
Que chulo!!! Se hace un poco bola al principio, pero con muchas ganas de leer el siguiente :)
I'll say this time and again, I need to meet Elias just once. He is amazing!
4 stars!!
The fact that I basically had.. No clue where or what Elias and Laia were doing half the time should show you (and me) something. I do want to carry on because I want to see what's next but not right away. And hoping that changing formats will help. I think Helene might be my favourite out of the three main characters. Though that's like I can mostly tolerate her/she's my least liked out of the three. I do want to see where she goes with her magic and I want to see her get better as a character (meaning, actually see servants as people).
Honestly, there's not much I can say nicely about Elias. He is... a simp, in the sense that he met Laia and then fell in love her with like a week or so later. He's all “I love you so so much. You're my everything” and I'm sitting there like “why though? I don't believe it!” Give me BELIEVABLE ROMANCE FROM BOTH OF YOU. Laia, I think, is improving a but. That's all. I wanted her to delve deeper into herself and learn more about what she could do and that wasn't really done in this book. But, honestly, as she was with Elias I half paid attention to her because he kept annoying me.
Something that annoyed me is that I wasn't sure how much of a timeline we're working with in this book? Ember had the whole month timeline with Laia's brother and all but this with moving between the school and Laia and Elias – no clue. I'm not good with time in real life, much less in books, and certainly not when the book annoys me.
I think the big thing annoyed me is that I went into this series thinking there would be a lot of magic involved. Maybe all three main characters would have magic. Or just one. A character deals with a magic-heavy sub-plot – something along those lines. I don't think that a lot of people who've read this series have really spoken about how much magic is in this series, so maybe I just misread a lot somewhere. I just know that when I sat down to read the first book, I was expecting a lot of magic involved. And I didn't get that. So I think that made me dislike it more. I'm a big magic in fantasy fan so I do get sad if it's not there and I was thinking it would be.
“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.
This definitely felt like a second book, there was lots of traveling, things being revealed, getting past issues and relationships being stretched and strained.
I loved many parts of this book but felt so utterly devastated and heartbroken at so many times, there was just so few positive moments it was hard to really enjoy it.
That said I was still totally engrossed the entire time and can't wait to get to the next book.
Sabaa continues the dramatic escape and rescue plan from An Ember in the Ashes. At the end of that book, we are basically running away, so book 2 was essential. At the end of this book, there is a bit of a button up. A reader could walk away. I already have book 3 - compelled to keep reading because I'm interested in the magic/mythology of the world and the characters.
This world holds a lot of promise even with the very simplistic splits of peoples.
A few things are too good to be true here, but I like that we got to keep moving forward.
And...when a character has some herbs to prevent pregnancy (no details for spoilers), well, I could not believe that because of the conditions of the character (likely first time) and conditions (remote/away from familiar places/running).
This author hates her characters and does everything she can to make you hate them too.
The plot is interesting and the setting amazing, but the resolution of every thread is frustratingly underwhelming. There is a great promise in the set up and no satisfaction at the end. Like biting into chocolate and tasting sauerkraut. It's the misery of A Game of Thrones minus the cushioning of wit and catharsis.
The main characters are stupidly hasty and impulsive when they should be patient and infuriatingly inert and indecisive when they should act. There is no one worthy of respect in this book.
It only escapes the 1 star because of the great world building.
1ro aclarar que le quito una estrella porq la primera mitad del libro se me hizo lenta
I think it's safe to assume that I will binge this series over the next few days. I am absolutely blown away! I feel like in fantasy sometimes there is a second book slump, but no slump here! This book was just as action packed as An Ember in the Ashes! I can't rave enough about how immersive Sabaa Tahir's writing is. Reading this series is experiencing this series. I've felt just a spectrum of emotions since starting this book. We continue to follow Laia, Elias, and Helene with multi-POV which I love. Elias's POV was my favorite in An Ember in the Ashes, but I really loved getting inside Helene's head a bit in this book. Both of their stories are filled with such inner turmoil and conflict, and @sabaatahir writes this beautifully. I really enjoyed that this book was very “mission” driven. I loved that there was a big goal that really kept the pages turning. There is a bit of a glimpse into the potential for a romantic relationship, but it is the slowest burn ever. There is a “one horse” moment which is always super fun. This book is filled with twists and turns, tragedy, sacrifice, betrayals, struggles... everything! I think this series is much darker than the YA fantasy series that I've read in the past, and I'm really enjoying the complexity that brings. The main characters all have such depth and a complexity that I haven't read in a really long time. Will I be downloading A Reaper at the Gates immediately? Absolutely! This is a YA fantasy series, 16+ for violence and themes.
I struggled with this one. Overwrought and melodramatic, it struggles with its own earnestness. it loses to much of the fun that makes YA enjoyable to read.
I am not the biggest YA reader, and I do find that it tends towards some tropes that can get frustrating. One of my least favourites is love triangles, and this one seems to try layering love triangles onto love triangles. It doesn't work. The characters end up extremely annoying. The earnestness becomes overwrought and ultimately falls flat on its face. The basic world set up here is one of the most interesting aspects, but it gets lost within the unimpressive romance that has been layered on top. I like the romanesque fantasy - it is rare enough to give a wonderfully fresh feeling. But this is written as more of character piece. The main characters are annoying. The villains frustratingly one-dimensional. The lack of motivation in a lot of the characters makes the whole story feel distant.
A definite drop in quality from the first and I can only hope the series improves in its last two entries. Definitely a troubled second album...
This book is so brutal! Definitely darker than its predecessor. I have so many thoughts that i will have trouble to convey because so much happens in this story. It was super immersive and the characters go through a lot of development. But among all the complex characters; Helene was the most remarkable to me, her loyalty and the difficult choices she has to make put her into a new kind of hell. I'm definitely rooting for her in the next books and i'm excited to see where things are going and how the story will be expanded.
Really solid sequel to ‘an ember in the ashes', glad it picked right up where the last one ended. I would've given five stars but truthfully I didn't feel connected to the characters (i.e. I felt very dispassionate), maybe because of the consistent pov changes I never had enough time to be fully immersed in the characters' minds? I felt the same for the first book too, so maybe it's just the way they're written that leaves me unaffected. Either way, the plot is good and keeps the story flowing smoothly and it's worth the read.
I did see Keenan being a bad guy coming from the jump, which is a little disappointing. I generally enjoy when the 'secret' villains are more subtle. As a fan of romance in general, and fantasy romance especially, I'm glad that it's a slow slow burn between Laia and Elis, too often the relationship feels so rushed (as it did with Laia and Keenan) that it makes me lose all investment with the story. Which is why I'm glad Keenan was a baddie, 'cause otherwise the whole plotline with them would've felt too ridiculously short even though it was over the course of months. also RIP Izzi, I wish it was Helene instead, 'cause boy did I disliked her chapters the most.
5/5 stars. “But you, Helene Aquilla, are no swift-burning spark. You are a torch against the night - if you dare to let yourself burn.” Epic. Intense. Whirlwind. (Just a few words to describe A Torch Against the Night) [b:An Ember in the Ashes|27774758|An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)|Sabaa Tahir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519425615l/27774758.SY75.jpg|39113604] was one of my favorite reads of 2015. I was blown away at the story and characters, and I practically read the entire thing in one sitting. I'd been awaiting the release of this book all year, but then people started getting ARCs and posting their reviews. And I started getting really nervous. I understand their reviews now, this book was nowhere as amazing as the first book. But don't let what I said fool you, this book still didn't disappoint. It deserves all 5 stars I'm giving it. I was hesitant to begin at first. It had been ten months since I read Ember and my memories were a little hazy. I quickly watched a book talk or two, and read a synopsis that I found online, and jumped right back into the world. Though I was hesitant, I was hooked from the first chapter. I wasn't lost in the world, but instead found myself frantically turning every page. When I told myself I would read 50 pages before going to sleep, I would read 100. I dragged the poor book with me everywhere. If you haven't read Ember then I warn you: though I'm not going into much details, this is where there may be spoilers. Laia. I started caring less for Laia in this book. In Ember she was so brave, yet that trait seemed to practically vanish for me. It took 3/4th of the book for her to start actually doing something. I felt as if her actions and desires were putting everyone at risk. I almost took away a half a star from my rating because of her, but she redeemed herself a little in the end. Elias. He made stupid decisions in the book, I'll admit that, but none of them really seemed to put thousands of people at risk. Elias was still the person I fell in love with in book one. Strong, enduring, caring, kind. I didn't find his character faltering from who he is. Every time the book mentioned that he was slowly dying, part of me was slowly dying too. Helene. I just want to take a moment and talk about her. I didn't think much about her in the first book, but I can't say the same now. Her POV was added in this book, and I loved it. I didn't realize how badass she is until now. There has been so much in her life going against her and she doesn't even think twice about it. She just takes everyone's expectations and burn them to a crisp. Her struggles in this book were the best plot point. It's taking this young girl, still impulsive and caring, placing her in a position of power (where no one respects her) and telling her to hunt her best friend. When this series comes to a close, I want her to overtake everyone and become Empress. She deserves it. I can ramble on for longer, but that's enough for today. In conclusion, I loved this book. I loved the action, the violence, most of the characters. I can't wait for the next book (because, luckily, this series isn't a duology like previously stated). I am longing for more of this world. There is so much potential for the rest of this series, and I have so much faith that it's going to turn out epic.
This 4-star review is for Helene. Every time I cried, it was Helene's chapters. She had to sacrifice so much
I had started this book about 5 years ago and got stuck somewhere in the middle. I started the audiobook today from where I was back then. I knew much of the story still but I now realise why I stopped back then. There is no humour at all. This is like the most horrible terrible universe full of torture, rape, slaves, pain, betrayal and heartbreak. And there is literally zero comic relief. I am miserable enough as it is thank you. I really just didn't enjoy reading this for that exact reason. I also don't really like the characters and the amount of romance. It really just isn't for me.
I did like the first book of this series a lot. Though I read it years ago so I have no idea if it would still hold up to my tastes or standards now.
4,5 ✨
“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”
I wasn't expecting all of that, I wasn't expecting to cry, I just need to finish the whole series and then be in a corner and cry T.T