A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) - Sabaa Tahir [Review]

Book: A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2)

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Published: 8th September 2016

Publisher: HarperVoyager

Pages: 454

Rating: 4/5 stars

Picking up where An Ember in the Ashes left off, this book follows Laia and Elias as they flee the Emperor, the Commandant and well, pretty much everyone. Things appear pretty grim for them, and sufficed to say, this theme continues throughout the book.

I had heard a few mixed reviews for this follow-up novel before its release, so I postponed reading it, however, having now finished, its safe to say I actually found this book to be pretty enjoyable. 

The book opens with a suitably sinister undertone, which I loved (what can I say, I like things a little creepy). This really helps to raise the tension at the beginning and each chapter/point of view (POV) ends with a disquieting moment, or important revelation which serves to drive the pace of the story and encourages you to read further. I appreciated this element, however if you prefer a more laid-back sort of pace, then you might not. However, I am partial to a lot of action and suspense in books, so its safe to say I was hooked.

The story has 3 POVs - Elias, Laia, and Helene. I really, really, enjoyed reading the parts from Helene's perspective. She is my favourite character and I loved being able to explore her relationships, particularly with her family, more and gaining insight into her personal thoughts and motivations. This is also allowed a further understanding of her feelings towards Elias, which was much appreciated. I was intrigued by her interactions with Marcus and the Commandant, although they are of course suitably sinister and frequently violent. 

Laia's perspective is without a doubt the most boring; while her character was relatively satisfactory and sometimes enjoyable throughout the first book, she is at times unbearable during this novel. This detracted away from some of my enjoyment of the book as at times she needs to put things into perspective and honestly someone needs to give her a good shake. Helene Aquilla, she ain't. That girl can handle a lot. Laia - not so much. 

I am definitely a fan of a Helene/Elias relationship and I absolutely do not ship, nor believe Laia and Elias as a couple. Did this decrease my overall enjoyment of the novel? Not quite, but it is something to bear in mind. The character POVs and storyline lead heavily towards a Laia/Elias pairing, but I am certainly not buying it, and Laia, in my opinion should probably remain a single pringle. This leads me on to her and Keenan's relationship (and his character as a whole) which I can barely tolerate. I have never felt an affinity toward Keenan, and therefore I struggled to read passages in which he featured for the first two thirds of the book. He reminds me of Jack in Bridget Jones' Baby, a film I watched recently - very try hard, and a bit of a douche, who (to me) has relatively little reason to be there (at least for most of the book). He does get significantly more character development toward the end however I was less impressed and more relieved. 

In terms of new characters, I really liked Shaeva and Afya, they are both such interesting character and although they play fundamentally different roles throughout this book, they were welcome additions and helped to breath fresh life into the story. 

Tahir definitely has a real way with words, and the writing flows beautifully; it's really easy to picture the scenes and feel immersed in the story. The Empire came alive and I especially enjoyed the descriptions of The Forest. That's not to say this novel is perfect - it isn't - but it is told well, making it an enjoyable read.

This book has a lot of interesting themes regarding death, loyalty and sacrifice. There's some very intriguing passages concerning the more mythical creatures (jinn, efrit, etc.), and the bridge between life and death or the beyond - termed 'the waiting place' in this book. This land is governed by the soul catcher and I found her segments really thought provoking and captivating, particularly as she seems to be neither kind nor callous, she merely just exists, and there's a lot of her backstory that has yet to be unraveled. Her interactions with one main character in particular constituted some of my favourite parts of the book. 

Just a quick mention to the actual physical copy of the book - oh my god, I am dead. It is stunning. The beautiful orange/gold embossed cover spine is so stunning and really eye-catching. Yes, cover art isn't everything, but I can appreciate a good one when I see it. 

One negative is that the book does suffer slightly (at least toward the first two thirds) from 'middle book syndrome' in that it is largely unclear as to why the main characters are doing what they are doing. I imagine if the main characters were to actually discuss this properly it would go something like this:

Laia - Okay Elias, I know we're like, wanted by the whole Empire and your pal Helene is totally gonna have to track you down and, you know, kill you, but could we make a very quick detour from fleeing for our lives and go rescue my brother from a completely impenetrable prison?

Elias - I'm sorry what?

Laia - Pleeeeease

Elias - Okay, well, I'm sure you have a good reason for risking both our lives (and countless others) for this mission right?

Laia - Well, there are rumors that he can make fancy weapons...

Elias - What? Weapons? I have weapons?!

Laia - Yeah but these are super fancy

Elias - Oh er, okay, cool, I guess, because we totally need those right now... for all the fighters we don't have...

But you get my point, I know we're supposed to believe/accept that breaking Laia's brother out of prison is of immediate importance, but I'm frankly skeptical. We don't really get to see a lot of Darin throughout the book so I'm hoping reasoning and motivations will be explored a bit more in the next book. 

The last third of the book was extremely fast-paced and engaging, and really helped to drive the story and provided some interesting twists and turns, some that were expected, and some that were definitely not. This last section is without a doubt the strongest of the book and really rounded out the plot nicely, leaving lots of potential for the next novel, and I'm hopeful for lots of further development for the main 3 characters in the next installment.