Thursday, September 1, 2016

A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir

What a brilliant book!!!! Tahir does something that not many YA authors do, she treats her reader as if she knows they are smart and capable of enjoying a book that makes you think, a story that toys with stereotypical characters but upends them. No one is all good or all bad. Her "good guys" are imperfect and their flaws are on display. Her "bad guys" are more than they appear on the surface.

The story is interesting and exciting. Be warned, she has shares something with George RR Martin, a friend and I were discussing this series and she called it "Martinesque". If you have read any of GoT you know what this means, but you will love and hate characters anyway, trust me, I speak from experience.


In this installment we get a new chapter perspective, Helene gets some chapters and it is really good to see where she is and what she is facing as she does and not just because Elias was part of it. It adds a lot of depth to the universe of Ember.

As with the first book I already miss the being in this world and anxiously want book 3, yes, we are left knowing there is more to come. I am not telling you anything specific because I really don't want to spoil anyone, this is the kind of story you want to discover as you go and then talk to people.

Just know that we spend more time with Elias and Laia and they each grow and discover what they are truly made of. Helene is a really interesting character and not at all one dimensional. She is a lot more than the Mask that grew up with and had Elias' back. And the nasty Commandant, she is just as nasty as ever.


Really a brilliant series!!

My review of book 1
(Finished September 1, 2016)

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