Review: A Torch Against the Night

torchTitle: A Torch Against the Night
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Genres: Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Pages: 452
Publisher: Razorbill
Review Copy: Purchased
Availability: Available now

Summary: A Torch Against the Night takes readers into the heart of the Empire as Laia and Elias fight their way north to liberate Laia’s brother from the horrors of Kauf Prison. Hunted by Empire soldiers, manipulated by the Commandant, and haunted by their pasts, Laia and Elias must outfox their enemies and confront the treacherousness of their own hearts.

In the city of Serra, Helene Aquilla finds herself bound to the will of the Empire’s twisted new leader, Marcus. When her loyalty is questioned, Helene finds herself taking on a mission to prove herself—a mission that might destroy her, instead.

Review: I was a little worried going into A Torch Against the Night just based on the summary—how could planning and executing a prison break while someone chased the planners possibly fill an entire 452-page book without everything feeling drawn out and bloated? Luckily, it didn’t take long at all for Sabaa Tahir to gain my confidence. Tahir is wonderful at raising the stakes repeatedly for the main characters while simultaneously planting hints for future plot twists and, undoubtedly, books three and four. More often than not I found myself with a nagging sense of worry as I realized I had picked up on something but didn’t know exactly what it was or how it would be used later on. As a reader, it was a lot of fun to be surprised so frequently.

The first book, An Ember in the Ashes, alternated between Laia and Elias’s POVs. Torch added a new POV character: Helene, who was one of my favorite characters in Ember. I loved seeing things from her perspective as her vow to be loyal to the Empire brought her into conflict with her repulsive Emperor and his orders. Helene’s struggle to gain respect as the new Blood Shrike and deal with a spy in her midst while being antagonized and outsmarted by the Commandant earned her a lot of sympathy from me. I’m looking forward to what she does in the future. There were many other new characters who made memorable impressions, and I hope the ones that survived will be back in the next two books.

Elias and Laia returned as viewpoint characters, and it was great to be back with them. I particularly enjoyed the first half with them, but I felt as if Laia got shoved to the side a little as Elias took the forefront. Laia wasn’t entirely ignored, but it felt like there was a long stretch where we didn’t get as much from her as I would have liked. Still, Laia set the groundwork for things that I’m certain will be important later, and I’m hoping we will get a lot more of her to compensate.

There was really only one thing that annoyed me about Torch, and it was how many female characters were killed. This is, perhaps, a petty complaint considering actual genocide is committed (and called out as such) and dozens of characters are killed “on screen” in gory detail, but it still bothered me how many significant women died, especially in light of plot twists centering on two of the male characters. Torch manages to avoid fridging since the women who die do so mostly for either Laia’s or Helene’s character arcs, but it still made me tired enough to put down the book and take a break.

Recommendation: Buy it now. A Torch Against the Night is a worthy successor to Ember in the Ashes. An additional viewpoint character and an increasingly compelling—and brutal—plot keep the story moving despite the book’s length. There are some promising plot points that make me look forward to the rest of the series.