Sabaa Tahir: A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) | Lara
Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.
Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.
But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.
Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.
“Failure doesn't define you. It's what you do after you fail that determines whether you are a leader or a waste of perfectly good air.”
This book, guys, this book. I feel unworthy trying to describe the state of astonishment this book left me in after reading it.
The plot jumps to a whole new dimension, and things get even more complicated if that’s even possible. It’s impossible to stay indifferent in face of complex and immensely political intrigue, schemes and power play, wars and rebellions. Every side of this story brings more depth to it, more mysteries, foreshadowing, revelations, and emotion. I have no idea where it all was pulled from, but I came to see book’s setting as such amazingly developed, and yet so simple and imaginative world.
We’ve come a long way from Blackclifff, two Masks, and a slave. While the first book was heavily focused on characters and life in Antium, it was mostly a warm-up for what’s Tahir really have in plan. Now that Marcus is Emperor with Helena as his Blood Shrike, the real games and schemes may begin. Tahir brings the series to a whole new level, introducing a set of fantasy elements, that, combined with Empire’s politics, Scholar’s rebellions and characters’ journeys, form an inspiring, intriguing and emotionally epic story.
Threats are coming from all sides, and with every problem solved, new ones just seem to keep popping up. Elias and Laia are on their way to Kauf in order to free Darin, who has knowledge that could change the entire prospect of Scholar’s Resistement. Helena, on the other hand, stays loyal to the Empire and works under Marcus’s boot, forced to hunt down her best friend and the man she loves. They all give their best, but in the end it all gets down to one thing – they all seem to be just mannequins in one of the plays orchestrated by the Commandant, who has allied herself with the Nightbringer – an ancient king, determined to have his revenge over Scholar’s, who had once long ago destroyed his people, the jinn.
I am so desperately in love with Tahir’s writing and I have no idea where have these books been my entire life. The characters have come to mean so much to me and my little heart is full of my love for them and their journeys. I can’t believe how deeply and widely they are developed, from their past to their goals, and they just keep growing.
“You are a Mask, yes,” he whispers. “But you are not finished. You are my masterpiece, Helene Aquilla, but I have just begun. If you survive, you shall be a force to be reckoned with in this world. But first, you will be unmade. First, you will be broken.”
My soul mate, and one of my all-time favorite characters, Helena, finally get her POV and I love her even more if that’s anyhow possible. She’s just so badass, the best Mask in the entire Empire, loves her country but above all her people and wants to protect them. She has to protect her family and fulfill her duty, but she also doesn’t know if she’ll be strong enough to hunt down and kill Elias. My heart broke for her over and over again (especially on that ending, damn), and yet I admire her so much for her infinite strength and determination.
“Don’t forget about us”
I really need her to be happy and I need Elias to see they are made for each other so these two absolutely genius characters can be even better together.
“Most people,” Cain says, “are nothing but glimmers in the great darkness of time. But you, Helene Aquilla, are no swift-burning spark. You are a torch against the night—if you dare to let yourself burn.”
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