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

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I'm not sure I'll be able to get more opinions into this review, because I'm starting to feel that my excited brain is starting to confuse everything again. I can’t help but repeat that she succeeds in combining beautiful moments and sentiments with savage murders, raw brutality, loss of innocence and despair. And I think both An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night are told with nail-biting tension and perfectly-paced action.

The sequel to the explosive New York Times bestselling debut An Ember in the Ashes, that’s captivated readers worldwide. In fact, however Tahir’s character development is so weak and defective, I don’t think I would have noticed if the personality of any of the characters had underwent any change that didn’t concern who loves who, Laia’s do-goodism or Elias self-centered desire for redemption. It was one of those instances where you can just clap to the performance, but be glad he's just fictional. While I think An Ember in the Ashes is the stronger novel overall, A Torch Against the Night was still a fantastic follow up. The novel is narrated in the first-person, alternating between the points of view of Laia, Elias and Helene.I loved how their romance wasn’t just chemistry–they had a solid foundation of trust, friendship, and respect for each other which only grew with every danger they fought off together. Regardless, there is a sort of redundancy in both Elias and Helene's POVs as they both battle their own demons.

I was a bit worried about the addition of a third POV, but Helene's character compares well to the other two POVs, if not better. As you can probably tell from this review, I adored the ending, even if the beginning was a little frustrating. Well, the ghosts, the jinns, the soul reaper, the magical beings, the bad emperor, the Commandent (I want to burn her soul arghhhhhh!I was rooting for them the whole way through and let out a little squeak of excitement as they gradually got closer to one another!