Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Elias & Laia - Eine Fackel im Dunkel der Nacht by Sabaa Tahir

21 reviews

lada_bu_joreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I am past annoyed with Laia and Helene. The 2 major characters who can and will control the tide of the situation are the 2 most confused characters who suddenly do not have a goal. Elias literally is willing, and does go to death to fulfill his goal and promise. While these two ding bats can't keep focused on a goal or a promise and whine so much!
Yes, Elias whines, but he also puts his money where his mouth is and gets to work. While Helene especially can't figure out if she wants to be a leader or a scared little daddy's girl. Even after multiple times by different people, even those she hate telling her to get her act together. Laia just floored me by laying up Keenan after the death of her so-called friend and Elias taking off without her. And no questions as to why or how Keenan knows what he knows or does what he does. My guy was given me creeps from t he jump and when he switched so quickly from despising her to "loving her," It's like hold up. Sus activity. And yes, stress can cause a lot of misjudging, etc. and I am glad it was mentioned that she is a horrible decision maker and leader. Because it's true. She could decide or figure herself out of a cave. The o ly thing that saved this whole book with me was Elias and Nightbringer. Their character developments saved the story, in my opinion. Even the Commandants character was true to the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

otterforce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I think the first book was good, but that the series really hits its stride in this book. Interesting plot, a few twists, and the set up of some elements that I’m sure will be major parts of the next book.

Still a bit more dark than my usual reads, but it never went overly far while still keeping the stakes high and tension in place.

Looking forward to the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and War

76juliane67's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I liked this book a lot, but found it a bit weaker than the first book.
The story is captivating and very fast paced, but extremely dark with a lot of potentially triggering themes, so be aware when you pick this up.
I never usually say this about a book, but I think it could have been 100 pages longer. There were several instances when something was not explained and I was thrown out of the story because of this. I also found the progression of the

love story between Laia and Keenan

very forced and unnatural and you could see that it was written in there for a specific plot point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Rape, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mariahlynnpeck's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dawnilton's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow this book was so good!! Its definitely a step up from the first part. The beginning part of the book was boring and the pacing felt a bit dragged on but the last third of the book definitely made up for everything. The plot twists blew me away. I truly didn't see them coming.

I knew that Keenan was going to betray but man I didn't him to be the nightbringer. LIKE WHAT. That whole chapter was just masterfully written. The puzzle pieces were clicking in my head just before they were spelled out on the page. Truly genius. ALSO Harpers reveal? I truly didn't see that coming. that one really took me by surprise.

The character writing was the highlight in this book. Every main and side character we got to know had such good character development and I really feel connected to them. I really enjoyed seeing Helena, Laia and Elias' journey and how their paths intertwined with each other. You could really see it all come together in the end in a satisfying and heartbreaking way. Just like book 1, I think Elias' POV was much more interesting than Laia's POV. I just felt there was so much more to explore with Elias, his mental struggle with death, dealing with his mom,

him being poisoned and him going to the realm between death and life

. Surprisingly enough, I really enjoyed Helena's character development even though I didn't like reading her POV for most of the book. 
I still have so many questions about the magic in this book.

What the deal with Laia's powers? What makes her so special? Also, WHO IS THE COOK? I truly have no clue and there is so much suspence around her!! Is she Laia's sister?

I NEED ANSWERS. You bet I'm picking up the next book after writing this review. It's too good. 
This is your sign - read the second book! It will meet all your expectations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

This book is very graphic and deals with heavy topics. Just like the first book, it doesn't shy away from violence. Just be aware of this before going into the book.

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

zcammack's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Torture

rinku's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 Now, after reading the whole An Ember in the Ashes series, I can say that A Torch Against the Night is my favorite book of the series. There’s so much plot and not one moment to catch a breath since the atmosphere is constantly tense and threatening. 

After the events of the first book, this book instantly starts with a great action sequence: Laia and Elias are on the run from the empire, trying to flee the city and finding a way to free Laia’s brother from prison to continue the fight against the empire. Besides them, we get a third POV, namely Helene’s perspective. This was great for two reasons: One, it was good to have a POV inside the empire, and two, this gave her character so much depth and made me like her so much. She gets the mission to hunt down and kill Elias, or otherwise her family will die. Hence, for all of them, the stakes are so high. Additionally, I liked all of the three POVs and it was so hard to see how much they were struggling with themselves and their missions. 

What made this book especially great was the plot and the story. The whole story is just so dark, brutal, and often leaves you with a hopeless feeling.  The pacing was amazing as well; I was first scared that Elias’ and Laia’s travel would be boring but oh boy, it wasn’t. There is always something often unpredictable happening that makes you want to continue reading. 

Particularly towards the ending, so many shocking things happen, leading to more suffering for our characters:

It’s revealed that Keenan is the Nightbringer who thus betrayed Laia. Helene also fails her mission, leading to Marcus killing her whole family which was just so sad. Elias dies in the end as well, trying to save Darin on his own. He then becomes the soul catcher and gets revived through this

. With all of those conflicts, you just want to know how the story will continue and how the characters will deal with them in the future. 

What I also really like is the writing itself. With all the violence happening, <i>Tahir</i> creates a constant tense atmosphere where you have to worry for your favorite characters. Furthermore, everything feels so real and the settings are just so great. 

I mostly said what I think about the characters above, but I find it so amazing how Laia never gives up. When

Izzi and Keenan came

, I was a bit scared that we would get a love triangle, but we didn’t. I also start to like Helene quite a lot and I just wanted to hug her at some moments. Besides this, I can’t stress enough how pure evil and brutal the villains of the story are, creating a true threat for our characters. 

In summary, A Torch Against the Night was my first five star read in months, and for a good reason – the plot is engaging, the characters are amazing, and the writing and settings create a great atmosphere. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Sexual content, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual harassment