bellanr34's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Genocide, and Torture
Moderate: Rape
tsar's review
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
4.0
“Your emotions make you human. Even the unpleasant ones have a purpose. Don't lock them away. If you ignore them, they just get louder and angrier.”
If there is one thing that stopped me from being very much impressed with the first book is how it made care less about the characters when they are the key figures of the book. As I've mentioned in my review of An Ember in the Ashes, Tahir stuck in figuring out their exact roles as protagonists instead of a proper characterization since their first introduction. In return, it seems that the second book transforms all of that uncertainty in a swift motion—it revitalizes the plot and characters that they equally take off in a high note.
Chapters and chapters of violent delights might be predictable due to the brutal nature of the plot itself, yet Tahir swiftly transforms them into a character-driven tale—she takes time to elaborate on what is happening to each protagonist and how it determines their precise characterization that suits the characters. As an illustration, the written backstory of Helene adds another complex layer of an already strong established foundation of her determination as a person. On the other hand, Laia and Elias receive a peculiar settlement of their position in this convoluted war: Laia becoming the conduit between earthly beings and the paranormal realm forces her to be a more assertive individual who has to be quick in her action, while Elias has to face the haunting truth of his blood descent as he takes part as the soul catcher who gradually loses the identity of himself as a human being.
Most of all, the more character-driven story does not suffer in a drowsy pace, but it is surprisingly fast and steady in illustrating the pieces of the game. As a result, it is engaging, keeping the thrill delivered to the readers despite that the brutality of the narrative is toned down a bit for the sake of focusing on the characters' heightened journey.
However, I presume that this is where the second book falls behind in capturing a neat set of villains. Marcus comes off as a needy child, throwing tantrums along his way when he does not receive what he wants as the current emperor. Sure, his tantrums are terrifying when we look from the perspective of the characters as well as the extreme misogynistic attitude exemplified in his actions, but taking it from a reader's perspective, I'd say that his aggression is truly more of an attempt to show that he is the best choice of a ruler that would exact revenge to his bitter enemies including Helene and Elias. On the other hand, the effort to paint the Commandant as the secondary antagonist who is discreetly pulling strings also falls short. Tahir seems to try illustrating her as a redeemable, harrowingly tragic yet cruel villain, but her presence is far too middling to deliver such a message.
Overall, A Torch Against the Night does not disappoint as a second installment that heightens the narrative's rich elements beyond the realistic impression it pulls from the oppression of the old days.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Rape
beegster16's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and War
Minor: Genocide, Rape, and Panic attacks/disorders
lindtash's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Death
Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
Minor: Genocide and Rape
taydizzy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Violence
Minor: Rape
moserstopheles's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Murder, War, Torture, and Slavery
nabecker13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Grief, Police brutality, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Murder, and Kidnapping
faitherslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, and Genocide
Minor: Rape
veeronald's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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? No
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Slavery, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Genocide, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Vomit, Sexual content, Stalking, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
pieinthesky's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book was full of betrayal, plotting, love, survival, magic and action. I love how the author narrates the story from different perspectives and overall it left me warm and fuzzy, intrigued and on edge, and wanting more !
I had thought the first book was slow and was expecting this one to be the same. However, pleasantly surprised! The articulation of thoughts and feelings and the details make a whole lot of sense in book 2. Glad I didn’t skip through them, because otherwise the impact of what happens in this book would have been softened.
Things don’t often go in favor of the main characters, which I love. Sabaa Tahir managed to keep the dystopian world and storyline realistic despite the introduction of ghosts and magic. The twists and turns are somewhat unexpected and leaves you feeling like it could go either well or really really bad. I love that there isn’t just 1 hero. All characters have their distinguishing personalities and save the day at different instances. The character growth continued in this book was good as well. I’ve started to appreciate the characters even more.
This series isn’t talked about much on bookstagram or booktok and I don’t know why/how.
I had thought the first book was slow and was expecting this one to be the same. However, pleasantly surprised! The articulation of thoughts and feelings and the details make a whole lot of sense in book 2. Glad I didn’t skip through them, because otherwise the impact of what happens in this book would have been softened.
Things don’t often go in favor of the main characters, which I love. Sabaa Tahir managed to keep the dystopian world and storyline realistic despite the introduction of ghosts and magic. The twists and turns are somewhat unexpected and leaves you feeling like it could go either well or really really bad. I love that there isn’t just 1 hero. All characters have their distinguishing personalities and save the day at different instances. The character growth continued in this book was good as well. I’ve started to appreciate the characters even more.
This series isn’t talked about much on bookstagram or booktok and I don’t know why/how.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Rape