A Torch Against the Night

Starred review from June 6, 2016
The sequel to Tahir’s bestselling An Ember in the Ashes picks up where the last installment left off: Laia and Elias, fresh from the Trials that made them both traitors, barely escape the city of Serra with their lives as a Scholar rebellion tears the city apart. Elias is sworn to help Laia rescue her brother, Darin, from the prison of Kauf, held there for his knowledge of steelmaking secrets that could bring the end of the Martial empire. But Helene Aquilla, the new emperor’s Blood Shrike and Elias’s best friend from childhood, has orders to hunt down both of the fugitives or forfeit her own family’s lives. Watching them all is the commandant of Blackcliff, ruthless in her hatred and hiding a sinister agenda of her own. The shifting network of alliances and betrayals can almost be too elaborate to follow at times, but Tahir’s skill with her characters is more than enough to hold readers’ attention. This sequel has a darker tone and even higher stakes than its predecessor, setting the stage for a thrilling conclusion. Ages 14–up. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners.

July 1, 2016
Tahir's follow-up to An Ember in the Ashes (2015) picks up right where Volume 1 left off, ratcheting up the tension (military and sexual) as well as the magic, the violence, and the stakes. Laia (golden-eyed, dark-haired, magically gifted) and Elias (gray-eyed, "golden-brown"-skinned soldier extraordinaire) have fled Blackcliff, determined to rescue Laia's imprisoned brother and potentially spur a Scholar rebellion, while icy, Aryan Helene, now Blood Shrike and second in power only to sadistic Emperor Marcus, must determine where her loyalty lies. Complex plots and counterplots exist in every corner, and all three main characters, but especially Helene and Elias, must constantly grapple with the cost of power and the price of victory. Powerful females in charge of their lives and their bodies abound, even if their boy-laden conversations rarely pass the Bechdel test. Tahir pulls few punches: brutal deaths occur and characters make choices that cause pain and suffering. But hope exists, and readers will be torn between the vivid, oppositional characters. Laia, shaping up to be a chosen one, ironically has the least compelling arc, but there are hints that her future will change that. Diversity exists in this Roman-Arabian fantasy world, but racial categories do not have one-to-one correspondence with our own. An excellent continuation of a series seemingly designed for readers of the political, bloody fantasy style du jour, set apart by an uncommon world. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

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August 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-In this sequel to An Ember in the Ashes, Martial Elias and Scholar Laia are trying to escape from Serra and reach the prison of Kauf, where Laia's brother has been imprisoned for having secret knowledge of Martial weapons. Their journey will be extremely hazardous, since Helene Aquilla, childhood friend and fellow Mask, who is now Blood Shrike for the Emperor, has been ordered to hunt Elias down. Elias and Laia are also trying to evade Elias's ruthless mother, the Commandant, who is scheming to seize power and is willing even to poison her own son to achieve her ends. Most dangerous of all, however, is the grim prison of Kauf, where their attempt to rescue Laia's brother leads to further horrors and some surprises. Told in the alternating voices of Elias, Laia, and Helene, this book is even darker and grimmer than the first, which readers will need to be familiar with in order to follow the twists and turns of the plot. Strong and compelling characters, particularly Helene, who is fleshed out more than in the previous volume, and a number of action-packed sequences help keep things moving. VERDICT This one is bound to be popular with fans of the first installment, making this a must-purchase.-Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* The sequel to Tahir's best-selling An Ember in the Ashes (2015) finds Elias and Laia on the run from Elias' motheraka the unspeakably evil Commandantand the vapid but vicious Emperor Marcus. Their destination: the Kauf Prison, where they hope to free Laia's brother, who knows the secret of serric steel, which just might save Laia's people, the Scholars, from extinction by the Empire. But Elias has been poisoned and his strength is ebbing, and their quest is further complicated by the presence of the rebel Keenan, who is Elias' rival for Laia's love. In the face of all this, how can they possibly succeed? Indeed, how can they survive? To answer these questions, Tahir tells her story from three first-person points of view, that of Laia, Elias, andinterestinglyHelene, once Elias' close friend but now, as the Blood Shrike, his sworn enemy, dispatched to capture him and Laia. Infusing her story with magic, Tahir proves to be a master of suspense and a canny practitioner of the cliff-hanger, riveting readers' attention throughout. As for her coprotagonists, they remain captivating characters who invite strong reader empathy, and their action-packed, breathlessly paced story is enthralling and surelythanks to unresolved loose endsto be followed by book three. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Major conference promotionwe've already started seeing the skyscraper-size bannersmight push this to greater heights than the first book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)