torch-header

I have a lot of things to discuss about this book (because I loved it) so this is my spoiler-filled gush about it. As always, I urge you to only read this gush if you have read A Torch Against the Night, since you will most definitely be spoiled for it if you haven’t. So if you have yet to read it, I have a spoil-free review up that you can check out right here. I gave the book a 4.75 out of 5 stars.

As for those of you who have read it, time to discuss!

Last warning: THE NEXT SECTION WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Ok, so the first thing I need to mention is the romance (of course). I ship Laia and Elias (I know, I know, I always ship the obvious/cannon ones. I’m not sorry about it), but I felt like their relationship was just sort of moving around in circles the whole book. I love slow-burn romances, but theirs was just kind of…off. They both developed feelings for one another in a manner that was far too quick but also stunting, if that makes sense. They kept dancing around their attractions to one another while also being obviously in love, something that doesn’t really make sense to me considering the short amount of time they’d known one another. I don’t know, I wasn’t really feeling their relationship as much as I’m Book One.

Helene and Elias? Well, I don’t ship them, but I do really love their dynamic. I’m a huge fan of unrequited love and Helene’s love for Elias is just so painful! I think out of all the character relationships theirs was for sure my favorite, even though they barely interacted in this book.

Helene and Harper (I hope that’s his name–Im too lazy to check). I ship them A LOT. I’m not positive if anything will happen between them but it seems to me that they have a lot of chemistry. I’m interested to know your guys’ thoughts on their relationship!

Laia and Keenan? Ok, well obviously “Keenan” isn’t a real guy. But before we found out that he is the Nightbringer, I hated him. It felt like his only purpose in the story was to cause drama with the romance elements, presenting a love triangle situation for Laia. But their “romance” was quite possibly one of the worst I’ve ever encountered. Not only was it so rushed and underdeveloped, it just flat out didn’t make sense. Maybe it’s just because I hated his character in general, but every time we had a Laia-Keenan scene I felt myself becoming a teeny bit more disappointed with the book.

Let’s talk more about “Keenan’s” character. I assumed there was something up with him right away, but I just figured he was working for the Commander as a spy or something. It should probably have been more obvious to me that he was the Nightbringer, but I couldn’t get over how much of a pansy he was to really consider him to be capable of being anything powerful. So because of this, I was mildly surprised at the revelation of his identity. It was also very reassuring to know that the insta-love part of their relationship had a purpose.

But enough about him. Helene was, in my opinion, the star of this book. I didn’t really understand her character in An Ember in the Ashes. In that first book, I felt bad for her because of the Elias thing, but I also found her kind of annoying. In this one however, she really impressed me. She’s unbelievably strong and resilient, so much so that she deserves to be on every “top 5 best kickass female characters” list out there.

One last character to talk about: Izzy. Is it just more, or Izzy not one of the most underdeveloped supporting characters ever? Don’t get me wrong, I liked her just fine, but that’s mainly because I had no reason not to. She was just there. I don’t feel connected to her at all, which I guess isn’t too big of a deal since it’s not as though supporting characters are meant for that in the first place. I just felt like her only purpose in the story was to be an emotion/guilt motivator for Laia.

Ok, that’s enough talk on characters. I’d like to bring up how amazing the atmosphere of this book is. I mentioned it after reading the first one and, while it wasn’t as strong as in the first one, this book definitely had a really cool “vibe.” Something about it just feels like it would make an outstanding movie cinematography-wise.

Going along with atmosphere, the setting/world of this book is really unique. I really love how the fantastical elements were woven in!

Since I don’t want this to be 80 paragraphs long, I’ll just discuss one more thing: the end. I really loved Elias’ whole “deal with death” storyline and how that went down. When it was first revealed that he was poisoned and would die soon, I was skeptical since, in books like this, it seems that our characters always find a way to cheat death at the last second. And I guess he didn’t end up dying, but his fate was, in my opinion, much worse than death. I just thought it was really cool what the author did with that plotline.

I’m really excited to see what is in store now for our characters (particularly Helene and Elias) and how the story will continue! Let me know your thoughts on the book, I’d love to know!