A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir

The last we saw of Laia and Elias in An Ember in the Ashes, they were fleeing Blackcliff and the city of Serra through a network of tunnels. To say this was a cliffhanger would be an understatement. Tahir creates an equally as impressive follow-up novel to her debut, delving deep into the world of the Empire.

Elias and Laia might have escaped the walls of the city, but that does not mean they are not free from peril. Elias’ mother, the Commandant, has poisoned Elias, making the journey difficult as the poison slowly takes Elias prisoner. Emperor Marcus is out for their blood, and he has decided to use his most lethal weapon against Laia and Elias: Helene.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf, a maximum security prison, where the Warden of Kauf sadistically tortures his prisoners. There, she hopes to find her brother, Darin, the Scholars’ only hope. Tahir continues the first person narrative that alternates between Laia and Elias, but also includes Helene. The reader gets a glimpse into Helene’s fascinating story as Blood Shrike, one that shows her own struggle to complete the mission Marcus has assigned her, but knowing that whether she succeeds or doesn’t succeed, the lives of her family and dearest friend are at risk.

Tahir’s writing is elegant, spellbinding, and her second novel is a beautiful companion to An Ember in the Ashes. New characters, dark and magical forces at work, internal struggles, and a rescue mission, there is the reminder throughout the entire book that, “So long as you fight the darkness, you stand in the light.”

https://sabaatahir.com/

Whose Justice?

Sabaa Tahir

Neither all brains nor all brawn is enough to conquer the society depicted in An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. It's the classic story told throughout human history. But Tahir takes a fresh look through the eyes of two teens--one a Scholar, the other a Martial--at the center of the conflict.

The Scholars may be the group that's oppressed now, but they were the oppressors until 500 years ago, when the Martials took control by force. Laia, a Scholar, must live with the fact that her parents chose the Resistance over their children. The only family member she has left is her brother, held prisoner by the Martials. In her quest to enlist the Resistance members' help to free her brother, she learns that someone within the movement betrayed her parents. She also learns how the Scholars played a role in their own demise.

As her life becomes entangled with that of Elias, an elite member of the Martials called a Mask and a favorite to become the next Emperor, Laia must decide for herself who is on the side of justice--so must Elias. Sahir portrays a fictional society with realistic conflicts. Must justice for one group come about at the expense of another? What do you, as an individual, do to stay true to your ideals when others around you are corrupting them for selfish ends? How do you know when you yourself have crossed a line? If you gain power and prestige, is it because of your leadership qualities, or through force and fear? How can you be sure?

History is littered with examples of those who used an ideology or force (often both) to achieve goals they felt were good, but whose means resulted in imprisonment and death for many. Tahir demonstrates that it's harder to recognize an ideal gone wrong when it's unfolding in the present. Laia and Elias observe the corruption going on around them, but can they stop it, or at least stand up to it? And the implicit question to readers is: What would you do?