Sabaa Tahir’s “A Torch Against the Night” began on this enthusiastic note with reading buddy Brooke:

@cjhannas Bring on the crazy YA-angstventures!

— Brooke Shelby (@txtingmrdarcy) September 8, 2016

This is the second book in the series, following “An Amber in the Ashes.”  There is always the fear in a sequel that there won’t be enough to sustain the story, but this is one of the cases where the author takes everything you knew about the world in the story and triples it.

There are a lot of people and a lot of fantasy elements, but what I like about Tahir’s writing style is that she is great at keeping things clear and bluntly setting up what is going on.  This book begins immediately after the first one, with two of the main characters, Elias and Laia, on the run.

“My pulse thuds in my ears,” Laia says.  “Any elation I felt at destroying [REDACTED] or rescuing [REDACTED] from [REDACTED] vanishes.  The Empire hunts us.  If it catches us, we die.”

(Those are important details for the end of the first book, so go read that first! It’s really fun!)

Tahir employs multiple narrators, including Elias, who drops this to Laia as they are hunted:

“Don’t look so worried. Most successful missions are just a series of barely averted disasters.”

Truth.

The main female protagonist, Helene, continues to be nothing short of a badass (with the fantastic official title of Blood Shrike) and would most certainly strike down Katniss Everdeen in a matter of moments if given the chance.  She doubts herself at times, like during a conversation with one of the augurs who help guide those leading the Empire.

“Most people…are nothing but glimmers in the great darkness of time.  But you, Helene Aquilla, are no swift-burning spark.  You are a torch against the night — if you dare to let yourself burn.'”

The augurs can see the future, but when Helene asks to know what he knows, the augur lets her in on that burden.

“You think knowing will make it easier, Blood Shrike,” he says.  “But knowing makes it worse.”
“Knowing is a curse.”

Most of us don’t live with all of what is going on within the Empire and Helene’s life, but I think that holds true for our lives too.  Or at least, there is a lot that would not be as good if we knew it was coming.

But really the star of this book is an area between the world of the living and the dead, which in its descriptions seemed like a cozy spot to nap.