After the events of the Fourth Trial, Elias and Laia have narrowly escaped Blackcliff. There is a bounty on their heads they can’t ignore, and foes — human and those supposed mythical — dog their steps as they set out on a perilous journey through the Empire to the one place that’s even more dangerous than Blackcliff: Kauf — the legendary, incredibly secure prison run by the sadistic Warden.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf to save her brother. He may be the only key to the Scholars’ survival. If he’s still alive. Laia cannot face the thought of him being dead.  

Elias has given Laia his word that he will help her succeed in saving her brother, but time is running out. This attempt alone means giving up his last chance at freedom, and if they succeed, it will mean war against his own people.

Meanwhile, Helene Aquila has been tasked with a torturous mission of her own: find the traitor Elias Veturias and the Scholar slave he travels with, and kill them both. But can she really kill her friend, even if he did turn traitor? Her head and her heart war, and Helene has a hard decision to make that, either way, just might break her.

A Torch Against the Night started with pulse-pounding action and high stakes, and, I’m not going to lie, this Book is brutal (even more so than An Ember in the Ashes, in my opinion). The Commandant seemed determined to annihilate the Scholars, and the slaughter that chased after Elias and Laia throughout the book reminded me of the Holocaust. I found I had to take a step back a couple of times because of this violence, and that is something that usually doesn’t affect me with fictional stories.

Overall, though, Sabaa Tahir is a master at adding twists to her stories, making each situation more dire and impossible for her characters, and creating a wild storm of emotion that captures the human soul.

Rated: High. It’s dark and unflinchingly brutal with lots of violence, blood, death, threats of sexual violence, and torture of men, women, and children. Mild language is used frequently, and moderate language makes a handful of appearances. An undressing scene fades before leading to insinuated sex.