As for the antagonists, the dreaded Commandant and the mysterious Nightbringer are hands down some of the best fictional villains I have read about. Despite the minimal world building, and the present tense narrative, the plot was intriguing enough to make me start with A Torch Against the Night immediately, and I was really hoping this would improve upon the first book. Laia and Elias find themselves fighting to survive, as they try and evade the cruelty of the Commandant and the new emperor. Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own – one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape… and kill them both.

They are a plague that makes good stories turn sour, and characters you once respected insufferable. What I Loved:Other than the extraordinary emotion evoked by this wonderful story, there was a lot to love about it. Laia - Okay Elias, I know we're like, wanted by the whole Empire and your pal Helene is totally gonna have to track you down and, you know, kill you, but could we make a very quick detour from fleeing for our lives and go rescue my brother from a completely impenetrable prison?

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that things will heat up a little, because I'm dying for some romance. Which leads me to one of the immediately apparent flaws of this series: the lack of progress in the character development.

This was particularly true of the beginning of the book during the introduction of the Soul Catcher. Whilst the settings were arguably better presented in An Ember in the Ashes, this sequel takes us out of Blackcliff and unleashes us into an entire world. Straight after finishing An Ember in the Ashes I started listening to A Torch Against the Night and what a Sequel. As you can probably tell from this review, I adored the ending, even if the beginning was a little frustrating. They are really interesting and compelling characters, it’s very easy to love them and care for them.Without giving too much away, I will also say that there is a truly fantastic twist in this book that really impressed me. Somehow the stakes and darkness both seem higher though which, considering the despair in book one, is staggering to say the least. I cannot wait to see how this colder, broken, hollowed Helene is going to enact her revenge and show the world her wrath.