What would you do if your brother was in a dangerous prison, the one who is helping you break him out is dying, and there is an entire empire after you? These are only a few of the problems that Laia of Serra faces in “A Torch Against the Night”, the sequel to “An Ember in the Ashes”, by Sabaa Tahir.

Laia has escaped Blackcliff Academy where she was posing as a Scholar slave and is trying to rescue her brother from Kauf Prison, the Martial Empire’s most secure and deadliest prison. Helping her get to the prison are Elias, former Mask of Blackcliff and son of the Commandant, and Keenan, the young rebel who helped her escape Blackcliff. Meanwhile, in a fight against his mother, Elias is poisoned with nightweed, for which there is no cure.

There are both supernatural as well as physical forces that try to keep Laia from evading. Will she survive the Empire that chases her, or will she be captured and forced to watch the entire Scholar race wiped out by the Commandant?

This book kept me wondering what was going to happen next and revealed the backstories behind some of the events in the first book that I read. I liked it because even though it can slow down in certain places, it kept events moving at a steady pace through most of the book. It has plenty of action but it also has a love triangle between Laia, Elias, and Keenan that will keep you entertained, and I recommend it for everyone who likes action-packed books with a little romance in them. I give this book five out of five cardinal heads.