4.5 stars

CW: violence, abuse, war

Torch is still my favorite in the series. I think this novel got off to a bit of a slow start, but by part two I was hooked. At that point, chapters end in a way that left me grasping for more, so of course I had to read until that character’s next pov chapter and find out what happened. Rinse and repeat. Sabaa’s writing was emotional and vivid, and it pulled me in even more.

I care about all three of our main characters. Laia is one of my favorite protagonists because she’s strong, she’s caring, and she’s an ultimate badass. She’s flawed but she has exquisite character development. Elias is also one of my favorites, and I really felt for him as I read. He has such a tough time adapting to his situation, understandably so, and he can’t catch a break. His arc is kinda painful to read… but in a good way? I don’t know. I love Elias. As for Helene, she’s been horrible the last two books. I didn’t really like her then and I expected to hate her now, but she’s actually grown on me. She’s not my favorite or anything, but she has an interesting story and I guess I respect her. It’s complicated.

I thought I knew what would happen. I didn’t. I absolutely didn’t. There were a lot of twists in this novel; it was fast-paced and honestly unpredictable. If I’d had more time the last few days, it probably would’ve taken me maybe two days to finish it. I was sucked in and taken for an extremely wild ride. There’s a lot of tension early on, things start to go bad in the middle, and in the last third the trashfire blazes. It’s a good trashfire, but it’s also bad. Again, it’s complicated.

So, yeah. The sooner I can get my hands on the final book, the better. I’m sure it’s going to be brutal and I’m not sure who’s going to be alive to get any trace of a happy ending. I want to read it anyway. Bring it on. Gently.