Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.
Laia is determined to break into Kauf- the Empire's most secure and dangerous prison- to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars' survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.
But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene- Elias's former friend and the Empire's newest Blood Shrike.
Bound to Marcus's will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own- one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Verturius and the Scholar slave that helped him escape . . . and kill them both.
Loved
- The plot twists!! Don't worry, I won't spoil anything :) But WOW. Sometimes after you've read so many YA fantasies it starts getting pretty easy to predict plot twists and what characters will do. But this story had some twists that I doubt many people have seen coming. I don't like to compare anyone to Brandon Sanderson because he's arguably the best fantasy writer of our time, but Sabaa Tahir is probably the closest I've read to being anywhere near Sanderson in her details, twists, and seamless writing. She has a talent for creating a huge plot upset that is completely shocking, but then you look back at all the details and clues and realize it was all happening right before your eyes and you didn't see it. That kind of writing takes so much thought and skill, and I was very impressed with the detail of this book!
- The villains. Tahir also has a phenomenal ability to write complex and multi-layered villains. These characters are so brutal, evil, and easy to hate. But Tahir gives us just enough little moments to understand that these villains are human and also feel pain and grief. Seeing this humanity in them and then watching them hurt so many is chilling, and makes them so much more evil. Many of our classic villains (Voldemort, Sauron . . . ) are a little robotic in that they don't even have the capacity to feel empathy, and they don't really understand that what they are doing is wrong. But Tahir's villains are not only capable of feeling empathy, they DO feel it, and they know what they are doing is wrong- and at times it hurts them. The many layers of these characters is fascinating and gives the whole series a depth of complexity that many YA fantasies don't have.
- Helene. Now I don't love Helene herself- her personality or her choices. However, I think she is one of the most fascinating characters out there because she is so torn and complicated. Although they are different, I kept thinking of Javert while reading Helene's perspective, because they are both bound to honor and the law, even though their hearts feel otherwise. Helene's character really develops throughout this story and, although she is hunting Elias and Laia, we can't hate her because she feels and hurts so much over her decisions and her path. I love how Tahir has written her character and given her so much depth, and I can't wait to see how she develops in the last two books.
- Elias. In the first book, I wanted to really love Elias, but I was still a little wary of him because of his brutality and the violence he had to inflict on others. However, in this second book we really understand Elias's character- that he is naturally not just good, but compassionate, fair, empathetic, and even gentle. Elias is also extremely selfless and in this story he essentially sacrifices everything he has to help Laia and Darin- a boy he's never even met. Elias is definitely my favorite character and I'm very interested to see where his journey takes him after some of the events in this story.
- The audiobook. Honestly, I actually had to stop listening to the audiobook because I was so intent on the story that I found myself not paying attention to driving . . . and I wanted to read it faster than the narrators could speak, so I ended up just reading the physical copy at the end. But much of the book I listened to, and the narrators are perfect. I loved all the characters more after hearing them with British accents- especially Elias ;) Definitely recommend this audiobook- just watch out while you're driving ;)
Didn't Love
- I just devoured this story and absolutely loved it. My only complaint is that there is a lot of violence- much of it very disturbing. One interesting note- as I was reading this, I was very disturbed at the genocide happening in this story, complete with torture, mass graves, and mass killings. Then I realized that everything that happens in this story that is so disturbing actually happened 75 years ago in the Holocaust. I just finished listening to the Hiding Place, and I realized the exact same events really did happen in WWII. This was very sobering when I realized that this kind of violence is not so far out that it can't happen in modern society and in real life.
Content
Content
- Language:
- Fairly frequent uses of "a**," "damn," "bi***," and "whore."
- Very frequent uses of the phrase "ten hells," or "bleeding hells."
- Very frequent uses of "bleeding" or "bloody."
- Sexual content:
- One scene where characters have sex, but nothing is described. She sits in his lap and they kiss, his hands "roam across her back." Her legs tighten against his waist, he kisses her jaw and neck. He traces a line down her shoulder. She pulls off his shirt, and he starts to unbutton her shirt, then the chapter ends (pg. 295). Afterwards, she drinks tea to "slow her moon cycle."
- A steamy kiss with same female as above, but different male character. She pulls herself against him and he backs her against a wall as they kiss.
- Violence:
- There is a lot of violence. I repeat, a LOT of violence- basically a genocide.
- A genocide of a nation is happening, so there are many references to whole groups being slaughtered- in prisons, in towns, and on the road. Any Scholar is killed on the spot and mass graves are dug everywhere for the bodies. The characters come upon a mass grave and see bodies of men, women, and children.
- A character kills a man by impaling him on her sword and she is very disturbed at this for weeks.
- A character kills many men in an attempt to escape- they are killed by getting stabbed, beheaded, and throats slit.
- A raid happens and some secondary characters are killed through getting stabbed and throats slit.
- Lots of fighting with fists, daggers, scims, and arrows.
- A public execution where traitorous families are thrown off a cliff on to a pile of bones. People are made to cheer for their deaths.
- A character is poisoned and deals with the effects of dying throughout the story.
- A main character spends time in a prison where he is tortured for months- his fingers are broken, hair pulled out, cut on his face, cut on his arms, and beaten. He hears screams of others being tortured.
- A child is tortured and his screams are heard frequently.
- Many people die in this prison from the cold and from torture, and bodies are put in mass graves every morning.
- A character gets stabbed in the throat and dies.
- A character watches people close to her get murdered in front of her by having their throats slit. She watches their eyes and faces as they die and feels immense guilt over the deaths.
- Other themes:
- There is a place called the Waiting Place, where souls wait to pass on to the next life. Some souls are disturbed and angry at their deaths and they cannot move on. One character must coax some characters to move on to the next life and help them make peace with their deaths.
- Fairly frequent uses of "a**," "damn," "bi***," and "whore."
- Very frequent uses of the phrase "ten hells," or "bleeding hells."
- Very frequent uses of "bleeding" or "bloody."
- One scene where characters have sex, but nothing is described. She sits in his lap and they kiss, his hands "roam across her back." Her legs tighten against his waist, he kisses her jaw and neck. He traces a line down her shoulder. She pulls off his shirt, and he starts to unbutton her shirt, then the chapter ends (pg. 295). Afterwards, she drinks tea to "slow her moon cycle."
- A steamy kiss with same female as above, but different male character. She pulls herself against him and he backs her against a wall as they kiss.
- There is a lot of violence. I repeat, a LOT of violence- basically a genocide.
- A genocide of a nation is happening, so there are many references to whole groups being slaughtered- in prisons, in towns, and on the road. Any Scholar is killed on the spot and mass graves are dug everywhere for the bodies. The characters come upon a mass grave and see bodies of men, women, and children.
- A character kills a man by impaling him on her sword and she is very disturbed at this for weeks.
- A character kills many men in an attempt to escape- they are killed by getting stabbed, beheaded, and throats slit.
- A raid happens and some secondary characters are killed through getting stabbed and throats slit.
- Lots of fighting with fists, daggers, scims, and arrows.
- A public execution where traitorous families are thrown off a cliff on to a pile of bones. People are made to cheer for their deaths.
- A character is poisoned and deals with the effects of dying throughout the story.
- A main character spends time in a prison where he is tortured for months- his fingers are broken, hair pulled out, cut on his face, cut on his arms, and beaten. He hears screams of others being tortured.
- A child is tortured and his screams are heard frequently.
- Many people die in this prison from the cold and from torture, and bodies are put in mass graves every morning.
- A character gets stabbed in the throat and dies.
- A character watches people close to her get murdered in front of her by having their throats slit. She watches their eyes and faces as they die and feels immense guilt over the deaths.
- There is a place called the Waiting Place, where souls wait to pass on to the next life. Some souls are disturbed and angry at their deaths and they cannot move on. One character must coax some characters to move on to the next life and help them make peace with their deaths.
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