This book was phenomenal! I read it in less than 24 hours, and now I’m ready for the next book, A Torch Against the Night. I know that this book has been on my to read shelf for a long time, but it was that whole round-to-it thing. Well I finally got to it and honestly it lived up to the reviews and praise.
In a brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, Laia is forced to make a difficult choice, and in her narration you can often see how unsure she is of herself and her decisions. This made her grow on me immediately, since she was a coward at times, but then she would rise up, take responsibility and fix the problem. As someone who works with teenager, and obviously lived through those years, this constant fear of not doing the right thing, or not being good enough really resonated with me.
Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce but also has to be the schools best soldier because of who his mother is. This struggle to fit a mold but also the desire to break free, makes him a character I wanted to keep learning more about.
Overall this book was extremely well written with strong main characters but also well developed supporting characters.
Tria-saurus 