Author bio:
Mineli Kahanda is a student of Lyceum International School and is also the biggest bibliophile. In her spare time, she enjoys freelance writing, watching anime, and creating art.
Synopsis
Prepare for the jaw-dropping finale of Sabaa Tahir’s beloved New York Times bestselling ‘An Ember in the Ashes’ fantasy series, and find out who will survive the storm.
This book picks up just a few months after where ‘A Reaper at the Gates’ left off.
The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning.
At his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family.
Laia of Serra, now allied with the Blood Shrike, struggles to recover from the loss of the two people most important to her. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory – or to an unimaginable doom.
And deep in the Waiting Place, the Soul Catcher seeks only to forget the life – and love – he left behind. Yet doing so means ignoring the trail of murder left by the Nightbringer and his jinn. To uphold his oath and protect the human world from the supernatural, the Soul Catcher must look beyond the borders of his own land. He must take on a mission that could save – or destroy – all that he knows.
About the book
‘A Sky Beyond the Storm’ has given us a true gem of a tale. From ‘An Ember in the Ashes’, this story has grown and evolved with its characters. As Laia, Elias and Helene became battle-hardened, shed their innocence, and felt the pain of loss, this series matured and became darker with them. It truly mirrored the path they walked.
With Laia, perhaps when we look at her from ‘An Ember in the Ashes’ to now, it’s absolutely amazing how much her character has been through; it’s also interesting to see her journey and how her character has built up so much strength over time. When we first met Laia, she was quite naive and she underestimated herself. And even now she still wavers a little bit, but she continues to defy the odds, she fights for what she wants and doesn’t give up even if it feels painfully hopeless. It’s amazing to see the relationships she’s built throughout the series and how people have started to look up to her.
Elias will always be Elias. He cannot be The Soul Catcher, he just can’t. He wanted his freedom; he ended up where he is because of love. His dynamic in this book is super interesting and it’s truly amazing to see him return from the Soul Catcher to simply being Elias.
Many readers who’ve read ‘An Ember in the Ashes’ genuinely could not stand Helene, but as the story unfolded, Helene became one of the best characters in this series. Helene really did go through hell and back in this series. She puts all of her faith in the Augurs and trusts what they say, but out of all of the characters, Helene has had it the worst (that is saying something). She saw her whole family (other than Livia) being murdered, she then had to see Livia marry her family’s murderer and he abuse her. She is constantly belittled for being a woman. However in ‘A Sky Beyond the Storm’, we see so many different sides to her – we see her vulnerable side and we see her being Auntie Shrike which is simply amazing. Then we have the warrior Helene.
Now for The Nightbringer; he’s not a villain that is absolutely despised, as The Nightbringer. He is so incredibly interesting. Learning bits and pieces about his backstory was truly gripping, and you can truly see where all of his rage has come from. Seeing into his past and just how loved he once was and still is, makes you feel for him.
However, despite all of this, the story did have its fair share of downsides as well, the most important of which is that we really should have seen more of Keris. We only saw her in passing. She was missed because she’s such a good character.
Memorable quotes
“Emifal firdaant. May death claim me first”
“I wish I could live a thousand lives so I could fall in love with you a thousand times”
“You are broken. But it is broken things that are the sharpest. The deadliest. It is broken things that are the most unexpected, and the most underestimated”
“Would that we all knew the cracked terrain of each other’s broken hearts. Perhaps then, we would not be so cruel to those who walk this lonely world with us”
“You got there first my love, I envy you so, for how will I endure without you?”
“How much pain exists in the world because we cannot get past what has been done to us because we insist on inflicting pain right back?”
“You are lucky enough to love someone who loves you back. He is alive and breathing and in the same vicinity as you. By the skies, do something about it. For however long you have. For whatever time you get. Because if you don’t, I swear that you’ll regret it for all your years”
“It should have been him dancing with you”
“Thank you, Soul Catcher”
“Part of me wants desperately to shove my memories of him into the same dark room where my parents and sister live. The room that houses all my pain. But that room should not exist anymore. My family deserves to be remembered. Mourned. Often, and with love. And so does Harper”
“Your mistakes only define the rest of your life if you let them. Don’t let them”
“We are doomed, you and I. To offer more love than we will ever be given”
“You have suffered. You have created suffering. You have killed. But you have also paid. With your life, twice over now, and with your heart, with your mind. You have guided thousands of lost souls. You have saved thousands of lives. You have done good in this world. Which will define you? The good? Or the suffering?”
“I have defied him and survived him again and again. He has tried to hurt me. But I will not allow myself to be hurt. He has tried to break me but I will not be dictated to by a man so afraid to fight the jinn that he must criticise a woman to make himself feel bigger”
“And while family can cause pain and make mistakes, it is never a burden. Never”
“We must understand the creatures, fey or human, who populate our tales. Respect them. Love them, despite the villainous things they do. We must see them. Else how will our stories echo in the hearts of those who hear them? How will the stories survive beyond one telling?”
“I’m here because it’s been months since you kissed me, but I think about that moment so often it feels like it happened yesterday. And because when I saw you go down in the battle, I thought I’d tear apart the world if anything happened to you”
“Or perhaps she’s simply beautiful, and looking at her feels like sunlight flowing into a room lost to the darkness for too long”
“But sometimes, there is no reason. Sometimes you kill and hate killing but you are a soldier through and through so you keep killing. Your friends die. Your lovers die. And what you have at the end of your life is not the surety that you did it for some grand reason, but the hard knowledge that something was taken from you and you also gave it away. And you know you will carry that weight with you always”
“For the Beloved who woke with the dawning of the world is no more. And for a single, anguished moment, the earth itself mourns him”
PHOTOS © AMAZON
‘A Sky Beyond the Storm’ by Sabaa Tahir
25 Sep 2022
‘A Sky Beyond the Storm’ by Sabaa Tahir
25 Sep 2022