
A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir — Review
A review of A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir — the Ember series expands, Laia and Elias run, and the world gets darker in ways that feel entirely …
Read more →Book reviews from The Diary of a Bookworm — YA fiction, fantasy, literary fiction, and crime.
The full review archive. Everything is organized chronologically — newest first, oldest at the bottom. Browse by genre using the tags, or scroll through and see what catches your eye.
The reviews here span more than a decade of reading, starting with the early days of the YA boom when authors like Cassandra Clare and Tamora Pierce were shaping a generation of readers. Newer reviews are added as books warrant them — which is to say, when a book does something worth writing about.

A review of A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir — the Ember series expands, Laia and Elias run, and the world gets darker in ways that feel entirely …
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A review of This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab — a world where violence breeds monsters, and two teenagers on opposite sides of that system have to figure out …
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A review of A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas — the book that turned a serviceable series into a phenomenon, and Rhysand into one of YA fantasy's most …
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A review of The Rose and the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh — the Scheherazade duology concludes with war, sacrifice, and the particular beauty Ahdieh brings to …
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A review of The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater — the Raven Cycle ends as it must: strange and beautiful and final in a way that feels like waking up from a …
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A review of Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare — the Shadowhunter world's best new entry, anchored by Emma Carstairs and a love story that Clare makes you wait …
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A review of Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard — darker and more morally complicated than Red Queen, with a Mare who is becoming someone difficult to root for in …
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A review of Winter by Marissa Meyer — the Lunar Chronicles comes to its enormous, satisfying conclusion, and Winter herself is one of the series' greatest …
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A review of Carry On by Rainbow Rowell — the Simon Snow novel that Cath from Fangirl was writing, now fully realised, and much more interesting than a fan …
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A review of The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan — Magnus Chase is homeless, recently dead, and now responsible for preventing Ragnarok. Norse mythology has …
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A review of Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas — Aelin Galathynius comes home, burns things down, and the Throne of Glass series becomes the epic it was always …
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A review of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo — the heist novel that redefined what YA fantasy could do with an ensemble cast. Kaz Brekker is one of the great …
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A review of The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness — a warm, funny, quietly devastating novel about being the person the story isn't about.
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A review of More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera — a debut about memory, identity, and what we do to ourselves trying to be someone we can live with. Devastating …
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A review of Uprooted by Naomi Novik — a standalone fairy tale fantasy rooted in Polish folklore, with magic that feels genuinely alive and a heroine who refuses …
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A review of The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh — a Scheherazade retelling so lush and so precisely crafted that it reads like the original myth given room …
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A review of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir — brutal, beautiful, and built on a world that draws from ancient Rome to create something entirely its own.
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A review of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard — a propulsive, twist-heavy YA dystopian fantasy about class, power, and the girl caught between two worlds.
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A review of The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black — a lush, unsettling fairy tale about a town that has learned to live alongside the dangerous and …
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A review of The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan — the Heroes of Olympus concludes, Percy and his friends save the world again, and Leo Valdez breaks your heart …
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A review of The Young Elites by Marie Lu — a YA fantasy told from the villain's point of view, and one of the most psychologically interesting things Lu has …
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A review of Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas — the Throne of Glass series grows up considerably in its third book, and Celaena Sardothien becomes who she was …
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A review of Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins — Paris, Josh, and the sweetest, most honest romance in the Anna and the French Kiss universe.
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A review of Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo — the Grisha trilogy concludes with real cost, a surprising ending, and the Darkling being extraordinary right to …
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