Torchfire by Moira Buffini

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✦ BLURB ✦

Welcome back to a world where songlight - or telepathy - is either your greatest power or your greatest curse.

Elsa has fled Northaven and is urgently seeking a safe haven.

Nightingale is being held Captive by Sister Swan and forced to use her songlight against her own people.

Piper has been promoted up the ranks of the Airmen, where nothing but bloodshed is demanded of him.

Rye has stumbled across an incredible airship, the likes of which has never been seen before . . .

All four are united by their desire for peace.

But peace between the Aylish and Brightland feels more fragile than ever now that evil Brother Kite has seized power.

And there is a new threat, not just to Brightland, but to Ayland and the world beyond. The airship that Rye has discovered is owned by the Teroans, a race of elite Torches that left Earth after its destruction. Back on a reconnaissance trip, they are keen to resettle on their recovering planet, but mere human beings are seen as second class citizens and accepted collateral damage.

The future of civilisation is on a knife edge, with those from Brightland wanting to stamp out songlight, those from Ayland wanting harmony and those from Teroa wanting songlight to rein, whatever the costs . . .

A sequel to rival all others, proving this to be the most exciting trilogy to have been published for decades!

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Telepathy. Tyranny. Teroans. Welcome back to Brightland, where peace is fragile and airships are everything.

PRE-READING THOUGHTS
I remember loving the first book (…I think? It’s all a bit misty now), but I didn’t have time for a reread, so I was a little nervous jumping in. High-concept worlds with no refresher are a gamble. But the promise of more songlight chaos and tangled loyalties was too tempting to ignore.

POST-READING
🌀 As I thought...
Once I reoriented myself, I was all in. The stakes have definitely risen - everyone’s scattered, schemes are thick in the air, and the whole “humans are second-class citizens” angle with the Teroans added a fascinating and uncomfortable wrinkle. It’s still got that emotional core, too: characters trying to cling to peace in the face of manipulation and violence.

✨ It surprised me by...
How quickly I got reattached. Nightingale’s story in particular felt especially urgent, and Rye’s airship subplot scratched that Howl’s Moving Castle meets Firefly itch. I didn’t expect the interplanetary angle to work as well as it did, but it expands the world in a smart way - not just bigger, but deeper. And now I’m counting down to book three like it’s release day for a season finale.

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

📚 Scythe by Neal Shusterman
📺 His Dark Materials or The 100 — telepathy, power struggles, and a crumbling world order

✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦

Because sometimes, the heart of a story plays out like a song.

🎵 Featured Song: “No Light, No Light” – Florence + The Machine
🎶 Vibe Album: Ceremonials – Florence + The Machine (ethereal, powerful, full of drama and soul)
🎧 Artist Recommendation: Aurora — for that elemental, haunting energy that feels half-human, half-starlight

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

🎨 Colour palette: Indigo skies, gold threads, industrial silver, and bloodred warnings
🎬 Soundtrack: Choirs echoing over battlefields, glitchy radio signals, the thrum of airships
🌪️ Season: Winter - hard, beautiful, and quietly dangerous
🧠 Mood: Spiralling tension with moments of lyrical hope
👃 Scent: Cold metal, crushed wildflowers, smoke on the wind

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

🔮 Judgement - Tarot of the 78 Doors

Judgement calls us to face our past, take the lessons we need and discard the rest. In this card, some people are unable to do that - they're clinging to the past, literally falling with it. Clinging to the past is an easy way to fall short of your goal, like some of the characters in this novel!

Torchfire publishes on the 28th of August, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.