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crisania's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I liked Flame in the Mist enough that I wanted to jump into this book. This book was too slow for my taste, but endured mostly because I did enjoy the world building and had so many questions. We get to see Mariko develop as a character and her friendship with Yumi grow. The backstories of Kenshin, Raiden and Kanako also gets explored but I was still left with questions and wanting more than was offered in the epilogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Sexual assault
thestarsaresad's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I was shocked; normally, I don't like the second book of a series as much as the first book, but I enjoyed this book more than the first. Through the first book, we witnessed Mariko go through a lot of her character development, where she learned about herself and the world around her. In this book, we were able to see her take action. I loved the different character perspectives of all the different characters because I loved seeing each side of the story. I truly truly enjoyed this book. The only complaint I have is that there were multiple typos (punctuation, spelling, names spelled wrong) that took away from the experience. But overall, a great read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Blood, Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol and Murder
fremzz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
First of all I looooved Raiden’s character. I never thought I would grow to appreciate the guy who made us suffer so much in the beginning 😤😤.
Mariko was also even more awesome in this book and I wish we had gotten more chapters from her perspective 😞😞
I liked the first book more but I still really appreciated this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Torture, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism
thereadingshelf's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol
lipstickitotheman's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
scribblesandsuch's review
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Really enjoyed this sequel, though the ending felt a little rushed
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Torture
now_booking's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This is the second and I assume, concluding, book to the Flame in the Mist series. Admittedly, YA Fantasy is not my genre of choice and so I’m not sure how original or how good this is in the general context of that genre, but I thought it was okay, if a little unnecessarily long-drawn out.
You definitely have to have read Flame in the Mist for this to make any sense as it picks up from where Book 1 ended. The premise is that Okami has been arrested and Mariko is being “forced” into marriage within the royal house who “rescued” her, in order to prove her loyalty to the emperor. Mariko is willing to do anything to rescue her love, Okami, even sell her soul in the devil. But the empire is crumbling from the treachery in the imperial castle and there are darker forces at play than Mariko realizes, forces which may be much more powerful than love.
This book ends with a conclusion to Mariko and Okami’s story but I felt a little left adrift with what happens with Mariko’s twin, Kenshin, especially with how the book ends. I found this book to be a little piecey at times and rambling. I was frankly a little bored reading it but persisted to know what the outcome was going to be. I found that the resolution came a little too easily after all the trouble Raidan’s mother and the Black Clan and Mariko had gone through. There were a lot of bits and pieces dropped in this that I was interested in that were never followed through. This was just okay for me. I found the first book more compelling. This has been discussed as a somewhat feminist work of YA Fantasy because of how primary the roles of girls and women are in this book in sustaining and driving the main actions and really any act of bravery. And for the strong, brave, intrepid women in this book, love is their motivator (well apart from Yumi) but outside of love, perhaps other motivators were unexplored. Perhaps more difficult conversations and confrontations could have been had. I still feel that more could have been done with this story. That said, this was fine and if you like YA Fantasy, you might really like this.
You definitely have to have read Flame in the Mist for this to make any sense as it picks up from where Book 1 ended. The premise is that Okami has been arrested and Mariko is being “forced” into marriage within the royal house who “rescued” her, in order to prove her loyalty to the emperor. Mariko is willing to do anything to rescue her love, Okami, even sell her soul in the devil. But the empire is crumbling from the treachery in the imperial castle and there are darker forces at play than Mariko realizes, forces which may be much more powerful than love.
This book ends with a conclusion to Mariko and Okami’s story but I felt a little left adrift with what happens with Mariko’s twin, Kenshin, especially with how the book ends. I found this book to be a little piecey at times and rambling. I was frankly a little bored reading it but persisted to know what the outcome was going to be. I found that the resolution came a little too easily after all the trouble Raidan’s mother and the Black Clan and Mariko had gone through. There were a lot of bits and pieces dropped in this that I was interested in that were never followed through. This was just okay for me. I found the first book more compelling. This has been discussed as a somewhat feminist work of YA Fantasy because of how primary the roles of girls and women are in this book in sustaining and driving the main actions and really any act of bravery. And for the strong, brave, intrepid women in this book, love is their motivator (well apart from Yumi) but outside of love, perhaps other motivators were unexplored. Perhaps more difficult conversations and confrontations could have been had. I still feel that more could have been done with this story. That said, this was fine and if you like YA Fantasy, you might really like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
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