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kimmi_a's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
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
michelleschroeder's review against another edition
Just lost my interest unfortunately.
lillybookland's review against another edition
2.0
I’m sorry but I didn’t like this book as much as I expected to
I mean Renee has a wonderful way of writing,
We get to know a little bit of Japanese culture and samurai history
But they are a few things I didn’t like for example
The start was so slow it took a lot to get to the interesting part.
and for the main character Mariko I liked her at the first half of the book she was strong clever and brave.
But all of the sudden she started being so annoying and negative, and all that she did was complaining about being a girl.
[spoilers]
And for the other characters, I really liked Yoshi, and I was sad when he dies. And for Okami and Ranmaru and Kenshin didn’t care about them.
And for the romance I didn’t like the love story, I felt like it was rushed,the book can go without it honesly.
Also How the Black Clan members accepted her after she betrayed them? It was too easy and unbelievable.
However the ending was good I liked it
It left a lot of open questions wish made me fell like the second book will be better and a lot is going to happen.
I mean Renee has a wonderful way of writing,
We get to know a little bit of Japanese culture and samurai history
But they are a few things I didn’t like for example
The start was so slow it took a lot to get to the interesting part.
and for the main character Mariko I liked her at the first half of the book she was strong clever and brave.
But all of the sudden she started being so annoying and negative, and all that she did was complaining about being a girl.
[spoilers]
And for the other characters, I really liked Yoshi, and I was sad when he dies. And for Okami and Ranmaru and Kenshin didn’t care about them.
And for the romance I didn’t like the love story, I felt like it was rushed,the book can go without it honesly.
Also How the Black Clan members accepted her after she betrayed them? It was too easy and unbelievable.
However the ending was good I liked it
It left a lot of open questions wish made me fell like the second book will be better and a lot is going to happen.
lyakimov's review against another edition
3.0
I had some issues with the character development and romance in this book. First off, the characterization of Mariko was that she is this “different,” curious, clever girl, emphasis on clever. She is SO SMART AND CLEVER!!!!!! We are told this the entire book, but Mariko does not have many opportunities to display these skills that she claims she has. Also, the way that the Black Clan just automatically accepted her at the end? The entire reveal of her being a girl was so anticlimactic. No one even found out on page except for Okami, which was so lame. I do kind of like how Okami found out, but I feel like it could have been much more explosive and dramatic.
Let’s talk about this romance. Or, lack thereof, we might say? There was so little chemistry in this relationship that it was actually ridiculous that Mariko is out here saying she loves him. Girl you know absolutely NOTHING about him and he knows nothing about you!! Doesn’t seem like a real, long lasting relationship! Also, they just lacked chemistry in general. I think it should have been a slow burn because it had potential but the instalove was very severe.
I listened to the audiobook so unfortunately the repetition in the writing was glaringly obvious. I know that it was partly purposeful with Mariko chanting stuff in her head but it got so annoying to keep listening to over and over again. Also, some of the language was overused, like “of import.” I’ve never heard that phrase in a book so much.
I think the pacing was alright, until the end where I was confused as HELL with all the magic. The magic system is very unclear and undefined so far, so it made all the magic talk just go in one ear and out the other.
Maybe I will read the second book at some point. This book was definitely entertaining so it might be in the future.
Let’s talk about this romance. Or, lack thereof, we might say? There was so little chemistry in this relationship that it was actually ridiculous that Mariko is out here saying she loves him. Girl you know absolutely NOTHING about him and he knows nothing about you!! Doesn’t seem like a real, long lasting relationship! Also, they just lacked chemistry in general. I think it should have been a slow burn because it had potential but the instalove was very severe.
I listened to the audiobook so unfortunately the repetition in the writing was glaringly obvious. I know that it was partly purposeful with Mariko chanting stuff in her head but it got so annoying to keep listening to over and over again. Also, some of the language was overused, like “of import.” I’ve never heard that phrase in a book so much.
I think the pacing was alright, until the end where I was confused as HELL with all the magic. The magic system is very unclear and undefined so far, so it made all the magic talk just go in one ear and out the other.
Maybe I will read the second book at some point. This book was definitely entertaining so it might be in the future.
eesh25's review against another edition
3.0
Flame in the Mist is the newest book by Renee Ahdieh, and considering how much I love her Wrath and the Dawn duology, it's safe to say that there were expectation. And not all of them were met.
This is a historical/alternate universe novel, you could say, in a setting of Japanese culture and folklore (yes, it totally has samurai). The protagonist, Mariko, has been betrothed to a prince by her father. On her way to the palace, her convoy is attacked and she barely manages to escape with her life. Now she wants to find out who hired the bandits to kill her and why. She dresses as a peasant boy and infiltrates the deadly, and feared, Black Clan.
And she does all this very easily despite the fact that she has no survival skills, can't fight, and has no way to navigate the forest, which is supposed to be a place that even soldiers don't enter because it's dangerous and impossible to navigate.
Some might argue that it's because Mariko is very smart but come on, at least show us some of her difficult journey. It might have made things interesting since the pace of the novel could have used some work. For the first half, it almost felt like nothing happened. Honestly, I got in a bit of a rut halfway and when I picked the book back up a day later, there were only two things of note that came to mind. Which is not a good thing.
Afterwards, there was some more not-much-happening but it was tempered with the romance aspect coming into play, so it wasn't bad. I liked the romance.
The main events of the book, when things really got interesting, were in the last quarter. But that felt hurried, which could be due to the rest of the novel being slow. But, it was still very good. The events of the last 25% were twice as significant as the rest of the book. Seriously, everything happened then. From the main plot movements to the character development and the villain's intro. If that last part could have been stretched (in a good way) to enclose a larger part of the novel, the pace would have been evened out.
And then we had the little plot device of a reason for Mariko to infiltrate the Black Clan. I mean, what smart character decides that the best course of action after narrowly escaping death is to go in half cocked and shack up with the people who tried to kill her? Sure, she wanted to know why someone wanted her dead, but that excuse only worked for 50-100 pages, at best. Afterwards, it started to lose meaning (that happens when you keep saying something over and over again) and became insufficient, made worse by the (poorly done) revelation near the end.
But you know what, I'm being harsh. There were many redeemable qualities to be found in the novel. For one, it's beautifully written and explores Japanese culture very well. All the characters we were introduced to were interesting and ones you could easily become invested in. Character development was good, as was the world building. And the ending was great.
Overall, while first installment wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, it set up the rest of the series well. I think the upcoming books will be better and I do think you should give this one a shot. Renee Ahdieh is a good author.
kivt's review against another edition
2.0
another book with all the right ingredients to make me love it, but mangled in its execution. too much telling us how cunning mariko is, almost no demonstration of it. love interest subplot could have been exciting but wasn’t well developed. the setting was also underdeveloped. how do you mess up a haunted forest? but the WORST was the writing. the style was nearly unbearable. ahdieh loves the hell out of sentence fragments and paragraph breaks. her prose is not poetic, it’s stilted and immature. give this a pass.
phoenix2's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. Although I loved the story, especially the balck clan mythology, the writing was really bothering me. Sometimes it was simply boring to read and I almost dropped the book after those loooong narrations. I also didn't like Mariko. She seemed too full of herself. And her story was kind of predictable, as we followed the Mulan plot for her story. However, the black clan, with all the secrets and the bad boy attitude were the ones that kept me reading. Them and the love story. So, I am going to read the next book as well, only because I want some answers to the many questions that were left unanswered, as the ending was left wide open. But, honestly, I did skip read some chapters in this one in order to get through the poetic prose that really didn't suit the action themed story.
ambersapphire98's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
4.25
hmcdade's review against another edition
4.0
I finished Flame in the Mist hours ago and I am still very upset! I had been led on a wonderful journey with Samurais, magical beings, and a strong female warrior. I got to the end and my head was slammed into a wall. I need an ending. The cliffhanger was too much for me.
kaulhilo's review against another edition
5.0
this book.... i’ve deadass reread it about 5 times since i finished it a few days ago.. and it breaks my heart everytime. i—. ah. this book was the best, the kind of book that makes you wish gr had an option to give a book a thousand star ratings;, and it’s been so long since a book has left me feeling this way, this wonderful book. if i loved renee ahdieh before because of twatd, god help me because i would give up my life for her now. wow.