gbrooks15's review against another edition
4.0
I truly was not expecting this plot twist! I'm usually pretty good at guessing which way a books plot is headed but this one truly surprised me. I quickly became attached to the main character and found myself concerned for her throughout the entire story. I can't way to read the second book!
anerdlereadle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
spotswimmy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I thought it was a cute and engaging story with an unexpected nod to girl power
karlischaad's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
4.25
lizaktzxy's review against another edition
3.0
This was one of those books which, in my opinion, are a pretty decent mix of good and bad.
The protagonist annoyed me. She was so goddamn whiny. And it irritated me every time the other characters would call her smart or talk about how she can outsmart others because I had to wonder if I missed whole chunks of the book because where exactly did she do anything of note? She couldn't keep her emotions in check, was a terrible liar, was impulsively getting herself into stupid situations and the fact that she didn't end up dead as soon as the book started just seems like good plot armour in the form of bandits who were being super nice to her.
I did appreciate what was a big part of this book-the focus on how they talk about the strength of being a woman. On a personal level, I absolutely loved the way the author went about the dialogues of the matter. I thought it was wonderful.
Also, thankfully the male protagonist is an amazing character. Ookami is A+. Extremely fun to read about.
And of course, the writing was amazing. The author's experience shows in the writing. It was such a joy to read.
Personally, I loved the author's previous book series and so I was looking forward to reading this but it turned out to not be quite on par with my expectations. Nevertheless, I probably will read the sequel when it comes out because it was a decent book.
The protagonist annoyed me. She was so goddamn whiny. And it irritated me every time the other characters would call her smart or talk about how she can outsmart others because I had to wonder if I missed whole chunks of the book because where exactly did she do anything of note? She couldn't keep her emotions in check, was a terrible liar, was impulsively getting herself into stupid situations and the fact that she didn't end up dead as soon as the book started just seems like good plot armour in the form of bandits who were being super nice to her.
I did appreciate what was a big part of this book-the focus on how they talk about the strength of being a woman. On a personal level, I absolutely loved the way the author went about the dialogues of the matter. I thought it was wonderful.
Also, thankfully the male protagonist is an amazing character. Ookami is A+. Extremely fun to read about.
And of course, the writing was amazing. The author's experience shows in the writing. It was such a joy to read.
Personally, I loved the author's previous book series and so I was looking forward to reading this but it turned out to not be quite on par with my expectations. Nevertheless, I probably will read the sequel when it comes out because it was a decent book.
hans_cosy_corner's review against another edition
2.0
This book was really good, I enjoyed every minute of it and when I was done I immediately wanted the next one - the pacing was good, the romance pacing could have been better...but dialogue, setting, attention to detail - all great! I want to know more about the forest though, and the magic
junghoseok's review against another edition
3.0
Let’s talk about this gorgeous cover. Well folks, they say don’t judge a book by its cover, and they’re right—even when it comes to books with beautiful covers that don’t necessarily tell a great story.
I enjoyed Renee Ahdieh’s The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger, so I thought I would give Flame in the Mist a go. Plus, it’s been compared to Mulan. Mulan! My absolute favorite Disney princess! I’m all over that.
This book is not a Mulan retelling.
First, it takes place in Japan, not China. Or I guess it’s Japan? It’s based on Japan, at least. Still, that was a part I really loved about this book; the eastern flair and culture was a delight to read and beautifully portrayed, not to mention a break from the usual fantasy setting. Second, our heroine (not Mulan) doesn’t disguise herself as a man to join the army to protect her father. She disguises herself as a man to join the Black Clan, a group of talented samurai who tried to murder her, to figure out why they tried to murder her and who hired them. Still intriguing, right? Absolutely.
I’m going to get the rant out of the way. I feel bad about ranting because I know books aren’t perfect and authors work really hard to write a story they love, but brace yourself for a little bit of a rant (spoilers ahead). First of all, the Black Clan basically adopts this random useless “boy” (our heroine) they find at the watering hole to join their super secret super deadly BLACK CLAN as their newest recruit. Um? I’m sorry, but our heroine is useless and brings pretty much nothing to the table, especially when they first meet her, but the leader is cool with taking her on. We find out later the leader knew she was a girl all along, but I’m still unclear on how this would ingratiate her into his favor. Secondly, the text goes on and on about how smart our heroine is and how her mind is her greatest weapon (totally awesome), but we never really see this smartness. We’re just told about it, like she had to have some sort of niche to make her stand out as a woman. The third part of my rant concerns the Love Interest. The whole time our heroine is with the Black Clan, she would say literally anything and he would be like “you’re lying”. It was all “liar”, “you’re lying”, “liar” again and again and again. Like boy, #immacutyou if you say that one more time. If you’re so smart why didn’t you figure out she was a girl. And the piece de resistance of my rant concerns, that’s right, the romance. Our heroine and Love Interest have a few good rounds of banter (if you call him calling her “liar” every two seconds banter), but that’s it, and they don’t really have anything meaningful drawing them together. They know each other for a few days and then all of a sudden they’re kissing when he figures out she’s a girl. Like literally two seconds later. Maybe I’m an old fogey, but this isn’t what meaningful relationships are like. And ANOTHER THING on that note, so you find out she’s a girl and immediately kiss her? Like I would have questions?? Why did you disguise yourself? What’s your purpose for infiltrating my clan? (though again, she didn’t infiltrate the clan, the leader basically adopted her). Again, maybe it’s just me.
Mini rant about our heroine, here were my thoughts at certain sections. Here’s the literal narrative: “Mariko (our heroine) was here on a mission: to discover why the Black Clan had tried to kill her, and nothing—not even a boy who could kiss her mind into silence—would ever change that.”
#wannabet
And this gem: Love Interest says, “I will not save you again” (after he saves her life) and our heroine goes, “I don’t need anyone to save me.” GIRL YOU JUST FELL INTO A HOT SPRINGS AND WOULD HAVE DROWNED WITHOUT HIM. DON’T SAY “STRONG, INDEPENDENT” STUFF LIKE THAT WHEN IT ISN’T TRUE.
Anyway.
If I had to put our heroine into a Hogwarts house, I would have to say Ravenclaw? I guess? Maybe I’m just being taken in by the narrative telling us how smart she is all the time, though we don’t actually see a lot of it. She’s not cunning enough to be a Slytherin, though she was pretty ambitious to go and join this Black Clan, though she did it for a specific purpose and not really for power or ambition’s sake. Not a very Slytherin thing to do.
Like I said, I loved the culture and a few of the characters (okay, mainly our heroine’s brother), and the general story intrigued me (hint: the “who tried to murder me” plot, not the romance), and I think Ahdieh’s writing is beautiful. There’s a lot of palace intrigue going on in the shadows, and I’m interested to know more. Will I read the second book? Yes, because I have a thing about finishing series, and it was good enough for me to continue. But I think I like The Wrath and the Dawn better. And I definitely like Mulan better.
I enjoyed Renee Ahdieh’s The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger, so I thought I would give Flame in the Mist a go. Plus, it’s been compared to Mulan. Mulan! My absolute favorite Disney princess! I’m all over that.
This book is not a Mulan retelling.
First, it takes place in Japan, not China. Or I guess it’s Japan? It’s based on Japan, at least. Still, that was a part I really loved about this book; the eastern flair and culture was a delight to read and beautifully portrayed, not to mention a break from the usual fantasy setting. Second, our heroine (not Mulan) doesn’t disguise herself as a man to join the army to protect her father. She disguises herself as a man to join the Black Clan, a group of talented samurai who tried to murder her, to figure out why they tried to murder her and who hired them. Still intriguing, right? Absolutely.
I’m going to get the rant out of the way. I feel bad about ranting because I know books aren’t perfect and authors work really hard to write a story they love, but brace yourself for a little bit of a rant (spoilers ahead). First of all, the Black Clan basically adopts this random useless “boy” (our heroine) they find at the watering hole to join their super secret super deadly BLACK CLAN as their newest recruit. Um? I’m sorry, but our heroine is useless and brings pretty much nothing to the table, especially when they first meet her, but the leader is cool with taking her on. We find out later the leader knew she was a girl all along, but I’m still unclear on how this would ingratiate her into his favor. Secondly, the text goes on and on about how smart our heroine is and how her mind is her greatest weapon (totally awesome), but we never really see this smartness. We’re just told about it, like she had to have some sort of niche to make her stand out as a woman. The third part of my rant concerns the Love Interest. The whole time our heroine is with the Black Clan, she would say literally anything and he would be like “you’re lying”. It was all “liar”, “you’re lying”, “liar” again and again and again. Like boy, #immacutyou if you say that one more time. If you’re so smart why didn’t you figure out she was a girl. And the piece de resistance of my rant concerns, that’s right, the romance. Our heroine and Love Interest have a few good rounds of banter (if you call him calling her “liar” every two seconds banter), but that’s it, and they don’t really have anything meaningful drawing them together. They know each other for a few days and then all of a sudden they’re kissing when he figures out she’s a girl. Like literally two seconds later. Maybe I’m an old fogey, but this isn’t what meaningful relationships are like. And ANOTHER THING on that note, so you find out she’s a girl and immediately kiss her? Like I would have questions?? Why did you disguise yourself? What’s your purpose for infiltrating my clan? (though again, she didn’t infiltrate the clan, the leader basically adopted her). Again, maybe it’s just me.
Mini rant about our heroine, here were my thoughts at certain sections. Here’s the literal narrative: “Mariko (our heroine) was here on a mission: to discover why the Black Clan had tried to kill her, and nothing—not even a boy who could kiss her mind into silence—would ever change that.”
#wannabet
And this gem: Love Interest says, “I will not save you again” (after he saves her life) and our heroine goes, “I don’t need anyone to save me.” GIRL YOU JUST FELL INTO A HOT SPRINGS AND WOULD HAVE DROWNED WITHOUT HIM. DON’T SAY “STRONG, INDEPENDENT” STUFF LIKE THAT WHEN IT ISN’T TRUE.
Anyway.
If I had to put our heroine into a Hogwarts house, I would have to say Ravenclaw? I guess? Maybe I’m just being taken in by the narrative telling us how smart she is all the time, though we don’t actually see a lot of it. She’s not cunning enough to be a Slytherin, though she was pretty ambitious to go and join this Black Clan, though she did it for a specific purpose and not really for power or ambition’s sake. Not a very Slytherin thing to do.
Like I said, I loved the culture and a few of the characters (okay, mainly our heroine’s brother), and the general story intrigued me (hint: the “who tried to murder me” plot, not the romance), and I think Ahdieh’s writing is beautiful. There’s a lot of palace intrigue going on in the shadows, and I’m interested to know more. Will I read the second book? Yes, because I have a thing about finishing series, and it was good enough for me to continue. But I think I like The Wrath and the Dawn better. And I definitely like Mulan better.
manu71005's review against another edition
4.0
Rapid review 4 stars
I really liked this book. Everything was so amazing and Mariko and Okime where such great characters.
I also loved all the Mulan retelling, and the atmosphere of the whole place (was it Japan?).
We didn't see much info of the magic which is why I am so interested in the next book. Also the cliffhanger (that should be illegal).
And another thing that I'm not sure if it's my fault (because I'm nuts) is that I didn't understand some very little parts of the book. But other than that I loved this since the first pages. It was soo good.
You SHOULD read this (i know you'll like it)
I really liked this book. Everything was so amazing and Mariko and Okime where such great characters.
I also loved all the Mulan retelling, and the atmosphere of the whole place (was it Japan?).
We didn't see much info of the magic which is why I am so interested in the next book. Also the cliffhanger (that should be illegal).
And another thing that I'm not sure if it's my fault (because I'm nuts) is that I didn't understand some very little parts of the book. But other than that I loved this since the first pages. It was soo good.
You SHOULD read this (i know you'll like it)
leila_reads_too_much's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0