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lsmith36 's review for:
Flame in the Mist
by Renée Ahdieh
For full review: https://athroughzbooks.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/review-flame-in-the-mist/
It’s no secret that I didn’t enjoy Ahdieh’s previous work The Wrath and the Dawn. So naturally I came to this book with some trepidation. The summary was really what drew me in, because I’m a sucker for anything to do with East Asian cultures in modern literature, cinema, or music. So I took a gamble. It mostly paid off.
First off, I’ll begin with what I did enjoy. Mariko, for the majority of the novel, was a great protagonist to have. She’s smart, an inventor, and has a certain amount of pluck in her that I can admire. My favorite heroines are always the ones that overcome their self-doubt and turn themselves into heroes, which she does. The backdrop to the story is also overflowing with magic, wild landscape, and fascinating places that I found myself easily immersed in. Also, that supporting cast though! Yoshi easily became my favorite character, with the others of the Black Clan shinning from time to time. But that was the root issue I had, they only shinned from time to time.
While I did rate this book higher than Ahdieh’s other novel, I have at least a paragraph of vices to get out, so hold with me. Primarily, I did not feel a strong connection with the characters, Yoshi not withstanding. Characters like Okami, Kenshin, and Ranmaru were all interesting enough, but lacked any real depth to make me connect with them. I’ll save Okami for a harsher rant later on in this post, so for now I’ll only speak on the others. Kenshin, Ranmaru, and the other not named or non-important Black Clan members all blended together for me. There were a few things to set them apart, Kenshin is leader of the Black Clan, Ranmaru has some serious sociopathic tendencies and is Mariko’s twin, but that was it. Their relationship to Mariko seemed so superficial that I almost didn’t believe she had alliance like feelings for them.
It’s no secret that I didn’t enjoy Ahdieh’s previous work The Wrath and the Dawn. So naturally I came to this book with some trepidation. The summary was really what drew me in, because I’m a sucker for anything to do with East Asian cultures in modern literature, cinema, or music. So I took a gamble. It mostly paid off.
First off, I’ll begin with what I did enjoy. Mariko, for the majority of the novel, was a great protagonist to have. She’s smart, an inventor, and has a certain amount of pluck in her that I can admire. My favorite heroines are always the ones that overcome their self-doubt and turn themselves into heroes, which she does. The backdrop to the story is also overflowing with magic, wild landscape, and fascinating places that I found myself easily immersed in. Also, that supporting cast though! Yoshi easily became my favorite character, with the others of the Black Clan shinning from time to time. But that was the root issue I had, they only shinned from time to time.
While I did rate this book higher than Ahdieh’s other novel, I have at least a paragraph of vices to get out, so hold with me. Primarily, I did not feel a strong connection with the characters, Yoshi not withstanding. Characters like Okami, Kenshin, and Ranmaru were all interesting enough, but lacked any real depth to make me connect with them. I’ll save Okami for a harsher rant later on in this post, so for now I’ll only speak on the others. Kenshin, Ranmaru, and the other not named or non-important Black Clan members all blended together for me. There were a few things to set them apart, Kenshin is leader of the Black Clan, Ranmaru has some serious sociopathic tendencies and is Mariko’s twin, but that was it. Their relationship to Mariko seemed so superficial that I almost didn’t believe she had alliance like feelings for them.