Smoke in the Sun (Flame in the Mist, #2)
Renée Ahdieh
For weeks, seventeen-year-old Mariko pretended to be a boy to infiltrate the notorious Black Clan and bring her would-be murderer to justice. She didn't expect to find a place for herself among the group of fighters—a life of usefulness—and she certainly didn't expect to fall in love. Now she heads to the imperial castle to resume a life she never wanted to save the boy she loves. Ōkami has been captured, and his execution is a certainty. Mariko will do what she must to ensure his survival—even marry the sovereign's brother, saying goodbye to a life with Ōkami forever. As Mariko settles into her days at court—making both friends and enemies—and attempting Ōkami's rescue at night, the secrets of the royal court begin to unravel as competing agendas collide. One arrow sets into motion a series of deadly events even the most powerful magic cannot contain. Mariko and Ōkami risk everything to right past wrongs and restore the honor of a kingdom thrown into chaos by a sudden war, hoping against hope that when the dust settles, they will find a way to be together. Set against the backdrop of feudal Japan, Smoke in the Sun is the breathless, romantic, not-to-be-missed fiery conclusion to a spell-binding adventure.
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02.5 Stars
I won't go too far into it as this was both a sequel and a concluding novel in a series but let's leave it to this.
The last third was decent. The rest of the time I was bored. Everything I didn't understand from the first book (the magic, mainly) was never expanded on or explained. In fact, I feel like it became less solid.
There were so many wide open endings that made no sense what so ever. I understand you can't (and shouldn't) wrap up everything with a nice bow at the end of a story, but there were (what I felt) were fairly major plot lines that were left completely open. They were discussed in the second book but never concluded. You never even got a sense of what might happen. Or I don't know, maybe I was so bored I missed that part.
Nothing surprising happened. Nothing fun, nothing interesting. Everything was exactly what I expected. It felt almost like reading a children's book as an adult. You knew everything that was going to happen before it got there.
The characters were SO much better than in the first book, and that's probably what saved this book for me. In the first book, all of the characters blended together and I didn't really care about anyone. This time around, I felt like the characters were better developed. I can even tell you who they are and what they did two days after reading it while with Flame, I forgot nearly everything I read an hour after I closed the book.
So, I mean if you read the first one, continue on little soldiers. But I'm sure you can guess the ending without any struggle.
03.5
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