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A review by robotnik
Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I honestly thought this book was going to begin a streak of me reading good books after this year being such a flop so far. The first few chapters of this book are really good. And then, it waffled off into being boring for pretty much the rest of the book. It was such a shame, really.
I'll level with you. Mariko's annoying. The book keeps telling you how smart and strong she is with absolutely nothing to back it up. She's honestly an idiot through most of the book. She's also a huge contradiction, as she's lived a spoiled and pampered life but somehow she thinks the best solution after her retinue is attacked and killed and only she survives is for her to sneak after the would-be assassins and discover their identity and maybe deal with them herself. Like, wtf, no. Mariko fumbles her way through this book and then is a ninja by the end, or something. The "strong female" narrative is wasted on Mariko, who is anything but that.
Okami is a fail of a love interest, as he does absolutely nothing to endear himself to Mariko but she's suddenly into him. He's not very interesting. There's also something that comes across as biphobic with his character, considering his discovery of Mariko's identity and how he's suddenly desiring her and madly in love, but neither of these things are acknowledged when he thinks she's a boy. It just comes across as iffy to me.
The switching POVs was unexpected, and I don't think they enhanced the story in any way. It might have been better if told entirely from Mariko's perspective.
Really, this book is an extremely generic and slightly below average young adult novel that tries masking its average-ness beneath a Japanese setting but the world building is awkward and doesn't do its job of enhancing the story. There's magic in this book that's very weaky and wishywashy, and the crossdressing subplot isn't very well done.
This book would be an one star if not for the first few chapters. I was just really bored reading anything past them.
Overall, just another example of "interesting premise, boring execution". I will be skipping the next book and moving on.
I'll level with you. Mariko's annoying. The book keeps telling you how smart and strong she is with absolutely nothing to back it up. She's honestly an idiot through most of the book. She's also a huge contradiction, as she's lived a spoiled and pampered life but somehow she thinks the best solution after her retinue is attacked and killed and only she survives is for her to sneak after the would-be assassins and discover their identity and maybe deal with them herself. Like, wtf, no. Mariko fumbles her way through this book and then is a ninja by the end, or something. The "strong female" narrative is wasted on Mariko, who is anything but that.
Okami is a fail of a love interest, as he does absolutely nothing to endear himself to Mariko but she's suddenly into him. He's not very interesting. There's also something that comes across as biphobic with his character, considering his discovery of Mariko's identity and how he's suddenly desiring her and madly in love, but neither of these things are acknowledged when he thinks she's a boy. It just comes across as iffy to me.
The switching POVs was unexpected, and I don't think they enhanced the story in any way. It might have been better if told entirely from Mariko's perspective.
Really, this book is an extremely generic and slightly below average young adult novel that tries masking its average-ness beneath a Japanese setting but the world building is awkward and doesn't do its job of enhancing the story. There's magic in this book that's very weaky and wishywashy, and the crossdressing subplot isn't very well done.
This book would be an one star if not for the first few chapters. I was just really bored reading anything past them.
Overall, just another example of "interesting premise, boring execution". I will be skipping the next book and moving on.