Flame in the Mist Hardcover – Deckle Edge, May 16, 2017

The Flame in the Mist is a magically dark and intense story full of love, betrayal, and most of all---death. Many have compared this story to Disney's Mulan, which isn't technically true. The only comparison is that the protagonist Hattori Mariko pretends to be a boy for most of the book. It's also set in Feudal Japan and not China like in Mulan. I fell completely in love with the culture and atmosphere. This is the kind of YA book that blows me away with it's story telling to the point where writing a review for it is so hard. Words will never be enough to describe how awesome this book turned out to be. However it is my duty to do so, so let's get to it.What made the biggest impression to me was Hattori Mariko's voice. I love a good heroine that can hold her own in a tight situation. She also easily outshines any and all males in her world. Feudal Japan, much like the rest of the world, is dominated by patriarchy. The way Mariko navigates through her world and how she advocates for herself is so inspiring, and she's a great role-model for young women today. Mariko has an answer for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING! There is never an instance where she is shocked into silence. She's witty, wise, and loves to debate with the rest of the cast of characters. She's the kind of heroine that I look for in a book because she's more than just a pretty face. She actually has a brain and has no qualms in using it effectively.The story begins with the execution of a father as his young boy looks on, which sets the tone and reveals the kind of darkness that lives within the Emperor. Like I've said above, death plays a huge part in this story, and we see that there's civil unrest in Japan. People aren't happy with the Emperor, and the secret organization known as The Black Clan is the Emperor's most out-spoken enemies. For most of the book we see The Black Clan from the eyes of Hattori Mariko, who infiltrates them to find out why her caravan was attacked and her attendents murdered. She realizes the intended target was her, but she goes undercover to understand why. You begin to see who Mariko is as a character through the many circumstances she comes to face. Mariko at first glance isn't the kind of person who is necessarily brave. She's more of a strategist and tends to plan out her next steps, as opposed to running head first into something and being influenced by bravery without sound reasoning.Reneé Ahdieh masterfully switches POV's throughout the book, switching between the cunning Mariko, and her complex brother Kenshin. Kenshin holds the renowned title of The Dragon of Kai. His story line follows his footsteps into a journey motivated by revenge. Kenshin wants his sister back, and he will do everything in his power to punish The Black Clan and rescue his sister Mariko in the process. We get to see how strong Kenshin's love is for his sister, and he is ruled by the edicts of Bushido, which most warriors in Feudal Japan follow. He attempts to live by a code of honor, but along the way those lines of honor begin to blur as his resolve to find his sister begins to harden. We also start to see that Mariko's and Kenshin's relationship becomes more strenuous as their goals begin to conflict with eachother."Follow orders. Engender trust. Strike when they least expect it."This is Mariko's goal. As she goes undercover as a boy, she meets Takeda who is the leader of The Black Clan and his most fiercest fighter, Okami. Mariko learns that The Black Clan isn't what she thought it was, as she sees them take from the rich and give to the poor. This new revelation is in direct conflict with her earlier deductions that The Black Clan was evil and was responsible for the assassination attempt on her life. The Black Clan also shows her evidence that Mariko's father treats his people poorly. One of my favorite quotes from the book is,"True weakness is weakness of the spirit".It completely captures the old life Mariko was accustomed to and all the people who used to be important to her, like her father.Mariko makes great strides by growing into an amazing character. She has some of the biggest character growth in this book as she begins to see The Black Clan and the mysterious forest they inhabit as her home. She refuses to be property, something bartered or sold by the males who rule around her. Mariko learns that"the only power that any man has over you is the power you give him."Okami is The Black Clan's fiercest warrior and he is completely devoted to the clan leader, Takeda. However, his story is both dark and enigmatical. The plot twist involving his past was not as surprising as I'm sure it was meant to be. I suspected the turn of events, but it was still shocking to read that my assumptions did indeed come true. Okami teaches Mariko how to defend herself physically, but what I loved most was their warring of the minds. They had some of the best debates and dialogue that I've ever read. I found them to be a terrific balance to each other. As Okami reminds us,"She was not a half. She was wholly her own."Okami has a ton of depth to his character. He fights many inner battles within himself and he struggles with his identity and facing past decisions that he isn't proud of. Mariko seems to be the only individual that can bring out Okami's sensitive side. What I found most interesting was the dynamic between them before Okami finds out Mariko is in fact a girl, and not a boy who she's portraying. Okami doesn't understand why this person seems to rattle him. He isn't used to dealing with someone who seems to be an enigma to him. While Okami is very much a feminist, which is ground-breaking considering this is Feudal Japan, the chemistry between him and Mariko before her gender reveal is tantalizing. There were some homo-erotic undertones, and I found it refreshing that Okami was willing to accept his feelings if she had in fact turned out to be male. He doesn't say it, but if you read between the lines it seems like he would have accepted Mariko if she were a man. Again, not something you would necessarily associate positively in Feudal Japan.Reneé does a wonderful job with empowering women in this book through the lens of Mariko. Most YA authors who try to empower women in their books paint their heroines to be fierce without a man. And often times, many authors even say that statement outright. What they don't realize is that they are still defining a woman in relation to a man. Ahdieh doesn't wrestle with the idea of woman empowerment through the absence of a man. She allows Mariko as a woman to find her own strength within herself, set within her own parameters of what it means to be strong. One of the most revealing statements on what it means to be a woman, came from a geiko (which appears to be like a geisha) woman in a tea house, who Mariko comes across. Mariko asks the woman if she was ever angry at being born a woman. The geiko replies,"There have been times I've been angry at how the world treats us, but I see being a woman as a challenge I must fight. Like being born under a stormy sky. Some people are lucky enough to be born under clouds. No wind. No rain. Just a mountain of clouds we must climb each morning so that we may see the Sun."What a beautiful metaphor of what it means to be a woman, and the plight women face by engaging in a battle everyday so they can be viewed as equal.The Flame in the Mist interlaces Japanese mythology, political strife, civil unrest, and a young girl's journey to finding out what it means to be a woman in a world full of men, in order to bring together this magical story. Hattori Mariko has a voice of a fighter, a girl that refuses to allow anyone around her, least of all a man, to dictate who she is and who she's trying to become. It also reveals the true depth of sibling love. Ahdieh reticulates how family is what you make it, and that it's not necessarily tied by blood. Lastly, the passion behind the characters Ahdieh has created can be felt through the pages and it worms it's way into your heart. Mariko and Okami are unique in their love because they question and push each other to not only show their potential, but to embody that potential. This was a stunning debut for Reneé Ahdieh's new series, and I thought it was even better written than her Duology The Wrath and the Dawn. Readers, definitely check this book out! You won't regret it!

Can I just say how gorgeous this cover is? Because it's so beautiful. And how does the story compare? While the book was good and enjoyable, I'm sad to say it did not make my favorites list like I was hoping it would, but none the less, it's a book to keep an eye on.Flame in the Mist follows Mariku, the daughter of a samurai. The story picks up right in the middle of her journey to Inako, where is she to become a bride to one of the emperor's sons. Her convoy is attacked, with the intention of murdering her. She narrowly escapes. Believing the attack to be behind the Black Clan, she sets out to find them and discover who was behind her attempted murder and why.First off, Ahdieh did not disappoint in her descriptive, immersive setting. While I don't have the knowledge of whether she was accurate in her feudal Japan scenery, I found there to be no awkwardness in her incorporation of Japanese terms. So I'm assuming her descriptions were pretty legit? Either way, Ahdieh amazes me in her attentive and detailed writing.I really appreciated the protagonist in this story. I like how we weren't given a strong, sassy heroine, but instead got to see Mariku develop as a character. She started off as this inquisitive, intelligent, but cowardly girl who we got to see grow and face down her fears in order to achieve her goals and stand up for herself. Additionally she struggles with the confining roles her society has placed around women. I liked how even though were told Mariku is an intelligent young person, she still had numerous things to learn that her pampered life had kept her blissfully ignorant of.***Spoilers beyond this point***I'm not gonna lie; I love the girl disguised as boy trope. I love the dramatic reveals that always follow. This book did not disappoint...though it kind of weirded me out? Like "Hi, I know you just found out I'm a girl 2 seconds ago, but let's have a makeout session!" And the romantic interest went along with it! Not that it wasn't entertaining, but like, da frick? Like, bro, don't you need time to process things? Their "constant lets provoke each other" friendship became a romance so quickly it came across as unrealistic.The romance, along with the ambiguous magic, were the main reasons I didn't give this book a full five stars. Magic is involved in a decent chunk of this book, yet it's never explained! Additionally, there were so many magical twists in the end that just seemed thrown in there because I felt so in the dark on this issue (plus they came from the chapters with new POVs). I really wanted to know how society revealed magic. Is it unusual? Shunned? People in Inako seemed disgusted by magic, but when Mariku witnessed magic repeatedly, she seemed to have no problem accepting it. I really hope this issue is addressed in the next book.Overall this was a decent book though. I recommend this for anyone who enjoyed Ahdieh's other books and those who are suckers for the cross dressing trope like I am. I'm eager for the next book to come out (aaah that cliffhanger) and will definitely be reading it. (Lol why did I have to read this on the release date? Now I have to wait at least a year.)