Flame in the Mist

4/5 stars “Be as swift as the wind. As silent as the forest. As fierce as the fire. As unshakable as the mountain.” You might be saying to yourself, “Wow? A review for Mist in the Flame? Didn't you promise to post this three weeks ago?” Actually, you aren't, but I'm going to pretend you actually care and are. Which I reply to you. Yes. I was. But I got lazy. It happens. But better late than never. First just a huge thank you for Penguin Teen sending me an arc of this book. You guys are the coolest. If there's any other arc you wanna send my way, please don't hold back. So now that I got all that out of the way. I just wanna say that this review isn't just a review. It's also my eulogy. Because this book actually killed me. R.I.P EmiJune 1998-May 2017.She died doing what she loves. Crying over fictional characters. I've been dead for three weeks and y'all didn't even notice. Rude. But I'm gonna forgive you if you pick up this book and join me here in the afterlife. This book is just so awesome? It makes me wanna run into the forest and join a group outlaws. Do they even exist anymore? Do they accept emotionally unstable introverts? If you like action, beautiful covers, girls who are better than you, and some other stuff, this book is just what you are looking for. It's also really informational? Before reading this, all I knew about Samurai is pretty much nothing and I learned so much about their history. obviously, I will never be an expert, but it's nice to read about a topic that isn't taught in schools very often. The writing is also so beautiful. [a:Renee Ahdieh 4600197 Renee Ahdieh https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1487663209p2/4600197.jpg] is establishing herself as a very consistent author which is great and all but she's also incredibly gorgeous so I'm very much intimidated by her entire life. [b:The Wrath & the Dawn 18798983 The Wrath & the Dawn (The Wrath & the Dawn, #1) Renee Ahdieh https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417956963s/18798983.jpg 26724902] is still higher on my favorites list then this one, but this was a great follow-up to that series. So if you didn't know what this book is about. It's marketed as a Mulan meets 47 Ronin. I am unfamiliar on 47 Ronin, so I don't know how accurate that is. But the Mulan part. It's a pretty good comparison. However, if you are going into this book expecting the entire plot of Mulan conveyed using the English alphabet and paper, you are wrong. It's there, but this book is its own separate entity. At the beginning of this book, Mariko, who's father is this big bad Samurai, is being sent off to marry some dude she doesn't love. Pretty stereotypical. But when she was traveling to go get married off, her party is attacked and everyone dies. But she manages to get away. Mariko figures that this group called the Black Clan was responsible because they wanted to kill her. So, instead of running the opposite direction like any sane person would, she disguises herself as a boy and goes undercover in the Black Clan to figure out why the hell they wanted to assassinate her.I'll be honest. The first part of this book is kinda slow. There is just a lot of haning around, not doing much in the woods. But once you prevail into the last part, everything becomes worth it. Let's talk characters. Shall we? It's been awhile since I finished this book, so I don't remember too many details. But I'll try. Markio. Can I be her? I want to be her. She's better than you. My only complaint is that she's supposed to be like this mastermind with scientific stuff, but we don't get to see that a lot. Okami. I wasn't paying any attention to his character, to be honest. I didn't think he would be important. Then Ahdieh went in a direction I didn't expect with him and I regretted barely giving him a second glance. Don't be me. Appreciate him throughout the entire novel. Ranmaru. I'm gonna be honest with you. I kinda don't remember his character very much? He reminded me of Robin Hood though. Kenshin. He's Markio brother and he's kind of an asshole. But I'm not really surprised. But I did really love how much he loved his sister? But would your brother work as hard as he did to find you? He set the brotherly love bar really high. I'm thinking about disappearing to see if mine would. He probably wouldn't even know I was gone. In conclusion. This book is amazing and you should read it. Honestly, I don't know how you are reading this and just ignoring the beautiful cover. Except, is it a peacock or a phoenix on the cover? I just can't figure it out.