Flame in the Mist

All great opportunities in life follow some form of struggle.

I enjoyed this book. It had a bit of everything needed in a YA novel. It wasn't heavy on fantasy or romance, but had a mix of everything. The one thing that was mentioned over and over again was the way women were treated and how they were expected to conform to the norms set by the society. This did not just hold true for the Feudal Era setting of the book, but works for the current time period too. So everytime Mariko mentioned the way people expected her to behave because she was a girl, really made my blood boil because I've heard all of those things myself.

So 5/5 for the plot since it's about a woman trying to break free of the mold that society expects her to fit into.

Characters were good. I liked the main trio. The writing was good because I liked the way the author changed the POV whenever needed to show another part of the story to give us a bigger picture of all the scheming behind the plot.

I especially enjoyed how much this book made me want to watch anime again because of the Japanese setting and the terms used throughout the story.

But like, could it have ended on any more of a cliffhanger?!