Flame in the Mist

The Japanese culture has always intrigued me.  So, a fantasy novel filled with samurais, a Robin-Hood-like clan of thieves, a DANGEROUSLY forbidden forest, and the like, I knew I had to try it out!

The story itself was gripping.  I was hooked from the start by the world, the structure of the people & their culture, and how each character played their parts.  AND THE PLOT TWISTS.  WOOOOOOW.  While I enjoyed the plot & some of the characters, was enthralled by the strange magic, and overall love the whole gist of the story, I felt kinda abandoned & left hanging (thanks mostly to the CLIFF HANGER)---with the feeling I was lacking substance.  Does that even make sense?  This story had SUCH potential, but it was tossed & tossed in with the typical trope of girl-LOATHES-bad-boy-MC-but-falls-in-love-anyway & sprinkled with totally unnecessary language (as well as a bit too steamy romance. . . see respective section below).

Extremely violent, quite from the start.  Bloody, rather gruesome in the visual descriptions of hand-to-hand combat.  A convoy is ambushed where nearly the entire company is slaughtered in cold blood---only one person survives.  We see the body of a maidservant riddled with arrows & later burned completely in a litter used to carry the wealthy.

A repulsive man with obviously repulsive intentions attempts to take Mariko captive, but by her instinctive actions, she manages to stab him in the eye with a hair pin & slash his throat after a brief scuffle.  (Horrified, she promptly vomits the contents of her stomach.)

A samurai punishes a young man in his troop for simply singing on their return home after a failed mission.  Mounted on a horse, he kicks the man in the face.  We find he regrets the acts moments later, but that due to a twisted sense of honor, he felt it necessary.

An elderly man & his young grandchildren are cruelly murdered.  The man stabbed through the stomach---a slow death, and the children slashed across the chest & throat.

The jubokko tree is a LITERAL blood-sucking tree that grabs its victims with thorny vines & LITERALLY sucks the life-blood from their bodies.  This happens to a young man who screams the entire time until his energy is taken & he welcomes death with relief (a man offers to end his misery and, at the victim's permission, stabs him through the heart).  *shudders*

Some mention of the "old gods."  Characters pray to them, etc. etc.  There's some strange abilities that are obviously some sort of magic, as well as a sorceress whose intentions you'll find are quite evil.  At least one (MAYBE two) people are brought from the dead---somehow?  It's not explained, except perhaps by that bit of dark magic.

It's mentioned the Emperor was a direct descendant of the sun goddess.

At least two uses of "b-----d," at least one use of "d---ed," one use of "horse-s---,"at least one use of "s---," a use of "a--,"and also one use of "b---h."  A woman not the emperor's wife is referred to as his "witch whore."  The slang for an illegitimate offspring (in this case, a son) is often referred to as "whoreson."

Sake is a common alcoholic beverage made from rice.  Other such beverages are served in a well-known tearoom.

A man is poisoned in his tea. (. . .? kinda unclear how)  

We learn Mariko is no innocent maiden.  Simply to spite her parents, we discover she had seduced a young man & had sex with him, not realizing later that had they been caught, he would've been sentenced to death. . . I don't believe they were ever caught.  He's never mentioned again.

Mariko poses as a boy for a few months.  In an attempt to collect a flower to be used as possible poison, which happened to be located on a cliff above some hot springs, she climbs & eventually slips, falling into the springs & blacking out.  [SPOILER]  Had it not been for Ōkami, who'd been watching, she would've drowned.  As it was, he rescues her & learns through the split of her tunic & the wrappings around her breasts that she is a girl.  Mariko KISSES HIM RIGHT THERE & he ends up kissing back.  My sarcastic reaction:  Really??  I thought this scene rather silly, but I won't go into details. . .

Both Mariko & Ōkami go back & forth between hating each other, but eventually reconcile.  Ōkami comes to Mariko's tent at one point & asks permission to enter.  It's unclear exactly IF anything happens, but it could be implied.

You get the picture.  Be forewarned, the romance is a bit too steamy (& immoral to my high standards) to enjoy, in my opinion.

Overall, I enjoyed the story & the story world immensely.  If I happen to find the sequel at my library or at an awesome bargain price, I MIGHT read it just to finish the dualogy.  Like I said before, CLIFF HANGER.  But I found I couldn't really connect to the main character, Mariko, as much as I like to with my heroines.  More than anything, I wanted to slap the tar outta her (and that's so not me).  I much preferred the perspective of Ōkami much more, and even that of her brother Kenshin.

There's obviously some DEEP deception & twisted evil going on in the empire that could give one the shudders.  It makes for a great story & an intriguing mystery with the Japanese-like culture, but alas, I can only give it three stars (er, succulents).