Flame in the Mist, by Renee Ahdieh

Flame in the Mist was a great novel by one of my personal favorite authors, Renee Ahdieh. It was one of those books that I couldn't put down, no matter how hard I tried. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. I didn't even think about the time!

Have you ever had one of those books? The plot is constantly interesting, and there are twists in it everywhere? Have you read a book where the main character's feelings are not as they seem, and the role of antagonist seems to fluctuate between characters? Flame in the Mist was one of those books.

Flame in the Mist is set in feudal Japan, and is about a girl named Mariko, the daughter of a daimyo lord and the sister of a renowned samurai. On her way to meet her betrothed, the son of the Emperor, who she herself has never met, her procession is attacked by a group of ronin called the Black Clan. The only survivor, Mariko disguises herself as a boy and infiltrates the Black Clan, aiming to gain their trust and destroy them from inside. However, she finds herself conflicted as she realizes that the Black Clan are the only ones who value her skill as an alchemist and intellectual, befriends some of its members, and even grows to love one of them. Even as this occurs, her brother searches for her, confident that she is alive and determined to bring her to her betrothed.

Flame in the Mist was a miraculous novel, a happy mix of historical fiction and supernatural. With ninjas (the Black Clan) and samurai, it is definitely action-packed, with the expected plot changing so many times that it keeps you enthralled. You can feel Mariko develop in your bones, and you can watch as things unfold around her, deepening the story. I loved its use of the Japanese culture (which is personally one of my favorites), and how everything is not originally as it seems.

The Black Witch, by Laurie Forest

The Black Witch was a wonderful, time-consuming book; it was everything I needed for it to be when I read it. Have you ever had one of those days, when you are trapped by the weather and all you can do is sit and read? That was what occurred while I was reading The Black Witch.

My sister's club soccer team had a game that day in a city that was a long drive from home. Since my team didn't have a game, I was dragged along for trip. When we got there, it was three things: cold, wet, and miserable. It rained for almost the entire day, and I was hanging out in the car with the heaters cranked all the way up, despite the fact that it was May. Every once and awhile, I would look up to watch my sister play for a few seconds before I returned to the book. And an enthralling book it was.

The Black Witch is about a girl named Elloren Gardner, the granddaughter of the renowned Carnissa Gardner, who was famous as the Black Witch, who drove back the enemy races to protect the Gardnerians. Finally allowed to attend Verpax University, a famous magic school, Elloren is ripped out of her secluded private life and she realizes that the world is not necessarily a safe place for a girl who looks exactly like the Black Witch. As she meets the winged Icarals and the barbaric Lupines, the brutal Kelts and the proud Elves, she finds herself discovering that her world is not as perfect as it seems.

I loved The Black Witch, because it was a reflection of today's social issues, from the point of the privileged. If you took Elloren and everything else out of its fantasy world, you would see things that are very real: the sex trade (shown by the Selkies, enslaved creatures that are forced to act as prostitutes), racism/racial superiority (Ex: the Gardnerians and Elves believe that all other races are inferior; they are the chosen races), sexism (Ex: not getting to choose who you marry; Elloren is pressured to "wandfast" herself to someone), slavery, child labor, cultural and racial intolerance, genocide, and, of course, having the WORST POSSIBLE person as leader (in this case, a priest who strongly believes in the racial superiority of Gardnerians and believes that the other races are little more than animals). It shows how Elloren grows and realizes how wrong the world has become, and how something must be done to change it. Honestly, she is quite hateable at the beginning of the book, but eventually, she developes into someone that wants change.


P.S.: Sorry it took so long for me to write a new post. I was caught up with school, and I've also been reading ameteur writing lately.