Smoke in the Sun (Flame in the Mist Series #2)

by Renée Ahdieh

Overview

Now in paperback, the heartstopping finale to the New York Times bestseller Flame in the Mist— from the bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn.

After Okami is captured in the Jukai forest, Mariko has no choice—to rescue him, she must return to Inako and face the dangers that have been waiting for her in the Heian Castle. She tricks her brother, Kenshin, and betrothed, Raiden, into thinking she was being held by the Black Clan against her will, playing the part of the dutiful bride-to-be to infiltrate the emperor's ranks and uncover the truth behind the betrayal that almost left her dead. With the wedding plans already underway, Mariko pretends to be consumed with her upcoming nuptials, all the while using her royal standing to peel back the layers of lies and deception surrounding the imperial court. But each secret she unfurls gives way to the next, ensnaring Mariko and Okami in a political scheme that threatens their honor, their love and the very safety of the empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524738167
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Series:	Flame in the Mist Series , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	116,848
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	820L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Renée Ahdieh is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In her spare time, she likes to dance salsa and collect shoes. She is passionate about all kinds of curry, rescue dogs, and college basketball. The first few years of her life were spent in a high-rise in South Korea; consequently, Renée enjoys having her head in the clouds. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and their tiny overlord of a dog. She is the author of Flame in the Mist as well as the #1 New York Times bestselling The Wrath and the Dawn and its sequel, The Rose and the Dagger.

Read an Excerpt

Tall and Proud and Hapless
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Smoke in the Sun"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Renée Ahdieh.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

Praise for Smoke in the Sun:

PW Best Summer Read

“If the first book in this duology (Flame in the Mist, 2017) was a slow burn, this conclusion is all action...Mariko is a heroine worth following to the thrilling conclusion.”—Booklist

“With admirable brio, Ahdieh serves up intrigues and counterintrigues, battles and betrayals, … interludes of heated romance…Nuanced female characters drive the action.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A well-written, lavish conclusion to the dreamlike world created in Flame in the Mist.”—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

2018-05-15
It's out of the outlaw forest and into the imperial court in this conclusion of a fantasy duology set in an alternate feudal Japan.Newly "rescued" from the Black Clan, Hattori Mariko returns to the path her noble family prescribes, affianced to the brother of the new Emperor of Wa. Mariko resolves to play the meek, dutiful maiden (even if that requires actually marrying brutal Raiden) in order to spy for the rebels and possibly rescue her beloved Okami. But with dark powers threatening everything Mariko cherishes, her cleverness may not be enough. With admirable brio, Ahdieh (Flame in the Mist, 2017, etc.) serves up intrigues and counterintrigues, battles and betrayals, harrowing scenes of graphic torture and interludes of heated romance, conveyed through no fewer than seven viewpoints. Nuanced female characters drive the action, including a gratifyingly matured Mariko: less preternaturally ingenious but more intelligent and aware; less insistent upon honor but unshakable in her integrity. Unfortunately, the choppy, overwrought prose again substitutes a deluge of Japanese vocabulary for thoughtful worldbuilding. The magical system, while clarified, still fails to fully explore its implications. Eventually the snarl of complicated schemes lurches to a rushed climax—entangling a (clichéd) lunatic villain, an (implausible) heel-face turn, and a (no, really!) weaponized zombie apocalypse—followed by a discordant epilogue littered with jaunty romantic banter and abandoned plotlines.Absolutely necessary to those who loved the first; otherwise mostly incoherent. (Fantasy. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews