I feel like this sequel matched book 1 pretty well. Mariko is at the imperial court lying her way through life, and the politics felt a bit simple. Just like book 1, people are lying and using pretty words to disguise their true intentions, but it all felt obvious? Very little is left for the reader to puzzle out.
And there was magic? Which was a random plot point in this otherwise historical setting??

Compared to the first book, I liked how this one had more about the fact that all women have to suffer from the patriarchy and Mariko is not some very special girl who has brains. (Some of the women are still written as shallow though)
As for the rest of the characters…. I found them a bit meh.
One of the things I liked about book 1 was the siblings finding out they are part of the oppressive rich ruling class, and I felt disappointed that this didn’t go anywhere. They discuss it, but nothing happens afterwards.
I didn’t really care about the romance in book 1, so I wasn’t very invested in all the drama surrounding the life or death of Okami. The one death I did care for was the secondary character Yoshi from book 1.

Overall this wasn’t a bad book, but the sequel didn’t follow up on the few plot threads I liked in book 1. ( )

While I enjoyed this story, there was too much unresolved in this second book. There are a lot of POVs and unfortunately, the ending seemed very incomplete for many of the characters. I thought maybe there's to be a third book, but apparently not. There are a lot of interesting characters who I thought deserved some answers, so while liked the book and loved the setting, I wanted more. ( )

I listened to this book and I love the narrator - Nancy Wu. I would listen to this woman read anything. She is great. The book takes up the story of Mariko where the first book - Flame in the Mist - left off. The duology is set in a fictional kingdom that resembles feudal Japan. It is full of swords and sorcerers, adventure, and characters with which you can relate. There is some ambiguity in the story and that allows the readers imagination to wander. That's to the good. There is also lots of Eastern mythology and symbiology in this book and so some knowledge of Japanese myths and symbols is helpful. When the reader comes to these parts just look them up in Wikipedia and that clears up much of the problem. ( )

I wasn't really that into the first book in this duology, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise I'm not overly fond of this one. The imagined world was still fascinating and there were definitely moments when the story held my attention, but overall, I struggled to finish this one. ( )

This was better than Flame in the Mist, in my opinion.
I am thankful for how my unresolved questions were answered but I am still left partially confused but it does not matter.
I have to say half of the things that happened in this could have been just put into the first book and the commotion that happened could have been explained a bit more instead of rushing it and leaving it just there unanswered.

All I am going to say OKAMI and Mariko saved this story for me...loved loved them to bits ( )