Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh Review

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Before I begin, I wanted to point out that this review will have some spoilers from the first book in the series. If you haven’t read the first book yet, I’d recommend you check out my other review on Flame in the Mist first. Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh focuses on Mariko’s journey as she finds her place as the wife of the emperor’s brother, Prince Raiden, and an ally to the Black Clan. Mariko knows that gaining Prince Raiden’s trust is of utmost importance while in the castle.  To complicate matters even more, Ōkami, her love interest, has been taken as a prisoner in the heavily guarded castle. Mariko struggles to find ways to ensure his safety while trying to act as detached and indifferent about him in front of everyone else. She knows that the emperor will kill him as mercilessly and ostentatiously as possible when given a chance and won’t hesitate to kill her if she shows any signs of being close with Ōkami. Mariko has to find a way to save Ōkami, gain the trust of her enemies, and attempt to remove the hot-headed emperor from power.
The book’s whole plot mainly revolved around Mariko saving Ōkami which I didn’t really love. In my opinion, everything was sort of cliché and I felt like I could predict most parts of the book. In my opinion, the sequel is nowhere near as good as the first book. It didn’t seem to possess the same energy and excitement, especially when it comes down to character development. I was looking forward to getting more of an incite on Ōkami’s character but the story did little to provide him with a solid background, leaving many things about him unclear. However, there were some parts where Ōkami did reveal a little about his past, letting the reader look a little closer into his life. 
One thing I did enjoy was how the book gave a little more on Yumi’s personal life and wants, rather than just focusing on how she’s Ōkami’s sister and a geiko (a geiko is a professional entertainer and in this scenario, she’s a dancer). I like how Ahdieh went into describing how skilled of a swordswoman Yumi is, allowing her to show her character a little bit more. To be honest, Yumi seemed to be the only character that developed in some way through the book. Initially, Yumi was cold and angry at Mariko because of how she was let into the Black Clan even though she was a girl. She believed the only reason Mariko was let in was because Ōkami liked her. Yumi is a better swordsman than Mariko and would be more valuable to the Black Clan but Ōkami makes it clear that he cares too much about her. Mariko and Yumi did share some moments in the book which allowed them to become closer to one another and better understand one another. 
Overall, I don’t think the second book is worth reading and found myself having a hard time wanting to finish it. After the first couple chapters, I lost interest. So, unfortunately, I would not recommend this book. 

Comments

  1. Andrea_TorelliNovember 3, 2019 at 3:47 PM

    I think that you do a really good job of describing the plot of the book and give good reasons as to why it's not very interesting. Your justification of the clichés and boring moments in the book really convinces me that you are right in your negative interpretation of this book.

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  2. Miriam ANovember 7, 2019 at 2:14 PM

    Your post was really informative and easy to read. I also read your earlier post about Flame in the Mist and based on your reviews, I agree the sequel doesn’t sound as interesting as the original story. The entire plot of this book sounds like it could be just a few chapters of Flame in the Mist. I would also agree that even though the first book seemed slightly cliche as well, it wasn’t overdone. However, Smoke in the Sun sounds like a stereotypical YA novel without much action. Your reasoning for your argument successfully persuaded me not to read Smoke in the Sun.

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  3. NickNovember 8, 2019 at 1:35 PM

    This is a solid review! It is written so that I get a clear understanding of the plot and your opinion without extremely lengthy paragraphs or a long list of criticism because sometimes a book is just hard to read and you end up getting bored, which seems to be what happened with you. I also like that you mentioned how the book was cliche because I get very bored with simple, overused plots and this review tells me that I should definitely stay away from Smoke in The Sun in an easy to read manner.

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  4. Olivia ThompsonNovember 9, 2019 at 7:27 AM

    I think you did well at describing the plot and giving both negatives and positives about it. One thing I would recommend doing would be telling us a little more about the characters before jumping right into the plot. Other than that I really liked it and I like that you are honest about not thinking the book is worth reading. If I ever read the first book I will make to be skeptical before reading this one!

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  5. Arya ThirodiraNovember 22, 2019 at 1:12 PM

    I think you described the book really well and in detail. It made me want to read it and I got a really good idea of what the book was about from that part. I do think that the review should've been a bit more detailed, so the reader could get an idea of what the book was like from another independent reader. This would really help my evaluation of the book. But overall: really nice job! I look forward to reading your other blog posts.

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