honestly, i really wanted to rate this higher. for most of the book, i was freaking out because i loved almost everything. the pacing was abysmal and Mariko made some pretty stupid decisions, but everything else was to die for. i didn't even care about the flaws that much because i was enjoying myself too much. but then, everything just vanished. the whole book had been leading up to this climax that just ... wasn't there. was Ahdieh just trying to stretch her plot out into two books when it could easily have been one? i don't know. (view spoiler)[also, Ahdieh made a big deal out of Mariko supposedly knowing everything while not knowing that her family was high-key terrible, but i didn't believe it. i don't really know why, but that whole thing just made me roll my eyes. anyone who was as smart as she was supposed to have been should have seen it, right? (hide spoiler)] i'm definitely excited to read the second book because Mariko and Okami are my absolute OTP, but i'm just disappointed by Flame in the Mist.