Immortal Fire (Red Winter Trilogy #3)

I just finished this series and it was an utterly wonderful and satisfying ending. The only bad thing is that it left me wanting more. Annette Marie, please write another series in this world! Maybe one focusing on Yumei! All the characters are wonderful, with their own distinct personalities that remain consistent throughout the entire story. Thats not to say they dont grow, they do, but their choices remain true to their core values and mindsets. The main character herself is someone anyone can respect and admire. She is one of my favorite female leads of all time! So humble, so selfless, so smart… you can see how she can earn the respect and admiration of the gods. The story moves at a fast pace, except for somewhere about three quarters of the way through the book, where it seemed the main characters took a holiday break that didnt really add to the narrative. Oh well, I see why the author did it and it was a nice thing for Emi, the main character. The plot kept me guessing through the entire series as to where it was going and how Emi could help surmount each escalating obstacle. The spirit world and the world of the gods were portrayed clearly and logically. You can easily imagine how this complex and mystical world was structured. This book is like a novel form of the best sort of manga. If you like shojo manga, read this. If you like movies like Spirited Away or anime like Inuyasha, read this. (Honestly, I think this story is better than Inuyasha.) If you simply like fantasy with romance, like the Lunar Chronicles, definitely read this. This story will get you hooked and have you daydreaming about it after youre done. Its that good.

\”Tomorrow is my last day in this world. I am not afraid.\” Once, Emi believed the heavenly gods were righteous and wise, while the earthly yokai spirits were bloodthirsty and evil. But with a traitorous deity poised to destroy her world, and the yokai standing as humanity\’s only defense, the lies of her upbringing have toppled to reveal a far more terrifying reality. Despite the looming threat, Emi can\’t escape her greatest distraction: Shiro, the fox yokai who has so deftly claimed her heart for his own. Soontoo soonas the earthly gods gather to wage war against the heavens, Emi and Shiro must gamble everything to turn the tide against their immortal, all-powerful foes. Together, they will find a way to save her worldeven if it means losing each other. \”If I am your fire, then you are my light.\” I cheered. I swooned. I cried. My heart broke and mended and broke again. The battles were intense. The self-discovery angsty but well worked through. The love strongly bittersweet. And after the war? I BLEED. I BLEED FOR THIS BOOK. \”To find true makoto no kokoro, you dont need to be in harmony with a kami. You need to be in harmony with yourself.\” A 1-click read. Strongly recommended for fantasy lover fans.

I totally liked the red winter trilogy! It\’s a great fantasy story, and being based in Japan, there are all sorts of fascinating spirits &creatures I\’m not as familiar with. I realized at some point in the 1st book (I think from some description of how characters moved in fights or landed and slid exactly like in the cartoons) that it\’s written in the style of anime. When I first noticed, I was a little afraid it might be kind of hokey. But this is a dang good well-written story, & so those \”anime\” aspects end up being very very cool 🙂 By the third book I was afraid the writing might veer off into romance-novel land, but it did not go quite so far.* Rather, there was a very excellent broad spectrum of emotions, both light and deep, happy and not. It is a good novel that builds the characters from barely introduced acquaintances to profound well-rounded people who we feel like we know through and through, yet still grow & sometimes surprise us , and who\’s emotions and experiences we feel deeply. All that analysis is something I hardly noticed happening (aside from the occasional chuckle, eye roll, or tear) while caught up with the exciting gripping plot and the vibrant action and really fascinating characters . (* sidebar – I am not against love stories and entanglements in novels- many if not most good stories involve romantic relationships, because any real person\’s story usually does. But there is something about the tone or style of romance novels that is specifically identifiable somehow, and – in my opinion – just does not work when applied to other stories. I once read friend\’s first novel, and while it was a cool and interesting fantasy tale, something about the writing just seemed off to me. I couldn\’t figure out why, until I remembered she was a fan of romance novels, and this fantasy epic was written in that style. Just not good.) The Red Winter Trilogy is not that at all, it is excellently written and the characters have real relationships that evolve in varying directions and degrees, some of which are a bit sappy, and that is okay, some of which are poignant or fun or heartbreaking, and that is beautiful. And finally, while not every great story starts next to a single person focused on their daily mundanities and keeps expanding to god/ world/ epic scale, I think most of the best ones do. This one does, in such a natural way that is great.

Beautifully written and pulled every single emotion, I cried when , Emi cried I felt everything she did. Had to put the book down as I couldn\’t see through the tears. Again the only criticism I have is I want to see it through Shiro eye\’s. Would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who loves to feel what the characters feel.

I enjoyed the \’Steel and Stone\’ series by this author. I found the first of this trilogy harder to get into, largely because of the very unfamiliar mythology referred to. However, by the second in the series this had become more familiar, and so I enjoyed this, the series finale. A satisfying conclusion to a well-paced and engaging story.

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