As Good as the First

 Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh 

This book picks up almost immediately after the previous. I am OBSESSED. I spent most of the book worried about Okami; he was the only character I cared about, but as it progressed I began to care about others. Mariko spends a good amount of time trying to play the different members of the court so she can get information, stay alive, and try to help the Black Clan. Then, after dark she goes and tries to break Okami about of prison. Her brother, the Dragon of Kai, is being manipulated by Riordan's mother (he is her fiance). That relationship between the brothers, turns out it's not as strong as we were led to believe, and the consort was right to try to stop Riordan from being close with his half brother because Roku is crazy. He is focused on Okami and not on the country so the consort is able to control the minds of a bunch of people and turn them into a zombie army. Fake Ranmaru (I can't remember what his actual name is, but he was pretending to be Ranmaru because Okami didn't want to go by his real name and be associated with his family) is in love with Okami, but he handle's Okami and Mariko well. Okami's sister is not actually his sister, she is Fake Ranmaru's sister, and she also thought she was going to marry Okami when she was a child. We learn about Okami's family, the death of his parents, and how many people still support him after Dragon helps him escape so the Black Clan can rescue him. Fighting happens. It's dramatic. Roku sentences Mariko to death and puts her in the prison. Riordan confronts her and she stops lying to him. He wants to meet with Okami and together they let her out. Roku shows up and Riordan kills him by pushing him down a flight of stairs. He becomes emperor. Okami becomes Shogun. Riordan tells Mariko that the didn't actually complete the wedding ceremony so they are not married and she and Okami take their own vows. The reason this was 4.75 and not 5 was because the conflict between the consort and the empress (Roku's mom) felt unfinished. We saw a lot of the consort, but none of the empress until the consort kills her with a spider bite. It just felt like not enough. She should have been with Roku, advising him in opposite ways of Riordan or something. She was a catalyst for his quickened descent into madness, but she wasn't around.  I listened to this audiobook, but I might need to buy a copy of it because it was so good. Obsessed! I will definitely read more from this author!