Immortal Fire (The Red Winter Trilogy) Paperback – Illustrated, April 6, 2017

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. That’s not to say they don’t 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 didn’t 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 you’re done. It’s that good.

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.

Japanese folklore and mythology... but with a twist.In the Red Winter Trilogy, we follow Emi - the kamigakari (whom is the vessel of the sun goddess), Shiro - a fox yokai, and fellow yokai friends and gods/goddesses save the world from being destroyed by a dangerous deity.I read this trilogy about 2 and a half years ago, and I was hooked! I love anything that has to do with the Japanese culture and their lores, so after stumbling upon this book, I just HAD to get it.You enter a world so rich and beautiful, with a strong -female character who goes through so much development as the story progresses, slow - building romance that is just totally worth the wait, and the flirting between the MC and the ML? I felt that in my SOUL. & the artwork!!! Oh lawd. Thank you Annette Marie for including such wonderful pieces of illustration in every other chapter or so 🥺 I always looked forward to seeing what would come next.Emi is MY gurl. You take one look at her and at first you’d think “she’s a weakling”, LITTLE DO YOU KNOW! This girls got so much spunk. I was so proud of how she grew as a character. From a naive girl to this super bad - ass chick. She pushes herself to become better, and to not be someone who always needs to rely on another. I was rooting for her so much throughout the book.Shiro 🥵 my sly fox (will always be #1 on my list of book boyfriends). He was such a ✨foxy✨ fox of a man. He’s so shameless when he flirts with Emi, that even I got butterflies in my tummy from his scenes with her! There’s so much mystery revolving around his character due to the fact that he can’t remember his past, and you wouldn’t even know because he’s so good at hiding it! But the unraveling at the end was so worth the wait.& Yumei 😫 my sexy tengu yokai. This man is an enigma!!!!!!!!!! He is the true meaning of a tsundere (*≧∀≦*). So cold at first, especially towards Emi, but throughout the book you can clearly tell that he truly cares for her and Shiro, doing everything he can to help them. & when Shiro wasn’t in the picture for a little bit, and Emi was all alone, Mr. Sexy Tengu Yokai was always there for her with his murder of crows watching and checking up on her 🥺 I wanted to know more about him and his past, and I wish Annette Marie talked more about it. But I hope she writes a spin - off series about him, because that is something I would LOVE to read.