Shadow of the Fox

"One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos. Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn. Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll. There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart. With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself..."

Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa - Release date October 2, 2018

From the second that I picked this book up I knew I was going to love it. This book is the ultimate mix of Japanese Folklore and action filled fantasy. The story concept was unique, yet it was written in a way that would have you thinking this was a fairy tale deserving of being passed down through generations. I can not express how much I loved reading about all of the plot twists and new adventures that Yumeko and Tatsumi found themselves tackling. There was never an end to the amount of demons they had to fight or new members of their party that they managed to pick up along the way. Throughout the whole story Kagawa was able to tie all of her amazing twists and turns into a brilliantly woven story. Even the end brought a small bit of satisfaction, though it was very clearly not the end of the road for these characters since this book will be a series and I was certainly left with tons of burning questions and the irritated anticipation for the next book to come out as soon as possible so that I can find out what happens!

Kagawa has an amazing talent of telling the story through the perspective of multiple characters and luring you into their mind as she delves into that part of the story through their eyes. One of the most incredible parts was that she was able to show her Tatsumi’s character development through a subtle change in the way she wrote his parts of the story. Even when she was discussing one of the characters who you did not get to read a chapter from first person about their backstories and emotions could be felt through the pages. Okame, the dishonorable ronin, provided the perfect amount of comic relief and actual usefulness to the plot that it would be impossible to have the story without him. Even Suki, a character who you may forget about at first, plays a vital role in the flow of the story. Even though I HATED Lady Satomi from the beginning those feeling do not even compare to how much I loathed her at the end. Her involvement with the demons and oni only added to her awesome bad guy status. As for the two main characters, I honestly don’t know if I could pick a favorite. On one hand, you have Tatsumi, the Shadow Clan shinobi trained to suppress all of his emotions in order to maintain control of the ancient demon trapped within his sword. He has worked his whole life fighting and killing demons, but has always kept his distance from people due to his upbringing. Now, he is forced to protect Yumeko through her journey out of what first seems to be obligation, but soon develops into something else. On the flip side, Yumeko has also never really had contact with anyone other than the monks from her temple, so she is discovering the world in a whole different light throughout their adventure. She grew in so many ways and I couldn’t help but rooting for her when the foes she faced would doubt her. (Don’t worry she always delivered in the most entertaining ways possible). The world that they are traveling through was beautifully created and I can’t wait to see which parts the next book takes them to.

My biggest “dislike” about this book is that because I have an advanced readers copy I do not have a map in the front. Once the actual book comes out I am sure the map will be so intricate though. I am excited to see where all of the clans lie in relation to each other and what the path that Yumeko and Tatsumi traveled looks like. My only other “dislike” was not even really a dislike, rather it’s more of a warning: there are going to be some confusing parts because of the amount of Japanese words infused into the story line, don’t worry and just keep reading, Kagawa will always clear up what each word means, even if it is hard to keep track of them sometimes. As for “likes” I would honestly say EVERYTHING. I am always down for a good book about magic, adventure, demons or dragons, and this book was able to fuse all of them together! 

There is no question that this book was 5/5 stars and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a really unique and fresh look on legends and folklore (especially the Japanese ones)! I gobbled this 399 page book down in 5 days and I definitely would have done it faster if I had had more time. It was so hard to put down, even for a minute!

~ Alyse :)

Reviewed on October 2, 2018