Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: High Fantasy
Source: Harlequin
Goodreads
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.Review by Nara
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.
I must say, I really enjoy reading Julie Kagawa's novels. They're always such fun books, with plot and characters that tend to be a little generic but very accessible and likeable all the same. Shadow of the Fox is a little different from her other novels, being a high fantasy. It honestly had such a classic plot that I could see in a manga or anime. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've read manga with similar storylines of an adventure where the protagonist has to go on an adventure and find different objects that combine for some sort of purpose.
The story so far in Shadow of the Fox isn't tangling with intricacies, but I'm actually quite enjoying how linear the plot is. There are quite a few different POVs, focusing mostly on the two main characters, but also some from others including the main villain. I'm also loving the Japanese influences- the nine tailed fox is especially one of my favourite Asian mythological creatures.
I'm certainly looking forward to further books in Kagawa's series. She tends to start off a little slower and end strongly so I'm already anticipating the next one.
Really liked it
RatingsOverall: 7/10
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
World Building: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 3/5
