Book Review: Shadow of the Fox

Shadow of the Fox 

By: Julie Kagawa

Published By: Harlequin Teen

Publication Date: October 2, 2018

Page Count: 409

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: Amazon Vine Program UK

Young Adult - Fantasy

I struggled to get going with Shadow of the Fox. It is so full of Japanese culture that I couldn’t keep names of characters and other Japanese words straight as I have no prior knowledge at all really... it was only when I was moaning a little about needing a glossary that I checked the back of the book for one, and found it! That helped a lot. I thought it should be right at the start of the book though, because I am very wary of accidentally spoiling books, and I don’t like turning to the back to look anything up just in case. It also occurs to me that someone reading on an e-reader would possibly struggle even more with this. 

 Once I had my trusty glossary to hand, I started to settle in a lot more and iron out my incorrect assumptions – it turned out that there were a lot of words for gods, and I’d assumed some characters were magical, when they weren’t at all... that glossary really helped. 

 I liked the story of Yumeko, Tatsumi and their increasing band of friends. It felt highly original and the old Kagawa magic of creativity was very much in evidence. I felt like the elements I’d enjoyed from The Immortal Rules were back, and the trickster ways of Puck from The Iron Fey came through in Yumeko from time to time. I felt echoes of Ash in Tatsumi, and yet for all these echoes, I didn’t feel like this was derivative. I came to enjoy all the cultural enlightenment and once I got to about halfway, I was really turning the pages pretty quickly. I liked the shy warming of Yumeko & Tatsumi towards each other; this was the most predictable element of the story but I like a good slow burning romance and I didn’t mind that it looked likely to go that way as there were other surprises to keep me happy. My one criticism is that Yumeko seems to flow through life rather effortlessly, and perhaps a little more difficulty for her would be desirable in the next book. 

 The ending held a little surprise and that was welcome, and made me immediately wish I had the next book (Soul of the Sword) ready to go. I would recommend this story but with the caveat that you will have to work at it to begin with, which may put some readers off. The pay off is more than worth the work though and I’m very pleased to be engaged in another Julie Kagawa series, as I didn’t feel that connection with her recent Talon Saga.

Summary:

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.