Shadow of the Fox by Julia Kagawa

Soul of the Sword by Julia Kagawa

Night of the Dragon by Julia Kagawa

(Blurb from Shadow of the Fox)

A single wish will spark a new dawn. Every millennium, one age ends and another age dawns…and whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers holds the power to call the great Kami Dragon from the sea and ask for any one wish. The time is near and the missing pieces of the scroll will be sought throughout the land of Iwagoto. The holder of the first piece is a humble, unknown peasant girl with a dangerous secret. Demons have burned the temple Yumeko was raised in to the ground, killing everyone within, including the master who trained her to both use and hide her kitsune powers. Yumeko escapes with the temple’s greatest treasure – one part of the ancient scroll. Fate thrusts her into the path of a mysterious samurai, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan. Yumeko knows he seeks what she has and is under orders to kill anything and anyone who stands between him and the scroll.

Published: 2018-2020

Publishers: HQ Young Adult

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythology

Total Pages: 1,234

Goodreads Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Review

There are a few series that I have heard very little about and this series really intrigued me with the backdrop of Tradionational Japan as well as the inclusion of the mythology.

Personally I really liked the backgrop of Japan, I could easily imagine the clothing and the kimono’s, I loved the use of Japanese terminology throughout the three books. To me it felt like something from a shonan manga, if this book became a shonan manga I would buy the book in a second. I liked learning about the different types of spirits that Yumeko and her friends encounter, I enjoyed the expoloration.

I felt this book to be quite slow at times and I really struggled to go through some pages, I do want to mention that there is a lot of info dumping and it really made me turn off at times. It was like mixing all of the colours together and it came out grey, if it was in art form then I would have enjoyed it, I would have liked more interaction with Yumeko and Tatsumi because I couldn’t understand how they developed feelings by just looking at each other so quickly. Book 2 was really slow and I was reaching the point of dnfing and returning the books back to the library.

I enjoyed seeing the development of Yumeko’s Kitsune abilities, each book she was able to develop new skills which is great to see because it showed the development of the character. I liked that the chapters were of different view points from Yumeko and Tatsumi but the first book didn’t have indication as to which character you were following, but it was resolved in the second and third book.

I gave this series a three stars because while I enjoyed falling into the world and being consumed with the Japanese culture, I couldn’t really get past over the hurdles to get to the final battle, there was so much description that it clouded over the story and it made me feel lost through in the world.

My March wrap-up is coming soon, I didn’t have anything planned to upload last week, I was a bit distracted with my embroidery project, which if you want to see it, it’s on my Instagram. I have been reading too much again this month and I am already nearing my Goodreads Goal, I have been heavily addicted to reading Manga or watching Anime at the moment.

Hope you are having a lovely day

Happy Reading