Uptown Oracle Reads… Shadow of the Fox

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Shadow of the Fox
Julie Kagawa

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 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 and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is 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.

The storyline of Shadow of the Fox is brilliantly written, and I adored it. There’s Japanese mythology skilfully woven throughout the book, which fully packed the book with extra doses of world building. I enjoyed the history involved and the little details throughout. Although, some background knowledge may be needed for some terms that are used, otherwise it can be slightly confusing. But a quick google search does help!

Without being spoiler-y, there were a couple of characters that felt unnecessary to be included, especially when there were whole chapters that felt like a filler. However, Kagawa is normally quite good at pulling characters back into her stories, so I’m sure they will show importance later in the series. But I do think they could have had maybe a couple of good scenes to set up their next role.

What I enjoyed most is the mass of different mythical creatures involved. Kagawa has given us fae and dragons, and now she is giving us Kistunes which is great as they’re rarely seen in YA Fantasy. I love books that have good creatures in – and I enjoy the takes different authors have on them. So I really enjoyed Shadow of the Fox because of this.

I’ve read enough of Kagawa’s books to know that she loves a romance – and unfortunately for me, this is still that case. Unfortunately for everyone else as well, this romance is almost formulaic to her other books. Girl meets boy. Go on adventure that has multiple dangers and supernatural elements in play. Romantic Tension^TM builds.

Despite a couple of hiccups – I really enjoyed reading Shadow of the Fox. It’s an easy read once you get used to some of the words used, and I loved the world building, creatures, places and magic. The plot itself is also intriguing, although it’s clearly part of a longer series. I’m excited to see where this goes.
 

Positives

• World Building
• Mythical Creatures
• Japanese Myth

Negatives

• Romance
• Unimportant Characters

I received Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review