BLOG TOUR: Shadow of the Fox

Shadow of the Fox 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

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. 

I don't even know how to begin to review the excellence that was this book!? It immediately cemented it's spot as one of my favourite books of the year, and it's one of those books that I would sell an internal organ to climb inside the pages of it. I fell completely in love with this book, and the world, and the characters and the mythology included in it...and I feel like this might be Kagawa's best book yet! 

The opening chapter draws you in with the beautiful descriptions swiftly melting into a horrifying, yet intriguing scene as we kick off the plot. The intrigue doesn't let up as we meet our two narrators and have the pieces fall in to place and some mythology woven in for the plot to really get started. I had so many thoughts and theories as we met the characters and the support cast! 

Yumeko is a halt kitsune who lives with the monks guarding part of the scroll, and I loved her okay. She's mischievous, she's brave, she's naive and trusting and she has absolutely no concept of sarcasm so her interactions with Okame were always hilarious! You can't help but root for her, and I wanted to see more of her magic, and I have suspicions about her heritage and if we'll be finding out more about that. She also made me nervous because of the whole hiding her nature thing but you could see the struggle she had with the two sides of herself which I'm anticipating coming in more now she's gotten to let loose with her magic. 

Our other narrator was Tatsumi, the badass demon slayer who's been honed in to a weapon with no weaknesses and no fear. He wields a demon sword...think Seraph of the end Style. Tatsumi is stoic and emotionless....and kinda grouchy. He doesn't speak much, he'd probably kill you for even thinking about speaking to him. I was so curious about his upbringing and his Clan and the whole deal with the sword! I really want to know how he came to be part of the Shadow Clan?!

While both characters grow over the course of the book, Yumeko starts to understand the world and how it works, and starts to understand sarcasm, but Tatsumi....I feel like he develops the most in this book. He starts to trust Yumeko when he's never trusted anyone before, and after spending time with her he starts to feel things, which is something he hasn't been allowed to do before and it makes his struggle with his demon even more serious. 

Yumeko and Tatsumi are our main two narrators but we also get a couple of chapters with Suki, who we're introduced with at the beginning, bless her. I did briefly wonder why we were focusing on her so much at the beginning when she wasn't the protagonist but it became clear as the story went on and I did really like how she was woven in to the story from the beginning. She provides us snapshots that amp up the tension and impending danger...and foreboding.

I genuinely loved the cast of characters, Okame was so much fun and had me chuckling. I know he's kind of shady in the beginning and I will admit I wasn't too sure of him...and I'm still kind of not. Like I'm hoping he's not going to turn out to be a bad guy, but I'm not as trusting as Yumeko! Either way I loved his character more and more as the book went on and his little comments matched my thoughts too, I'm going to be devastated if he ends up being a baddie! 

Daisuke, oh Daisuke....I knew from your description at the beginning that we'd be seeing you again and Kagawa made me wait until most of the book for it! I was looking out for him throughout the whole book, and I needed to know how he was going to come in to the story, when he was going to pop in, and I'm so curious about his family....there's no way he can be part of that family and be so chill? With no power struggles!? He's a contrast to Okame, he's more serious, he's very into Bushido and testing his skills but he's very honourable too. 

Reika is the last member of our little gang but we don't meet her until towards the end of the book, and I'm so looking forward to getting to see more of her and get to know her better. From what we've seen so far...she's a no-nonsense badass. There are plenty of other intriguing characters and a wide array of bad guys out for the scroll and to stop our characters but also mysterious helpers, like Seigetsu. I am so freaking curious about him!? Who he is? Who's side is he really on? What is he!? Then at the end the evil lady was all "You're...." and I was screeching at the book "WHO IS HE?! FINISH YOUR SENTENCE BEFORE YOU DIE DON'T BE RUDE". I'm so hoping we'll be seeing more of him next book! Although I do have a small suspicion about who he is but I'm probably wrong! 

I'm assuming we're getting a romance between Tatsumi and Yumeko, but it's going to be slow burn, I can tell you that. I do love Tatsumi and Yumeko's interactions and how they've bonded and grown close, and the struggle it's caused within Tatsumi. But....I kind of sense the opportunity for a love triangle with Daisuke too and I would so be here for it if the book goes that way! I do feel like we'll be seeing more of Daisuke interacting with Yumeko in the next book. I'm not going to lie, I'm already shipping Reika and Okame! 

Obviously, there's way too much going on for the romance to be the main focus, we just have little moments and thoughts as it's being built up. Like I said...prepare for slow burn! 

The world is freaking amazing, like wow....the world building. It rose up around me, each scene was so vivid and atmospheric. Dear God...can someone make this in to a TV series?! Please?! I could seriously see it being a movie or a show. It's one of those books that you can so easily get lost in because of how vivid the world is and how much it engrosses you, and read for hours, without realising time has passed...which is how I read half of it before realising it was 3am...oops. 

I love Kagawa's writing style and her storytelling, and like I said...I think this is her best yet! Or at least it's my favourite out of all of her series now! She weaves so much in to this, mythology, culture, historical aspects, action, mystery and magic. The pace is steady, be warned, we're on the road a lot because you know...we're on a quest! We're meeting other characters who join our squad, and we encounter situations that allow them to bond and us to dive in to more mythology and folklore as we have these mini adventures, building up as we head towards the capital and stage one of the overall quest being complete. It's not rushed, neither did I feel it was too slow paced, as there's lots of action moments to keep things going. It's just so richly written and perfectly paced and everything is so well done to suck you in and build up the plot. 

I'm just so in love with this book, I've always been fascinated by Japanese and Chinese mythology and folklore and history, and this one let's me sink my teeth in to a tonne of Japanese folklore and mythology which is something I can't get enough of. I'm also pretty proud of myself, because I've been attempting to learn Japanese and I already knew the forms of address, and what some of the words Kagawa used meant! Plus I feel like I learned some more after reading this book! I did love that Kagawa used Japanese words throughout, I felt like it added to the world building and made the book so authentic rather than just using the western version of the words! 

I can't even with the ending of this book though, everything is built up so perfectly to the climatic ending and it's full of badass fight scenes and blood and savagery...and a couple of last plot twists, and then....we basically get an idea of what's coming and what questions are going to be answered...and I actually thought some of them were going to be answered right then! But Kagawa is basically just like "lol see you next book" after teasing us! The wait is going to be brutal. I JUST HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS STILL OKAY. I NEED TO KNOW. 

Shadow of the Fox is richly written, and excellently builds up the world and the plot as we go on a quest with our squad of intriguing, and likeable characters. Mythology and folklore is woven in with the blood magic, evil plotting and adventure, and it's a book that's hard to put down, and will fully engross you and leave you bereft upon reaching the end of the book!