Book Review & Excerpt | Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Justine Sha for my spot on this blog tour.

About the Book

All is lost.

To save everyone she loves from imminent death, kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko gave up the final piece of the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. Now she and her ragtag band of companions must make one desperate final effort to stop the Master of Demons from using the scroll to call the Great Kami Dragon and make the wish that will plunge the empire into chaos.

Shadow clan assassin Kage Tatsumi has regained control of his body and agreed to a true deal with the devil—the demon inside him, Hakaimono. They will share his body and work with Yumeko to stop a madman, and to separate Hakaimono from Tatsumi and the cursed sword that trapped the demon for nearly a millennium.

But even with their combined skills and powers, this unlikely team of heroes knows the forces of evil may be impossible to overcome. And there is another player in the battle for the scroll, a player who has been watching, waiting for the right moment to pull strings that no one even realized existed…until now.

If you would like to read more – click on the link below for an excerpt:

My Review

Tessa Talks Books rating: Rave (5-stars)

Night of the Dragon concludes A Shadow of the Fox trilogy in a spectacular fashion that is as bittersweet as it is exciting and full of adventure. Yumeko, the kitsune, leads her heroic band to the final battle, and no one comes out without having their lives changed completely. I am so glad that I got to tag along for the ride, and explore this Asian fantasy world full of creatures from myth and legend.

Favorite character: Suki

Suki is a ghost, but that does not stop her from helping whenever and however she can. Meek and mild when she was alive, she now shows a hero’s resolve in her determination for a happy ending to the story. I also had a best friend in grade school named Suki, so I loved that the character brought up fond memories for me.

What I loved

The world-building, which is extraordinarily essential in epic fantasy, is glorious in its detail. I never for a second doubted that this world exists even if just between the covers of a book. It is lush, full of color, and dangerous at times. The mythical beings that inhabit these lands add a touch of whimsy and magic that enabled me to understand why it is so essential to stop the wish that is about to be made. The only thing that was a bit fuzzy for me was the palace. The interior descriptions just were not as sensory as the outside world.

The characters are heroic, and just a touch flawed, so you know they are human. The romance between Yumeko and Tatsumi felt inevitable and beautiful in its unconditionality. An excellent example of soulmates meeting that could only happen to two people as deserving as these two with their selflessness and bravery.

I love the use of a kitsune. A mythological beast not often seen in literature, I have always found them to be intriguing creatures. When they are in stories, the role they play is naughty, with a touch of evil about them. Yumeko is a fun look at a kitsune who is neither of these things.

I found it to be a beautiful conclusion to the trilogy – full of action scenes and battles to get to the end. The battle scenes get a bit cumbersome, but then I never can follow them in movies either, so it is probably a “me thing.” The story builds up to the last battle, and it does not disappoint. I loved the way it seemed like it was over only not to be entirely done numerous times.

To Read or Not to Read

If you love epic fantasy, then you will want to get your hands on this trilogy. Though it is a YA Fantasy, it reads like adult epic fantasy, so it can be easily read and enjoyed by ages teen and up. A heroic journey to save the world that will take you on an emotional journey full of love and loss. If you are like me, you will find yourself smiling through the tears.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade, and Inkyard Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author

Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey, Blood of Eden, Talon, and Shadow of the Fox series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.

Julie now lives in North Carolina with her husband, two obnoxious cats, and a pair of Australian Shepherds that have more Instagram followers than she does.