It's an absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour for the last part of the Shadow of the Fox series, Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa.
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.
Follow @Jkagawa on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit juliekagawa.com, Buy Night of the Dragon
About the book
All is lost - In a desperate last-chance attempt to stop the Master of Demons from calling upon the Great Kami dragon and making the wish that will plunge the empire into darkness and destruction - Yumeko and her ragtag band of companions must journey to the wild cliffs of Iwagoto.
But even with their combined skills and powers, this most unlikely team of heroes knows the forces of evil may be impossible to overcome.
And now there is another layer in the battle, a player who has been watching and waiting for the right moment, that no one even realised existed...until now.
As darkness rises and chaos reigns, a fierce kitsune and her shadowy protector must face down the greatest evil of all in the epic conclusion to the Shadow of the Fox trilogy.
Review
This is by far the best series of books Kagawa has ever written. The last few chapters are simply superb and bring this absolutely riveting story to a stunning conclusion.
Although this is YA fantasy it is as intricate and as complex as the majority of high fantasy I have read. When it comes to fantasy I think there should be an extra sub-genre for the more complex body of work that comes under the young adult category.
This book begins where Soul of the Sword left off, the dragon scrolls in the hands of the Master of Demons, who is on his way to set everything in motion to receive the Wish, with destruction and death left in his wake.
Yumeko, the kitsune, has helped Kage Tatsumi regain a decent level of control of his body, despite the demon Hakaimono living inside him. It's almost as if the demon lets Tatsumi use his power where needed, which is completely unlike the true nature of the powerful demon.
The merry band of fighters, the ragtag group of unlikely friends - and they have become friends after everything they have been through - are determined to stop the opening of the floodgates. Power corrupts and corrodes the soul.
It's young adult fantasy - a complex myth and culture driven story with extraordinary world-building.
Kagawa is a spectacular writer. This is hardcore evidence of how talented and creative she is, and although plenty of her readers will know how good some of her previous books/serious are, with the Shadow of the Fox series she steps it up a notch.
Without going into too much detail, the last few chapters are powerful, heartbreaking, vicious and ultimately they also heal. It's a read I highly recommend.
Buy Night of the Dragon at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ Young Adult; pub date 2 April 2020. Buy at Amazon com.
Read my review of Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) by Julie Kagawa.
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