Shadow of the Fox

Publication date: Oct 2, 2018
Harlequin Teen

My Thoughts:

In Hawaiʻi, most of our students are Asian and Pacific Islander students, so finding YA readings for this population that do not just represent a white, western culture is challenging. Even popular dystopian reads in YA with strong female leads are very western centric. These females live very western/American values even if they are not set in America. 

Kagawa, in my opinion, is best when she brings forward Asian/Japanese heroines in her fantasy series (Immortal Rules) and now this. What makes Yumeko very Asian (besides the fact that it takes place in what resembles feudal Japan) is that her female strength has to do with her cultural values of filial piety, loyalty, collectivism, spirituality. Japan is a place, like Hawaiʻi, where spirituality is alive in the forests, the rocks, the trees. Yumeko's ability to "see" this realm and communicate in multiple realms makes her the kind of heroine that can keep her innocence and belief in the good within people, even ghosts and wandering ronin. Others want to help her not because she is weak, but because she is strong. I am looking forward to the next adventure. 

Description:

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 shapeshifting 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.

Last words:

Then it rose into the air and flew quickly out the door, following the beautiful man down the veranda, and both vanished into the night

A digital advanced copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.