Night of the Dragon (Shadow of the Fox, #3)

by Julie Kagawa

Evil and hope clash and burn in the epic and shocking conclusion to the Shadow of the Fox trilogy.

'One of my all-time favourite fantasy novels!' Ellen Oh, author of the Prophecy and Spirit Hunters series, on Shadow of the Fox

All is lost.

Kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko has given up the final piece of the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, in order to save everyone she loves from imminent death. Now she and her ragtag band of companions must journey to the wild sea cliffs of Iwagoto in a desperate last-chance effort to stop the Master of Demons from calling upon the Great Kami dragon and making the wish that will plunge the empire into destruction and darkness.

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 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.

Readers are loving Julie Kagawa's Shadow of the Fox series!

'[An] action-packed adventure... a textured and tangible world overflowing with culture, tradition and history... I would highly recommend this book' Paper Lanterns magazine

'Hands down one of the best books I've read this year!'

'Julie's writing is pure magic'

'Buy this book, read it!'

'If you have school or work, you'll be sleep deprived because you won't be able to put it down!'

'Shadow of the Fox is one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.'

'If you want an action-packed fantasy set in historical Japan, with samurais, spirits, and demon-slayers, and a dash of romance, please pick up this book!'

'This book was amazing!

'It's breathtaking!'

'This book was simply put epic!'

'I cannot wait for the next book'

'MIND BLOWN!'

***

Shadow of the Fox series

Book #1: Shadow of the Fox
Book #2: Soul of the Sword
Book #3: Night of the Dragon

• ISBN10: 1335146784
• ISBN13: 9781335146786
• Publish Date: 31 March 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Inkyard Press
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[littleread1]

Omg I'm not crying, you're crying.

I read a LOT of YA fantasy, and I can generally guess how things will wrap up, but this one did a number on me. It was a brilliant ending to a brilliant trilogy and I am going to go home tonight and hope to dream about what happened after the epilogue. Just, wow. My heart is battered and bruised and yet hopeful and happy.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 4 Stars

I don’t know... I have to think on this one. Sigh. It was an amazing book but jeez.

[Inkslinger]

ARC provided by NetGalley and Inkyard Press. All opinions are mine and freely given.

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"On the night of the thousandth year.. before the dragon stars fade from the skies and concede the heavens to the red bird of autumn, the Harbinger of Change can be called upon by one whose heart is pure."


04-03: 'Night of the Dragon,' the third and final book in the 'Shadow of the Fox' trilogy by Julie Kagawa, centers around a group of companions that are determined to stop the Master of Demons from using an artifact called the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers.

The Dragon's Prayer is a ritual that can be used once every 1,000 years to summon the god called the Great Kami Dragon, who will grant the summoner one wish. If they should fail on their quest to stop the Master.. Genno.. from using the scroll, the empire will fall to chaos.

This was my first Kagawa read, so I didn't really know what to expect from her. I knew she seemed to have a pretty big following and certainly the concept of the story sounded interesting.

Unfortunately, unpopular opinion time, I just wasn't impressed. You're going to find this is a mostly positive review, even though she didn't rock my world. Don't get me wrong, she's a very solid writer. She understands the acts and how to move the story along. She understands the importance of relationships and various types of intimacy. The quality is there, the story just lacks the factors that could make it stand out and become something exceptional. In fact, there are a ton of things she's actually great at.


"Fighting hordes of the dead seems a fun way to spend an evening. Unless we vote to stay here and make sure all the sake doesn't go to waste...? No? Fine, blood mages it is."


Her battle scenes were very visual, without being so blown out that you couldn't focus on anyone. She did touch on different parts of the fights, but she lingered long enough with each group to give the reader a good understanding of what was happening, what the characters were feeling, and enough play-by-play to let you 'see' what occurs, before moving on.

Telling the story from multiple view points, she does a fine job of transitioning between them, though they did lack those distinctive voices that make this approach work to it's best. Other than who they were talking to and/or about, they mostly sounded the same.

Character wise, the group is likeable. Yumeko, the kitsune shifter and main character, is sweet and determined. She does suffer from a little of that 'can figure out how to do just about anything in a couple of seconds' syndrome, but we're going to chalk that up to her unique heritage.


"The Dragon is almost risen, and all the world trembles with the end of another age. But whether the Wish brings ruin or fortune is yet to be decided."


She's accompanied by Kage Tatsumi, a shadow clan shinobi, who is stuck sharing his body with the First Oni, Hakaimono. Now, the demon General is actually my favorite character in the book. Don't ask me why. He's the Beast, I suppose. He's the most powerful, most dangerous oni in the demon army, he's a bit brooding, he's always a bit disgusted with everyone, but he's still the one for me.

There are others, of course.. Reika the shrine maiden and Chu the komainu guardian, Daisuke the noble warrior prince, Okame the ronin, and a host of smaller characters that still play pivotal roles. Daisuke and Okame, especially.. have a rather soft, beautiful relationship for a pair of warriors.. and I absolutely loved that. Yet.. all these things aside, the characters still felt like we were really only seeing the surface layers of who they might have been.


"Baka noble. Why do you always have to fling yourself at the biggest thing on the battlefield?"


As I read the book, I constantly felt as if it was really just very average. Most of it seems to rely heavily on the hope that readers will just be fascinated with the idea of the mythological Japanese characters to begin with. There's no impression of the author reaching to be creative with them at all, but rather to keep things "interesting," she would just throw in another creature and then do pretty much nothing to expand on the existing mythos surrounding them.

Instead of foreshadowing, she outright telegraphs what's ahead and honestly, the story just feels like she combined a lot of existing cliches from long standing Asian stories and put them forth like they were unique in some way, without putting in the work to make them that way. And frankly, I didn't feel any investment or interest until I was over 60% through the novel.

I love seeing diverse content published and on a personal level, I obviously love seeing content that relates to my own heritage, being consumed. But this felt like a mediocre effort. Like.. hoping the majority of the audience just wouldn't be that familiar with the other media much of it seems to be drawn from. I did like that she's not afraid to let go of a character. Almost any character. But that would be more effective if she didn't display the urge to find a way to make things okay afterward.

Aside from all that, objectively.. if I'd been less familiar with the subject matter, I might have been bowled over a bit more. Plus, like I said, she's a good writer. I just don't think she's a very creative one. I do, however.. think people are going to love the book.

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[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Night of the Dragon in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Night of the Dragon is the third, and final, novel in Julie Kagawa's Shadow of the Fox Trilogy. That means that everything is about to come to a head in the most dramatic and emotional of ways possible.

Last we saw, Yumeko was forced to give up the part of the sacred scroll she was protecting. A scroll that she had successfully kept safe for two entire novels. Now, she, alongside the rest of her companions, is determined to get it back. More than that, they're going to stop the Master of Demons from summoning the Great Kami dragon – something that would surely alter the world they all know for the worse.

“'I trust you,' Yumeko said very quietly. 'Even if you're not the same, I saw your soul that night. I know you won't betray us.'”

Oh my goodness, is this really the end of the Shadow of the Fox Trilogy? Say it isn't so. I'll admit that I got into this series rather late in the game, but I fell in love with it from that very first moment I started reading. Now, it's all over. I'm sad to see it go, even while I feel extremely satisfied to know how it concludes.

Night of the Dragon is the emotional and powerful finale to an epic series. Yumeko's journey (alongside her friends and allies) is harrowing, beautiful, and intensely fascinating. That holds true for the final novel as well.

Honestly, this is one of those novels that you're going to want to set aside a block of time to read. You're not going to want to put it down. At least, I didn't want to. I read it all in one go, and I have no regrets about it. It was that much of a whirlwind.

The events flow smoothly, one leading to the next so that there is no room for downtime or slowing down. Alongside that, it felt like the ante was consistently being upped, to the most dramatic of levels. It increased the scale significantly, which is impressive, given that the fate of the world already felt at stake.

Night of the Dragon was, at its core, a deeply personal tale. Yumeko, Kage Tatsumi, and all of their friends were human (well, yokai in Yumeko's case) first. They had hopes, dreams, flaws, and reasons for being involved in this quest. It added so much impact to the tale, especially at the ending of it. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried (a lot) when this book was over. And I have a feeling I'm not the only one.

This entire series has demanded emotional investment from the start, so I'm not exactly surprised by how moving the conclusion itself was. At the same time, I was still blown away by how it made me feel. This is an ending that made complete sense for the story, even while it hit me straight to the heart (as all good endings do).

While I'm sad to see this series end, I have no regrets. I'm glad I took the time to read them all, and am thrilled to have followed Julie Kagawa's adventures. I'll miss Yumeko and the rest, while looking forward to seeing what comes out next.

Check out more of my reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[tweetybugshouse]

This is the third and final book in the Shadow of the Fox trilogy by Julie Kagawa. I ended up not loving this one as much as i did the first two books. I think that is mostly due to the fact that the first two books are very character driven and i fell into that expectation for the third book.

The focus in the third book is based mostly on the battles and the monsters. That shift frustrated me and made it so I really started to not care how it was all going to play out. I did feel like I needed to read it so that all the secrets, plots twists and final battles could be played out. I just wish it had followed the format of the first books and maybe i would of enjoyed it more. I still a huge fan of this author and she did not disappoint and it could of been my mood or the events that are going on in the world. I sure i will come back to this series as it well worth the read.

[Linda]

*I received a free copy of Night of The Dragon. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review which is honest and unbiased*

What an ending to the trilogy! There was a lot of action, and I truly was at the edge of my seat for most of the story. The relationships between the characters were still a strong point for me, especially because there were some losses that touched me very deeply.
FRW

[nightingalereads]

2.75 stars

I love this series so much, especially the characters, but this last book felt rushed. The writing became scattered and confusing at parts, like the author was just trying to fly through the scenes. Major plot points that the story had been building up to fell awfully flat, and were not given the gravitas the previous books had led us to expect.

I was also not a fan of the ending. I get - from a certain perspective - how it makes sense. But I still personally didn't like it, and I closed the book feeling disappointed and a bit put off. Shadow of the Fox is still a gem in my eyes, along with parts of the second book, but this finale fell short in my opinion.