ARC Review--Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa

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.

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 and their companions to stop a madman and separate Hakaimono from Tatsumi and the cursed sword that had trapped the demon for nearly a millennium.

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.

Master storyteller Julie Kagawa concludes the enthralling journey into the heart of the fantastical Empire of Iwagoto in the third book of the Shadow of the Fox trilogy. As darkness rises and chaos reigns, a fierce kitsune and her shadowy protector will face down the greatest evil of all. A captivating fantasy for fans of Sabaa Tahir, Sarah J. Maas and Marie Lu.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

 

Night of the Dragon is Julie Kagawa’s conclusion to the Shadow of the Fox trilogy and brings Yumeko’s story to a close. If you’ve been having fun so far in this series, then you are in for a wild ride with this one as Yumeko and her friends race to stop the demon, Genno, from reciting the prayer to summon the dragon and get his wish for untold destruction. This is a read that will have you turning the pages as fast as you can to see who will win this epic race.

 

Yumeko and her motley crew have had it rough the past few days, weeks, as they’ve been striving to stop Genno from calling the dragon forth to receive the wish. They’re not done yet battling it out with enemies from left and right and all over the place. This book pretty much had them going from one battle to another, big and small, until the time comes when they will be at the final battle.

 

This book. What do I say about this book? I’ll admit that this series has been challenging for me. Reading this particular series on my kindle probably wasn’t the best idea ever since I did not have access to the glossary in back. I was left fumbling over words and having no clue what they were and I didn’t always have access to the internet to check as well. It would basically be too time consuming to stop, get to the internet, refer back and forth between my book and the browser for spelling to get the word’s definition on the screen and then re-read the sentence for clarity. For the most part I was able to infer what the word was, demon, food, weapon, some holy object or some such thing. So it wasn’t terrible, but when you get bombarded with several words in a handful of paragraphs back to back, it’s overwhelming.

 

As far as pacing goes this one was pretty good! I mean, I think Yumeko started with two days until the Genno could summon the dragon, so already we have a time crunch since Genno has a huge lead on Yumeko and her friends and has left them several surprises along the path. There were quite a few battles that led up to the grand battle and even that one was stretched out into mini battles! This conclusion was INTENSE!

 

If the action isn’t enough to keep you going, know that there are several jaw-dropping surprises to happen along the way too! Ones I didn’t really see coming and left me shell shocked! And if you’ve read any Julie Kagawa books, you know she doesn’t hold back the punches, so…be prepared.

 

One thing I’ve loved the most about this series was the budding relationship between Yumeko and Tatsumi. It was a tenuous one at best in the beginning and was definitely one that started out as something like partners to eventual friendship, and then the something more. It’s definitely one of those slow-burning romances that I secretly love!

 

As far as endings go, this one will shock you! There were so many surprises to this one that I didn’t really see coming and left me in a mess of emotions. This book will tear you apart, but as is Julie’s way, she doesn’t leave you disappointed before those final two words appear on the page. Despite my personal challenges with this series, I still did enjoy it to some extent! It’s been a series that challenged me, frustrated me, but still managed to keep me coming back again and again! Needless to say, I am a Julie Kagawa fan for life!

 

 

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars

 

 

Night of the Dragon releases March 31, 2020