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monicalaurette's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
third book in a series, there will be small minor spoilers that are unhidden, turn back if you haven’t read ANY of the others
“What is, is what must be.”
What a way to close out a trilogy! I’m just in awe of this story and this book. So many twists, so many turns, so many emotions and tears (from me and the characters, but mainly me).
These characters, especially Yumeko change and grow so much. Yumeko still has this goal, this large overarching goal of stopping the wish, stopping Genno, but she will put it all on hold to save a small village or help right a wrong that she didn’t even do. It shows that no matter what, that stereotypical kitsune spirit, the one that is always hurting and scheming, is not the true Yumeko. She is also part human and she cherishes that and uses her kitsune powers to aid her in that quest.
“You made me believe a demon could be worth saving.”
I will say that I loved the further explanation of more worlds that are out there that just...don’t touch Iwagoto. It makes me want to hop onto a ship and sail around their world, learning all I can, before just sailing the ocean (but hopefully avoiding the water/ocean demons...because scary). I saw what happened to all of them when the umibozu appeared, I know for a FACT that I would not have survived at all.
The land of the Moon Clan was so interesting to see, that even though it was part of Iwagoto it was so different and disconnected. And it was the perfect place for our Yumeko to shine. I feel that perhaps the ground itself, and maybe even the surrounding kami, helped Yumeko to defeat the evils around her. But passively of course, just being on the islands held a power onto Yumeko that helped her. And I’ll stand by that forever.
I gave Night of the Dragon 5 stars because it really held the ending of the story in a powerful way. It took me a hot minute to actually start the book after finishing Soul of the Sword, but once I did I had to be pried from the book. Now if you don’t mind I will go lay down and just...think about this book and all the characters that I love for about a week.
“I have never loved anything as I have you.”
*spoilers ahead*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
ghosthermione's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed it but the middle part did not feel like a right fit for the rest of the trilogy. There were plot decisions surrounding the ending especially around the Wish itself that could have been better thought out, especially to avoid a pretty blatant bury your gays trope. I know practically everyone dies, but the focus specifically on these two gay characters' deaths was painful and not in a satisfying way. Yes, even if they're happy ghosts together in the afterlife... . I felt like the pacing kind of suffered in this book as well. Simply way too much fighting was crammed in. The fight with Genno which was planned for 2 books was barely a footnote, and then it goes from fight to fight and I felt like the author kept having to up the stakes (this has been true throughout the trilogy, going from small demons to bigger demons to i guess bigger and stronger demons every time...) for some reason to keep making it interesting and really, you don't have to.
We also knew Seigetsu was planning things the whole way but i don't think that was done in a satisfying way. I'd have liked to be more suspicious, to have a *hint* of what he truly planned. As it stood that whole chunk of the book was just me going "what the f*ck??? Why???" (And being bored by all the fighting and the characters needing to come up with more tricks. Every. Time. Somehow.) and the half glimpse we get of Seigetsu's memories just doesn't justify things.
This seems like a very negative review, and to be honest I did enjoy the conclusion of this book, I'm just struggling with the tone of the middle segment vs the very lord of the rings hopeful feel of the earlier books. Yes, we're told early on that they're all gonna die. I didn't expect Tatsumi to live tbh, I didn't see a way out of it. But the point is that prophecies that do fullfill themselves are usually boring, and we're led to hope that the future is movable. At least Seigetsu's been shaping it the whole time. But I guess that the future won't move for queers.
I'm bitter about this trope and just how utterly dark this was, and while the epilogue is a lot lighter and I did find it satisfying, it didn't ring true with what happened before.
The book mightve been more satisfying if the tone of the earlier volumes had been different.
We also knew Seigetsu was planning things the whole way but i don't think that was done in a satisfying way. I'd have liked to be more suspicious, to have a *hint* of what he truly planned. As it stood that whole chunk of the book was just me going "what the f*ck??? Why???" (And being bored by all the fighting and the characters needing to come up with more tricks. Every. Time. Somehow.) and the half glimpse we get of Seigetsu's memories just doesn't justify things.
This seems like a very negative review, and to be honest I did enjoy the conclusion of this book, I'm just struggling with the tone of the middle segment vs the very lord of the rings hopeful feel of the earlier books.
I'm bitter about this trope and just how utterly dark this was, and while the epilogue is a lot lighter and I did find it satisfying, it didn't ring true with what happened before.
The book mightve been more satisfying if the tone of the earlier volumes had been different.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
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