Reviews

La Sombra del Zorro by Julie Kagawa

Only show reviews with written explanations

hellobookbird's review against another edition

2.0

"It is very hard to be human, little fox. Even the humans themselves don’t do a great job of it."

Every thousand years, whoever possesses the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers can summon the great Kami Dragon and be granted a single wish. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

I was simply a weapon. A weapon did not question the intent of those who wielded it.

I really wanted to love this book but I have too many mixed feelings. The world is based upon Japanese mythology (a subject I love), with a closed-off warrior male and a warm, open female (a trope I also love), which should have worked but completely didn't.

I wanted battles! I wanted demons to raze and terrorize! Treachery! Conspiracy! Death around every corner! I wanted the closed-off warrior male to fall (kicking and screaming against the night) because she was the pervading warmth that warmed even the deepest shadows.

I got my warrior but my heroine? Weak, spineless, completely naive. Things happen way too conveniently just because she's kind. The world doesn't work like that. Especially when demons are after you. Also, I adore anime but, the random interjections of "ano", "hai", "baka", "sugoi" and countless others were so awkwardly placed I couldn't help but facepalm and say "nani did I read?"

Save yourself on this one and read [b:Red Winter|31829155|Red Winter (Red Winter Trilogy, #1)|Annette Marie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473668941l/31829155._SY75_.jpg|52488792] instead.

peterse1's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

the_sunken_library's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I found this a little slow to start with. I think maybe I didn't have much of a connection with the initial main characters - Yukemo the Kitsune who is super naive but good at heart or the Kage Demon Slayer, a boy whose soul is intertwined with that of a demon trapped in a blade who is seeking the very item Yumeko has sworn to protect and keep secret.

It felt a little Dragon Ball at first - people want to gather the 3 parts of the scroll to summon a dragon that grants them a wish. Ok cool, heard that before. Plus it's the typical opposing forces making a pact so they can both achieve their own goals and along the way they pick extra team members (a drunk ronin archer, cool swordsman and healer) and encounter different monsters from throughout Japanese mythology. It's very much the plot of an RPG.

Thankfully it ended up being a good RPG. The bad guys are particularly delectable in their evilness and the intricate plots that intermingle are intriguing and exciting. It took me over a week to get halfway through but I consumed the last 200 pages in 2 days. And now I need the next book to find out what happens. Though the ending annoyed me. I liked that character.