A review by beckyyreadss
Curse of the Nine-Tailed Fox by Adelaide Rowan

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I got this book during one of the Stuff Your Kindle Days and this book sounded interested and I saw that it was an LGBT fantasy book, and I was sold instantly. However, this book was a bit confusing, and it didn’t make sense.  

This is based on nineteen-year-old Kuroko, who is an orphaned kitsune and he has survived in the gang-ridden slums of Itazura by stealing. When he steals from Inari Okami, the Goddess of Foxes, her elite warriors thwart and capture him. The Goddess of Foxes curses Kuroko. As punishment for stealing from her, he must venture into the Underwood to reclaim her sacred blades. If he refuses or fails, she will imprison his soul for all eternity. She assigns Hikaru, the arrogant, perfectionist kitsune who captured him to be Kuroko’s guide. Their constant bickering walks a dangerous line between loathing and lust, but Kuroko can’t decide whether to kill the infuriatingly noble, principled male, or kiss him. On the path to regain Inari Okamis sacred swords, Kuroko bathes with a half-naked man, causes a divorce, starts a war and must decide whether his soul is even worth saving.  

Something about this book just gave me a headache throughout the book. I think it was the mystery of the name and the fact that he kept referring to himself as it throughout the whole book and everyone else was. The target audience confused me. At times it felt like it was a young adult especially with Kuroko’s thoughts and the way he behaved, but then at times it felt like it was going to be a new adult with the chemistry between Kuroko and Hikaru and that it was going to be a smutty LGBT book. The way that Kuroko describes things was like a 12-year-old trying to describe his day and like he had imaginary friends. I think the worldbuilding could have been done in more detail, it was a very short book, and I was wanting more. I was wanting more from the tails and how this world got to be this way. The way this was written as well, I didn’t end up caring for the romance where if it was written better, I probably would have cared more. 

The character that saved this book was Su. He was adorable and the one who saved the day. He was the only character as well that seemed to have a brain and have a plan on how to fix it. I would have loved it to be a multiple POV story with Hikaru to have a few chapters. I liked the aspect of found friendship and I liked the tropes listed, I was just hoping for more.  

I was really rooting for the author and for this book, if it was cleaned up grammatically and if the inconsistencies were sorted, it would have been four stars.  
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