bookishpengu
This book sounded so promising and I wanted to pick it up for quite a while now. Since Scribd restricted me in November for apparently listening to too much ya (it have been 2 audio books btw) but left me with Shadow of The Fox I decided now it's the time for my first Julie Kagawa book. First let me tell you that the writing style is great (as are the narrators ) and I am conteplating reading her other books. When I was younger I always enjoyed watching Anime and reading Manga so whenever we happened to meet a new piece of japanese mythology I had such a nostalgic feeling it made me smile. I really could imagine everything Kagawa described. Nevertheless I found it a bit over the top and even a little cringy with all those sugoi, ano, nani etc. Maybe it was the audio book where the female narrator suddenly talked like a child? Eh, probably. I struggled a bit with the characters and wheter to like them or not. Let me start with saying that in the end, I liked them. A point I also enjoyed was that more and more characters joined the group. It felt like in a rpg (I thought about Dragon Quest a whole lot) were you pick up companions along the way. This aspect was really well done. But yes the characters are clicheé if I am being honest. The naive, cute, female lead and the strong, heartless warrior who fall for each other. In my opinion they undergo a fine development and I hope that there is more to come because they are not just "naive" and "heartless" - also what's wrong with a bit of weakness? :) My favorite would probably be Yumeko. She grew up sheltered so it's no wonder she is surprised by little things but she is also tough and nice and cares for the people around her. One of my favorite tropes is "The Journey" and I think it was well done here. Our characters get little quests along the way which of course they solve because well, they can't die if there are two more books lmao. Buuut it was just a touch too long for my liking so I get it when people say they were bored. Anyways I liked their quests and all they had to overcome. Really felt like an anime/rpg whatever you would like to pick. I also would quickly like to say that I found it nice that the "love" didn't over-shadow everything else. I wouldn't even like to call it love. They liked each other and there could be more but come on guys, this isn't a wonder and it is understandable after everything have been through. Also they are 16 and probably 18/19 so just chill. As if you wouldn't be enchanted by Kage Tatsumi lmao Because of all my "buts" this book only gets four stars. But hey come on that is a pretty good rating.
