5 Stars | Received as an ARC via Netgalley.

I saw the blurb for Shadow of the Fox on Goodreads, and my first question was: “How much like Inuyasha is this book?” Another reader answered that it had similarities but otherwise not at all…

First thing first, I loved this book and I want more, now. Secondly, it is incredibly like Inuyasha, except maybe written by someone who saw an episode once and then gender swapped all of the characters. No time travel, but the main character is a half yokai (nature spirit/demon) who is on a journey with their cursed budding love interest to find ancient artifact pieces, which, when reassembled, will grant the bearer a wish. Sound familiar?

Yumeko, who is half kitsune (fox spirit), was raised in a temple by monks, and is generally fox-like and mischievous, until an oni (greater demon) destroys her home and she runs off to protect this scroll fragment from falling in the wrong hands. She meets Tatsumi, who is a demonslayer from the Kage (Shadow) clan, the bearer of the sword Kamigoroshi (god-slayer), which is in danger of possessing him if he feels feelings. As you may guess, he meets a girl and starts feeling feelings. Along the way the two gather a ragtag band of misfits/warriors and have episodic adventures…including a run in with a wind witch *coughKaguracough*. Predictably, nearly every male character they run into is charmed by Yumeko. Oh, also they meet a miko (priestess) who distrusts yokai…

Now, to defend Julie Kagawa, a lot of the tropes and folklore elements in both Inuyasha and Shadow of the Fox are common, not to mention how much more depth into the historical (albeit) fictional setting of Iwagoto readers get. In addition, the journey is an almost universal trope in literature the world ’round. Kagawa does a great job of creating likeable characters that aren’t half as annoying to read as some anime and manga characters I’ve seen. I loved this book.

Despite my adoration, I’m very curious to hear and read the reviews of people who picked up the book having no cultural frame of reference. Descriptions of clothing, architecture, and certain customs might be entirely lost on someone who didn’t spend their childhood-adolescence, and, let’s admit it, chunks of their adulthood watching Japanese TV, or has not studied the language. I say this because I’ve read books set in other cultures and time frames and was lost without the cultural frame of reference (e.g. Russia, . This is not something I feel I have the authority to criticize Kagawa for, as I am not Japanese and Shadow of the Fox was completely accessible to me. Can you tell I’m trying very hard not to sound like one of those insufferable anime geeks?

Anyway, read this book.