A review by monicalaurette
Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa

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*

OUR GIRL IS A KAMI PRINCESS I’M SO PROUD OF HER SHE’S ROYALTY

I wish I had gotten more mother-daughter content between Kiyomi and Yumeko but maybe in the future! Just love seeing a happy and wholesome mother and daughter relationship.

The way that Genno disappeared after Yumeko smashed his skull reminded me of the way that Rasputin died in the animated Anastasia movie and I honestly started laughing about it.

Daisuke & Okame 😢 at least that are going to be together forever in the end. Also please Julie saw that you’ve written their epic poem because I want to read that!

Don’t come for me but the ending of the epilogue, with all the lanterns on the river, and Yumeko staring back at Tatsumi (or his soul I guess) made my brain start playing “I See the Light” from Tangled and I love that.
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