A review by evybird
Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa
2.0
2.5 stars.
I read this because the premise sounded really interesting, but it didn't really go where I'd hoped.
The characters were pretty boring and didn't have much emotion? Like every single person that Yumeko has ever known in her life get murdered at the beginning of the book and she never really seems to grieve or be in any distress after? That was pretty weird.
I didn't hate-read it or anything, and the plot was fine. But pretty episodic--reminded me of an anime, like there were a bunch of different episodes and "monsters" and characters that join up as the main character adventures towards a final confrontation.
In fact basically the entire book gave me very, very strong Inuyasha vibes. With Shippo as a half-human teenage girl and the main character. There's a quest to find the pieces of something. There's an angsty guy with an evil force threatening to take control of him. They form a party of characters as they adventure along. There's some romance. There's even. And of course the setting of a kind of standard feudal japan with demons is exactly the same.
These similarities to Inuyasha are not necessarily a bad thing, except there was no emotion. And the characters (perhaps as a result) all seemed so two-dimensional.
Also there is so much opportunity here to do something fresh! Really do more research into Feudal Japan and incorporate that! Actually research the customs and mannerisms, and not just do the very generic! Wasted potential.
Finally, the Japanese language inserted throughout the novel really bothered me. I like it when books set in other countries incorporate the language, but usually it's to some purpose--for example the use of honourifics like "-san" and "-chan" was great, in this book, because it's something English can't express. But all the other Japanese words were things like "hai/yes" and "gomen/sorry" and "ite/ouch." Those are things you can just say in english and they'll have the same meaning?? Why just write them in Japanese in a couple places? What is the point ??? This really makes the book come across as basically just written by someone who watches too much anime.
Why not use the Japanese language for things that the English language can't express? Such as all the complex formalities of speech beyond simple honourifics? Things like that?
Overall the book wasn't offensive or anything, and it certainly made me feel like watching a couple episodes of Inuyasha. But the lack of emotion and depth in the characters really took away from it for me. Still, might read book 2.
EDIT: ALSO! Another thing that bothered me! The wasted potential of a character with ears! Ears are SO EXPRESSIVE! They have so much potential to convey feelings of characters without "telling," just by showing what the ears do! Yumeko has ears! But they were barely ever mentioned!!Like three times in the entire novel!!--even if they're invisible, they're there! I have read other books that make such better use of ears. What a waste!
I read this because the premise sounded really interesting, but it didn't really go where I'd hoped.
The characters were pretty boring and didn't have much emotion? Like every single person that Yumeko has ever known in her life get murdered at the beginning of the book and she never really seems to grieve or be in any distress after? That was pretty weird.
I didn't hate-read it or anything, and the plot was fine. But pretty episodic--reminded me of an anime, like there were a bunch of different episodes and "monsters" and characters that join up as the main character adventures towards a final confrontation.
In fact basically the entire book gave me very, very strong Inuyasha vibes. With Shippo as a half-human teenage girl and the main character. There's a quest to find the pieces of something. There's an angsty guy with an evil force threatening to take control of him. They form a party of characters as they adventure along. There's some romance. There's even
Spoiler
a guy with long white hair named Seigetsu (Sesshomaru??) with a child demon companion, as though the author melded Sesshomaru's two companions into oneThese similarities to Inuyasha are not necessarily a bad thing, except there was no emotion. And the characters (perhaps as a result) all seemed so two-dimensional.
Also there is so much opportunity here to do something fresh! Really do more research into Feudal Japan and incorporate that! Actually research the customs and mannerisms, and not just do the very generic! Wasted potential.
Finally, the Japanese language inserted throughout the novel really bothered me. I like it when books set in other countries incorporate the language, but usually it's to some purpose--for example the use of honourifics like "-san" and "-chan" was great, in this book, because it's something English can't express. But all the other Japanese words were things like "hai/yes" and "gomen/sorry" and "ite/ouch." Those are things you can just say in english and they'll have the same meaning?? Why just write them in Japanese in a couple places? What is the point ??? This really makes the book come across as basically just written by someone who watches too much anime.
Why not use the Japanese language for things that the English language can't express? Such as all the complex formalities of speech beyond simple honourifics? Things like that?
Overall the book wasn't offensive or anything, and it certainly made me feel like watching a couple episodes of Inuyasha. But the lack of emotion and depth in the characters really took away from it for me. Still, might read book 2.
EDIT: ALSO! Another thing that bothered me! The wasted potential of a character with ears! Ears are SO EXPRESSIVE! They have so much potential to convey feelings of characters without "telling," just by showing what the ears do! Yumeko has ears! But they were barely ever mentioned!!Like three times in the entire novel!!--even if they're invisible, they're there! I have read other books that make such better use of ears. What a waste!