Night of the Dragon, by Julie Kagawa

Title:  Night of the Dragon
Author:  Julie Kagawa
Genre:  Fantasy
Rating:  5 out of 5

All is lost.

To save everyone she loves from imminent death, kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko gave up the final piece of the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. Now she and her ragtag band of companions must make one desperate final effort to stop the Master of Demons from using the scroll to call the Great Kami Dragon and make the wish that will plunge the empire into chaos.

Shadow clan assassin Kage Tatsumi has regained control of his body and agreed to a true deal with the devil—the demon inside him, Hakaimono. They will share his body and work with Yumeko to stop a madman, and to separate Hakaimono from Tatsumi and the cursed sword that trapped the demon for nearly a millennium.

But even with their combined skills and powers, this unlikely team of heroes knows the forces of evil may be impossible to overcome. And there is another player in the battle for the scroll, a player who has been watching, waiting for the right moment to pull strings that no one even realized existed…until now.

Julie Kagawa is one of those authors that I just know when I pick up a book she wrote, I’m going to be enthralled. The Shadow of the Fox series is no exception, and Night of the Dragon was a fantastic conclusion to this story.

The stakes kept getting higher and higher with every new scene and the challenges seemed ever more impossible. Yumeko is a lovely character who truly discovers her strength in this novel—and embraces it. Tatsumi is one of the best conflicted characters I’ve ever read—I mean, he shares his body with a demon—and his struggles are vividly rendered. The culture truly makes this story sing, and I loved every page of this novel!

Julie Kagawa is the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey, Blood of Eden, Talon, and Shadow of the Fox series. She was born in Sacramento, California.

(Galley courtesy of Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.)