Thursday, June 11, 2020

Audiobook Review: Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa

Title: Soul of the Sword
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Shadow of the Fox #2
Publication: June 18th 2019 by Harlequin Audio
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Purchase it on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Play | iBooksKobo
Rating: 4/5

One thousand years ago, a wish was made to the Harbinger of Change and a sword of rage and lightning was forged. Kamigoroshi. The Godslayer. It had one task: to seal away the powerful demon Hakaimono.

Now he has broken free.

Kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko has one task: to take her piece of the ancient and powerful scroll to the Steel Feather temple in order to prevent the summoning of the Harbinger of Change, the great Kami Dragon who will grant one wish to whomever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. But she has a new enemy now. The demon Hakaimono, who for centuries was trapped in a cursed sword, has escaped and possessed the boy she thought would protect her, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan.

Hakaimono has done the unthinkable and joined forces with the Master of Demons in order to break the curse of the sword and set himself free. To overthrow the empire and cover the land in darkness, they need one thing: the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. As the paths of Yumeko and the possessed Tatsumi cross once again, the entire empire will be thrown into chaos.

It took me a while to get around to listening to the sequel of Shadow of the Fox but I finally did it and I'm so very happy because this was one awesome audiobook! I'm also wondering why the hell it took me so long to get back to reading books by this author after the Iron Fey series (I never even finished that series) because Shadow of the Fox and especially Soul of the Sword are such good books. 

I rated both the first and this second book with four stars but if I'm being totally honest I have to say that I liked Soul of the Sword a little bit more than the first one. I felt like in this sequel the characters had way more to lose and that made it all the more thrilling to see where the story would go.

My favorite character is still Yumeko. I felt like she grew a whole lot throughout this book and I just felt so bad for her and Tatsumi. The rare scenes they had together were simply heartbreaking. And obviously I'm very excited for the final book which comes out at the end of the month so at least I won't have to wait long. But I'm still super anxious for it because I'm not sure everyone is gonna survive. 

Overall, Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa was in one word: EPIC! You won't find a more action-packed, funny and heartrending book in the genre. I loved it.

About the author:
Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey, Blood of Eden, Talon, and Shadow of the Fox series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.

Julie now lives in North Carolina with her husband, two obnoxious cats, and a pair of Australian Shepherds that have more Instagram followers than she does.
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12 comments:

  1. Ahhh, I have not read her work yet! All her books get such great reviews too!

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  2. I need to start this series! The third book just came out (I think) and now I'm really behind😁

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  3. I never started this series and I really should have! I love Julie Kagawa! Sounds like a great book!

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  4. I absolutely loved the Iron Fey series and I THINK I read the first book in this series. Happy to hear that the audiobook delivered!

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  5. It's great when a series just keeps getting better!

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  6. Yes! And that's not something that happens with each series I read.

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  7. I really wanna buy those new Iron Fey covers and re-read them!

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  8. I loved The Iron Fey series but this one is even better!

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  9. Yes it did! I bought it when I saw there was a sale on the Kindle edition. So it's the only one in the series I'll read as e-book. Should be interesting!

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  10. The Iron Fey series is probably her most popular, I liked those for sure but I've enjoyed these books more than those actually.

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  11. I really need to pick up the first book, it's been the plan forever. It really looks exciting.

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  12. I'm so happy you loved these books! They're still on my TBR, but I hope to read them soon because I love Kitsunes and heard some great reviews already :)

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