3.5 rounded up. Definitely a complicated story about finding yourself and your identity, but then again isn’t life complicated too? This touched on homophobia, transphobia, domestic violence and abuse, questioning sexuality, various queer identities, and religion all in one swoop. It was a lot, but a story worth telling.

What started out as cute, funny and pretty entertaining eventually just because irritating and overdone. After awhile Heidi's innocent/naive/weird thing just got to be annoying for me to the point that it wasn't funny anymore.The overbearing parents, the incessant rambling, the childish cringe reactions. I'm just glad that Heidi finally learned how to say all those four letter words.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest (spoiler free) review. Let me say that the way I’ve consumed this entire series over the past couple of weeks is ridiculous. Julie Kagawa is masterful at weaving a tale infused with myth, the occult, and intrigue. The last book in the Shadow of the Fox series promises to be an emotional roller coaster from the very beginning and promises not to disappoint.

So first let me say that sometimes the ending to a series can be very frustrating because they don’t always turn out to be as promising as you hope. I’m happy to say that that was not the case with Night of the Dragon.

We pick up right where we left off, with the Master of Demons successfully gathering the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers and moving his army to call the Great Kami Dragon. Yumeko did succeed in saving her friends though, including Tatsumi, though he’s now half demon since they couldn’t fully exorcism the oni Hakaimono from his body. The two have instead merged into one so that they can work together to defeat the Master of Demons along with the rest of their group, Okame, Daisuke and Reika. Their mission is to now go after Lord Genno and stop him from actually summoning the Great Kami Dragon.

Okay, so I want this review to be as spoiler free as possible because I don’t want to ruin anything for anybody. Overall, I just enjoyed the way this book flowed. It was beautifully written and though we’re three books into this saga, it’s clear that the stakes are higher than ever before. Every moment and scene whether romantic or violent felt so intense that I had a hard time looking away. The entire time I was reading I felt like no one was safe. The unexpected obstacles that entered their path included demons, a swarm of undead, an ancient water demon, and a few mysterious faces from the past. We also get an even closer look at Suki (the ghost handmaiden’s) benefactor and what role she and the benefactor play in this whole debacle. I’ll admit that I could not figure out what Suki’s purpose was in Soul of the Sword, but she appears even more in this installment and it definitely helped to move the story along.

Great news ya’ll: Tatsumi is officially back. In Soul of the Sword Hakaimono is running the show so we got his perspective as opposed to our Kage demonslayer. That’s changed now that the two have fused together. While we don’t particularly get Hakaimono’s point of view, his influence on Tatsumi is very clear and he’s still dealing with inner turmoil, just a different variety this time around. Part of this inner turmoil has to do with his feelings for Yumeko. We see the same from Yumeko’s perspective, which is great, AND we get more Okame and Daisuke (my bbys). Each relationship continues to blossom before our eyes, which only makes you feel like even more is at stake as thy try to prevent the rise of the Great Kami Dragon. I think what I love about the way Julie does romance is that it feels very natural. Nothing about the romances takes away from the adventure, but only adds to the emotions of the book.

Listen….all I can say without spoiling is that prepare to feel a lot of feelings while reading this and Julie completely ruined my life. The developments, the adventures, the magic, the battles, they all lend themselves to a great book. I highly suggest that when this book releases on March 31, run don’t walk to pick it up.

Morrigan Crow is a Cursed Child. Cursed as in that's her title. She wasn't cursed by anyone in particular, but more over cursed because she was born on Eventide, which happens to be the unluckiest day of the year. It's well known that children born on Eventide never seem to live past their 11th birthday. That must mean they're cursed right? Where the people in her city seem to think so and because of that anything that ever goes wrong, she gets blamed for whether she was present for the event or not. Her father and stepmother both seem eager to get on her with death as the eve of her 11th birthday draws near and all Morrigan can think of is how she does not want The Hunt (the creatures that will bring her death) to arrive at all.

The other spectacular event that is set to happen is the distribution of apprenticeships. Morrigan is at the age where it is time for her to begin to learn about a particular school or business. In order for this to happen, a bid must be placed in her honor. Given her impending death, no one expects her to get any bids, but *gasp* she receives 4! While she is sure that there must be some mistake, it appears that two of the bids are very real. This is what leads her to Jupiter North, a peculiar man who tells her that as long as she comes with him to Nevermoor, a free city, she won't be dying on Eventide. What does she do? Go with him of course! This is what sets us down the course that the book follows. Nevermoor promises to be like nothing Morrigan has ever experienced before. While trying to determine why Jupiter thinks she belongs in both Nevermoor and the Wundrous Society, Morrigan has to contend with a mysterious stranger and fight to earn a spot in the only place that really feels like home. All the while, the other mysterious benefactor's messenger continues to lurk around the hotel will Morrigan is now living, hoping that she'll give up on this offer and choose to apprentice under his master instead. Who the hell is this guy and what does he want?

What was great about this book is that I think the story is magical no matter what your age is. It's not magical in a whimsical way or even in an HP sort of way, but more so in an....odd way. I think that if you mixed HP with Miss Peregrine's then this is the tale that you'd get. It's got a dark quality to it that you wouldn't immediately guess based on the cover. There's always the looming threat of Morrigan's death, the possibility that she doesn't have a power, and the dark whispers of the Wundersmith floating throughout the book. It's clear that other's around Morrigan know more than they're letting on and that the strange happenings in the hotel have to have some sort of connection to her, but does it really have to do with her curse or is it something else? Morrigan as a character is extremely likable. She's looking for her place to fit it, she doesn't think she quite belong and yes she doesn't always listen, but I think you can't help but to root for her as she moves through both the trials and navigating this new world. Once you add Hawthorne (who becomes her best friend) to the mix, they become the dynamic duo.

Another interesting piece of all this is the fact that Morrigan faces the chances of being deported because she's not an actual citizen of the Free City. There's one police officer in particular that's always waiting around every corner because he's sure she's a "dirty immigrant who doesn't deserve to sponge off of the Free City's resources." Sound familiar?

Audiobook wise, I think the author did a great job. Each character had their own distinct voice which seemed to fit into their personalities and I think she got the tone of events just right for majority of the reading.

I honestly can't wait to pick up the next book.

Trigger warning for outdated (but relevant) discrimination and mistreatment of the differently abled, people of color, and lgbtq+ members of society. Also teen pregnancy and graphic miscarriage descriptions.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this a 2.5, but for Netgalley and Goodreads purposes I did round up to a 3 because I understood why people enjoyed this book and what the author was attempting to do. Tough stories have to be told, but I think that the over all way this was told just was not completely for me, which is okay! Writing about unpleasant history can be, well, unpleasant but I think I just couldn’t get my mind around the story or characters. I think this would work better if I tell you what I liked and didn't like in bullet point format.

What I enjoyed:
-Multiple POVs to get to know each character
-Each character was from a differently walk of life (i.e. POC, differently abled, LGBTQ+, etc)
-Author wasn't afraid to tackle difficult topics or story matter
-Writing definitely brought out the right amount of anger in reader (i.e. me)

What I didn't enjoy so much:
-Couldn't fully connect w/ characters
-Content was definitely difficult to read
-Overall writing style wasn't for me

In the authors note it was pointed out that the author pulled all of the dialogue from real medical regards and so the horrible way these girls were treated and described was very real and I don’t doubt that. I just....I could not get into this book and I’ll admit I really wish I could. Great subject matter, tough content and definitely triggering. I just don’t think that it was for me ultimately. That being said, I noticed that a lot of people who did have the opportunity to read this book, did enjoy it, which is why I think it's important to form your own opinions. If you think this is something you'd be into, check it out! It was released a couple of weeks ago. Just be safe when reading.

A great look at culture, ghosts, death and dealing with illness or a family member with illness. Maya has cystic fibrosis and Cat is torn between wanting her own life and worrying about her sister’s. In the midst of this there’s a new town and day of the dead celebration. Dealing with death or the possibility of death is hard, but I think this was a great take.