Soul of the Sword Review

Soul of the Sword is the sequel to the amazing beauty that is Shadow of the Fox! The first took my breath away, and I had to get my hands on the sequel as soon as I could. And I was not disappointed. Now there are spoilers for the first book here, which makes sense since this is for the second book. There might be small spoilers for the second, but I tried keeping them out, but sometimes it is hard.

Now at the end of Shadow of the Fox we saw Tatsumi essentially taken over by Hakaimono, and I was really curious what would happen there, and I finally got answers! I didn’t know exactly what would happen in this book, but I loved that it was a continuation of Yumeko’s quest, but seeing her struggle with the fact that Tatsumi was no longer in control was so good to read. As readers, we can see that she has feelings for Tatsumi, I mean, it’s a YA book, of course she does. But because she’s never had anything to give her an actual idea of it, she doesn’t think it is love, only a sense of duty in a way. While on the other side, Hakaimono knows Tatsumi likes Yumeko and plans on using that against him in any way he can. In such fashion we would assume he would, he is a demon after all. But showing the perspective solely on Hakaimono, and seeing the parallels from the previous book with their souls, was so interesting and so well done.

I also loved the continuation of Suki’s pov. In the first book, we got to see into the main villain of that book, but for this one, we focus more on this mysterious man who was in the first. He, I believe, was the man that saved Yumeko in the first town they had come to, against the blood witch. And of course, he was at the end of the book, where we saw Suki leave with him. In this book, we see from her pov and have more questions than answers. I have a few theories about him, and his connection to the whole story, and Taka’s, who we saw talk to Tatsumi in the first. I guessed his ‘master’ was going to be important, and I even guessed the man who turned out to be his actual master, but it was still interesting to read. But after all her scenes, the man gets even more mysterious, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.

This book, throughout, gave me a lot to think about with the characters. Seeing them grow each in their own way and learning more about certain ones. One particular scene between two of them made me put my book down because I was laughing so much, and I was so happy. I loved seeing Yumeko learn more about what she could do, and seeing her use her illusions more freely, but I feel for her with one of the scenes, in the aftermath, and her friends in the same. But also the later scene, their panic was understandable, and Yumeko’s confusion was quite funny. I hope they do come up with a code word for when she uses her illusions, or she’ll give them all a heart attack. I love the way Kagawa writes those scenes, as it makes your heart race, even if you guess it’s an illusion. I freaked out with the last one she did, I kept saying, “Please let it be an illusion” but it was written so well, and even if you know it is one, it still makes your heart race!

And that final twist with Hakaimono! I was shaking! I desperately need the last book to find out what happens. With what they did, I’m curious about what will happen to him and Tatsumi. And what exactly is Seigestu up to? There are so many pieces of this puzzle, and it just gets more and more intense. With Yumeko’s final decisions, the third book is set to be amazing and full of the same amount of excitement and pain. I cannot wait for the third and final book! Now to go preorder it!