busyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an enjoyable novella set in the samurai hey days. Hajime, now a ronin, finds himself in the position to help a town that’s being plagued by a fox spirit. Much to his chagrin, he’s already met the fox rather intimately. Once he has the kitsune back under his control, Hajime learns the truth is not what he thought it was. Someone else is using the spirits of the area to make himself powerful while hurting the town to do it.
Hajime’s sense of honor leads him to help the fox, all the while lying to himself about his growing feelings for Katsura. He knows he’s a fool to trust a fox spirit, who are notorious tricksters but he does so anyway. The novella is studded with fun characters (my favorite minor one being a kappa). I paid for the hard copy with illustrations by Alice Girlanda which are just lovely and a great counterpoint to the story. I would love to see what trouble Katsura gets Hajime into down the road.
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