The Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 384 

Publisher: HQ Young Adult 

Released: 25th of June 2019 

THE TIME OF THE WISH APPROACHES…

Yumeko the shapeshifter had one task: take her piece of the ancient and powerful scroll to the Steel Feather temple and prevent the summoning of the great Kami Dragon. But she has a new enemy now. The demon Hakaimono, has escaped and possessed the samurai she thought would protect her, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan.

Hakaimono has done the unthinkable and joined forces with Genno, the Master of Demons, to break his curse and set himself free. But Genno wishes to overthrow the empire and cover the land in darkness. To do that he needs only one thing, the scroll Yumeko is hiding. As the paths of Yumeko and the possessed Tatsumi cross again the entire empire will be thrown into chaos.

AND CHAOS WILL DARKEN AN EMPIRE.

What I Have to Say 

I fell back into this world so quickly that it was like coming home. Sometimes it's so hard to remember what characters are doing and who they are when you've had a year between books, but Kagawa has a knack of reminding you everything without making it feel like an info-dump. You just get back into a beautiful setting with fantastic characters. 

I loved seeing how much Yumeko grew in this book. It felt for a start like Kagawa was falling back into old patterns of having female characters being protected by the males because they have no fighting skills, but instead what we saw was Yumeko going through a journey of learning how illusion can be used to fight and do damage. She became a complete badass and I can't wait to see more of her fox magic, especially because it's such a unique form of fighting that isn't utilised much in books. 

I just love to get lost in Kagawa's writing so much. I love this setting and these characters. I can't wait for the third book. 

My thanks go to HQ and Netgalley for providing me with this free copy for review. 

Pog by Pádraig Kenny

Synopsis (from Goodreads and Chicken House) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Chicken House Books 

Released: 4th of April 2019 

David and Penny arrive in a strange new home in a forest. Other creatures live here – magical creatures – like Pog. He’s one of the First Folk, tasked with protecting the boundary between the worlds. But David is drawn into the forest, lured by a darker entity, who tells him there’s a way he can bring his dead mother back …

What I Have to Say 

Pog was a really well written tale, full of deep themes of grief and loss. I enjoyed it a lot, but not as much as Tin, though I felt this a really fun story. I think Pog is a great character who will appeal a lot to the kids reading this book. He's very quite with an interesting way of talking, but he's also got so many other attributes. He's a fierce protector who quickly grows to care for the family living in the house. He also has his own emotions and history which complement the grief felt by the family a lot. 

David and Penny were also great characters. You could really feel love between the family and between the kids and Pog by the end. You could feel the loss of their mother and how much it was driving them into their own forms of grief. 

I really love Kenny's way of bringing such deep personal issues into a magical adventure story and how he brings everything back to the theme without it seeming like he's pushing the issue. 

It's a very authentic story filled with adventure and emotion. 

My thanks go to Chicken House for providing me with this free copy for review.