What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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► UNSOLVED: One specific book > Historical Fiction/ Fantasy book (possibly part of a series, but not sure) that revolves around a young girl from a noble family in feudal era Japan. Read around mid-late 2000s.

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message 1: by A. (new)

A. Nelson | 9 comments I read this book about 14 or 15 years ago (so probably mid to late 2000s), but I don’t know if it was relatively new then or just new to me. If I had to classify the genre, it’d probably be either historical fiction or historical fantasy. I think it was young adult fiction, but it could have just been really tame adult fiction.
The book takes place in japan (possibly feudal era, but could honestly be any time period before the establishment of trade with Europe). The main protagonist is a girl from a middle or upper class family, but most of her father (and possibly an older brother, but I’m less sure about this) dies (I think either in a battle or a takeover of the family land/fort/“castle”) and she, her mother and her surviving siblings (pretty sure all of them younger than her) manage to escape and go on the run while seeking aid from old family allies. At some point while they’re fleeing, they all take refuge in an abandoned shrine or temple, and the girl prays that if the deity of the shrine will help them, she’ll rebuild the shrine.
I don’t remember much of what happens after that, but I know there’s a few supernatural creatures/beings involved, because at some point she befriends a tengu, who’s another main character (possibly the love interest, but I get the feeling the book was rather vague on their feelings about each other).
One other thing I do remember is that nearly every chapter in the book started with a haiku of some kind.


message 2: by SBC (new)

SBC (essbeecee) | 1594 comments Could it be the Shadow of the Fox series by Julie Kagawa? The three books are Shadow of the Fox, Soul of the Sword, and Night of the Dragon.


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