Julie Kagawa is a great author. I’ve had Shadow of the Fox on my kindle that I received from Netgalley as an e-arc for awhile. Recently it has been made available on Audiobooksync for FREE, so if you are looking for a fantasy title you can listen to, I’d get it there while you can. I love the story so far as I am only at 22% but the protagonist is quite impressionable.
 

Description
by Julie Kagawa | Narrated by Joy Osmanski, Brian Nishii, Emily Woo Zeller
Published by HarperAudio
One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos. Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

I came to realize the Prologue and Epilogue are written about the same time of night inside the Waystone Inn. Kvothe had red hair which was of some significance apparently. He obliges to tell his story to the Chronicler, Devan Lochees. Both parts end with the same words

…”It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die”.

Kvothe is both a legend and a myth. He and his Fae-student Bast, are posing as InnKeepers for reasons I don’t know about yet.

Kvothes’ story begins when he was a child before he enters University.
He was orphaned after losing his parents and his entire travelling troupe on the road. All his life he has made it his business to seek the culprits who killed his parents. He believes them to be The Chandrian because of the ‘Blue Fire.’

Patrick Rothfuss’ story fluctuates back and forth to the present at the Waystone Inn and is told as a retelling of Kvothe’s past to The Chronicler Devan Lochees. It is quite good and interesting. I liked it a lot. I liked both time periods.

Kvothes parents used to be singers and played music. Kvothe learns to play the lute that belonged to his father. One day as he was practicing, his lute strings break. Determined to find new strings in the city, he finds someone who he catches a ride with and climbs aboard a caravan headed for Tarbean.

I thought it was a shame that he didn’t earn money by playing his lute but external circumstances prevented it. He becomes a beggar and gets into trouble with another group of kids. Pike breaks his lute, unfortunately. It was all he had left of his parents. He gets pretty beat up too and for the rest of his time in Tarbean, Kvothe is tormented and lives in fear of this kid called Pike. It was brutal living on the streets begging for money but he learns to survive with some luck.

He is taken in by Trapis the monk who cares for the poor and the sick children. Trapis tells a story about Tehlu and Encanis which I found fascinating lol. Living in Tarbean was a dark, unpleasant and painful time for Kvothe. He learned things he never would have known otherwise like Denner resin bleaches your teeth! lol

There are many things and reasons as to why I loved this book and I actually think it is amazing. Denna was Kvothe’s love interest and even though she might’ve liked Kvothe back, she becomes more elusive and difficult to track down when other prospects vie for her attention time and time again. I am quite curious to know what happened to her over the time we don’t hear anything from her. She would be an interesting story as well.