Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa.

Synopsis

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.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

Review:

Yumeko goes from living in a calm, sheltered temple to fight demons in order to save her life and fulfill a dangerous task. A kitsune (half fox), she is given a powerful scroll to take to safety before it falls in the wrong hands.
A samurai on a mission who lives in constant risk of losing his soul to a powerful sword joins her and protects her, unaware of her true nature and that she carries with her what he seeks.
A ronin, a priestess and an aristocrat join her along the way, but the lies Yumeko has spun to protect herself and her mission put her at risk of losing it all.
There is action from beginning to end and humor, mostly courtesy of Yumeko's charming innocence and a sassy Ronin.
The ending left me with a hanging jaw, I did not see it coming at all!
The mythology and descriptions are beautiful, unique. I absolutely love the depictions of the Imperial Palace and quaint little towns.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that Yumeko chooses the sassy guy instead of the one who can't decide if he likes or wants to kill her, we'll see.
I am anxious to read the next book, Soul of the Sword.

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