Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Tokyo high school student Tsukino Ayumu never wanted to stand out. He’s always been content to run at the middle of the pack and go unnoticed, and he doesn’t expect much to change when he moves to the small fishing village of Yuuyake to live with his grandfather.

In Yuuyake, Ayumu makes his first real friend in Ikehara Haruki and forges close ties with two girls, Shizuka and Chou. Together, the four friends muddle through the messy world of dating and relationships while trying to succeed in school and prepare for the world they’ll enter when it ends. Fate has other plans for them, though, and Ayumu in particular, as an invisible threat targets the village’s young people.

After being plagued by disturbing, violent dreams, Ayumu learns what the spirit world expects of him. He must learn to fight and to lead—but he’s only ever been ordinary. With the support of friends he would die to protect, Ayumu faces a destiny only he can fulfill. But others have taken an interest in Ayumu. The mysterious Fox-Hat and Neko know more about Ayumu than he knows about himself, and they lead him onto a path that might end in the destruction of them all.

 

Book Review

A fantastical young adult tale of adventure, horror, magic, and high school unfolds as ordinary boy Ayumu Tsukino finds new friends and a valiant purpose when a fox spirit and a bespelled cat guide him to the truth behind his mysterious nightmares. I very much enjoyed this tale. The story and writing style appealed to my inner teen and I happily wallowed in that place where everything is taken at face value with a curious detachment or eagerly consumed with an obsessive life or death urgency. The author does a great job of capturing the meandering teen-aged experience while weaving an affirmative message about courage, perseverance, and support.

While three of the main characters are gay and there is some romance, this is neither an anti-bullying tale nor a jock/nerd love story. This is a story of facing down fear with courage, of standing back up when you fall, and of how ordinary transforms to extraordinary each time you do so. This is a fascinating journey to a perilous realm where enchantment, destiny, dreams, and nightmares meet. Enthralling, fun, energetic, and inspiring, I enjoyed this book and the charming illustrations strewed throughout its pages.

Accustomed to living in Tokyo, ordinary teen Ayumu Tsukino finds himself “home alone” when his parents leave for their jobs in America. He’s to attend his final year of high school in the remote fishing village of his grandfather. En route to his grandfather’s, Ayumu has a disturbing dream where he fights to save a gorgeous, golden-eyed boy from monsters. Ayumu soon meets his “dream boy,” Ikehara Haruki, at his new school. He strikes up a friendship with his idol, but despairs of revealing the true depth of his feelings because Haruki always talks about girls. Through Haruki he meets two girls, A+ student Shizuka and talented artist Chou, who are best friends. The four students have just solidified their friendship when a strange kid called Fox-Hat joins their class and their circle. When a wandering homeless boy named Neko befriends Chou, the group of five become six.  

Everything is going well, but Ayumu’s nightmares begin to escalate. Fox-Hat manifests within one and informs Ayumu that his dreams are more real than not. When a child Ayumu failed to save in a dream dies in reality, Ayumu realizes that Fox-Hat is right. Something is trapping the village children into nightmares from which they cannot escape. Calling on the support of his friends, Ayumu sets out to investigate the source of the monstrous dream apparitions before anyone else dies. Armed only with crude weapons, their assorted skills, and their wits, the six enter the dream world to locate and destroy the dark magic source of the great evil.

Wonderful attention is given to both the dream world and the real world in this intriguing tale. The six friends have very different backgrounds with varying degrees of parental support, which gives the story a good dose of realism. Betwixt all of the dream battles lies a solid tale of individual growth as circumstance and trust pave the way for the six to deepen their understanding of each other through the disclosure of their individual fears.

The story truly becomes magical when the six duck in and out of the dream world. Great action scenes and terrific descriptions made me feel like I was inside a huge video gaming landscape inhabited by enchanted monsters reminiscent of the most impossibly horrific creatures from the imaginations of the best digital artists. I loved it…and I’m not really a gamer. The interplay between Ayumu, his friends, and the grotesque monstrosities is riveting and escalates with each visit to the realm of dreams. Pairings Ayumu and Haruki and Shizuka and Chou find time to express and act on their romantic feelings with mixed results, but these romantic passages are sweet and tender with a touch of spice; very fitting for a book geared toward the young adult market. Forming a truce only to help Ayumu and obtain their individual agendas, enemies Fox-Hat and Neko’s acidic exchanges provide a touch of humor to the gore-heavy story. Ayumu and his friends meet a diverse group of unique and gifted supporting characters, and a lot of the fun of the book came from trying to guess who was friend and who was foe among these mysterious individuals.
All in all a solid and tremendous story that is sure to enrich the imaginations of its readers. Thank you, August Li, for sharing this mind-bending tale of conquering ones demons and fighting the good fight.

“Enthralling, Imaginative, Vivid!”

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Harmony Ink Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 340 pages/133090 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	16-July-2015
Price	$6.99 ebook, $17.99 paperback, $17.99 bundle
Buy Link	https://www.harmonyinkpress.com/books/fox-hat-and-neko-by-august-li-282-b