An emotional and intriguing tale incorporating elements of Chinese folklore, presented as historical fiction with a side of magical realism.
Chapters alternate between two POVs. Snow’s chapters are told in first person past tense (presented as her diary entries), Bao’s in third person present. Both were equally fascinating, although I did at times take issue with being pulled from one storyline at a particularly good part to shift back to the other. But chapters were never super long, so you never have to wait long to switch back.
Snow is a fox, the kind that can take the form of a human. Once she planned on making the thousand-year journey, a morally refining spiritual pilgrimage, with her mate. But after the greed and cruelty of humans shatters their world, she sets out on a mission of vengeance instead.
Meanwhile, Bao is an older gentleman who has had the ability to hear when someone is lying ever since his childhood nanny prayed to a fox spirit for him. Using his talent, he has become a freelance investigator of sorts. When he is tasked with discovering the identity of a woman found frozen to death in an alleyway, he finds himself on a path that seems to be leading him ever-closer to the subject of a lifelong fixation of his: foxes.
I really liked the unique and fully fleshed characters in this book. The mythological elements added a very nice mysterious and enchanting touch (what is just superstition, and what is something more?). But what resonanted the most with me was the story of grief, and the changes people go through as they process it. I love how the Yangsze Choo’s novels always feature this beautiful mix of magical and moving.
There were several fantastic quotes in this book that had me wishing I was reading it on my ereader so I could highlight them with the swipe of a finger, but I was too lazy to note them any other way. Maybe the quotes other readers submit here on Goodreads will help me out here.
I definitely enjoyed this book a lot more than The Night Tiger (which I still really liked!), but I don’t know if it can oust The Ghost Bride’s spot for number one in my esteem — I think perhaps a reread of that is called for to be sure!
Jessica Crawford 