Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling
Fantasy, High Fantasy, Young Adults
Nicolette Andrews
Tales of Akatsuki, Book # 1
Independently published
August 14th 2015
eBook
274
English
October 24, 2021 October 27, 2021
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Rescuing him was a mistake. Falling in love was unthinkable. Because to save her own life, she has to destroy his.
Rin is an immortal kitsune, or at least she was until a witch’s curse turned her human. To regain her youkai powers and avoid being turned into a fox, she must make the lord’s son fall in love with her before the next full moon. Her kind has been seducing humans for centuries, and it should be easy, as long as he doesn’t find out she’s a kitsune… except that the curse also took her voice.
Hikaru is betrothed to the daughter of a rival lord, and he will fulfil his duty, protecting his clan from others and from the youkai. But when he’s saved by a mysterious red-haired woman, he can’t forget her, try as he might. Then she turns up at his door… Only it can’t be his saviour, because this woman has ebony hair, but there’s something inexplicably bewitching about her. Yet his father’s treaty depends on his marriage to another, and even an innocent dalliance could ruin everything.
Falling in love is dangerous for them both. Not only are they from different worlds, but their time together can only end in heartache. Hikaru’s marriage means security for his clan, and Rin must destroy it or be turned into a fox. And truly loving Hikaru means revealing she’s one of the hated youkai and an immortal. Will they risk it all for love? Or will their two worlds rip them apart for good?
Fans of fairy tale retellings, anime, and manga love Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling, an old tale retold from a fresh perspective.
About the book
I read this book because, first of all, it was free and second, I was drawn to the cover. Furthermore, the title talks about Kitsune and therefore the book is clearly of Japanese inspiration. I’ve always liked the Little Mermaid story even if it’s not my favorite fairy tale.
Rin is an immortal kitsune, a Youkai, a spirit who has the power to transform into both a woman and a fox. But an evil witch turns her into a woman and steals her voice. Her task is to make the prince fall in love with her in order to break the treaty that the prince himself managed to create between his family and that of a rival lord.
One evening, Hikaru, the prince, is in the forest with his men and risks being killed by a boar demon. Rin saves him but in doing so triggers a series of events that leads her to Hikaru’s court. Here, she must make the prince fall in love or she will be transformed in a fox forever.
What I think
Wow! I can’t believe how much I enjoyed the book. Full 5 stars. First of all, Hikaru looks like Inuyasha (and honestly it’s the only anime I’ve fully watched, any recommendation?). He was just missing Inuyasha’s ears and I imagined him making them move when something was wrong. The story itself is not original as it is also a retelling, but I liked it anyway. I like the mystery behind the enchantress and the ending is wonderful. I don’t know whether to continue with the next book as there won’t be exactly the same characters. Maybe I read this as a separate book, we’ll see.
Also I like the fact that there are many points of view, even if the main ones are those of Rin and Hikaru (but how cool is this name? For the record it means “to shine.” Honestly I liked both the relationship between Hikaru and his brother, even if of conflict, and the one between Rin and Shin, her childhood friend.
Not everything has been answered in this first book, obviously it is a series and I hope that a certain mystery is taken up in the following books, if I ever read them. It almost seems counterproductive not to continue reading the series if I liked it so much, but knowing that the characters are different or rather Rin and Hikaru will not be the protagonists of the next book, I’m afraid that in the end I’m not passionate about the two new main characters and because I had a bad experience with A curse so dark and lonely. (even if things were different because the two protagonists of the first book were present in the sequels)
I’ve never read a little mermaid retelling. I really enjoyed it. Now I want to read the Priestess and the Dragon which is a retelling of Inuyasha or rather it is similar or so the plot says and it is also free on Kobo (and it is still of Japanese inspiration).
Yes I recommend it, Japanese mythology is vast and fascinating but I don’t recommend it for that. It is a pleasant and very fast reading, the world is well defined and the bad girl is smart and you don’t know what she wants.
