Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox (Amaranthine Saga #1)

Ilona Andrew recommended this. I completely trust her opinion on great writing. This was a fantastic story. Great world building that is completely original. This book is so good that it should win awards. Incredible intimacy, however if you are looking for sex you will not get it here. The intimacy is so fulfilling and satisfying it did not need it, it also has what I like, meaning that there is a great cast of characters besides the hero and heroine.if you have enjoyed authors like Ilona Andrews, Anne Bishop, Nalini Singh, and Patricia Briggs, and Thea Harrison, I believe that you will enjoy this story.

I bought this book not knowing that this was going to be a book heavily influenced by the authors previous Inuyasha fanfictions. Ive also never seen that anime so I really dont know how much of the storyline and details are borrowed.

I thought the overal plot was interesting – enslaved shifter wanting to be set free, new owner willing to set him free, and making friends and falling in love along the way – sounds good, sign me up. While reading it, before I knew it was a fanfiction, I got the distinct impression that I was missing something. It was as if I was reading the second book in a series that depended on you understanding the world building and what happened in the first book. And that was really frustrating and confusing.

At times the plot seemed to slog along and some of the relationships didnt seem really flushed out. I dont think I could call this a romance, because the relationship between Tsumiko and Argent seemed the same as Michael and Argent, or Tsumiko and Gingko, or any other pairing. Argent and Tsumiko are in love? Im not convinced.

Unrelated to the plot, Gingko was named by his father, Argent, for the grove of trees at his home where he grew up. In fact, Argent wants his future family crest to have the leaves of that tree in it. But the name of the tree is Ginkgo (in real life), not Gingko. So that really annoyed me. If thats so important why is it spelled wrong? Why do the editors do this to me?

I feel like Im almost talking myself into giving it two stars. But I do think its a solid average book, that could benefit from an editor that wasnt already versed in Inuyasha and its fanfiction.

I’ve been a fan of Forthright’s fan fiction for a long time and I’m happy she’s finally published an original story! Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox has very obvious echos back to her Inuyasha fanfic roots (I laughed at the unsubtle references in the character names) and teases readers with an interesting new world and set of characters. However, the flatness of the protagonists prevents this from being a 5 star book:

Tsumiko is a Mary Sue for vast majority of the story. I liked her during her few witty moments, but she doesn’t actually -do- anything. Her M.O. is to be patient and understanding. While I appreciated a focused and clear headed female lead, she always makes the right decisions and is noble and pure from start to finish. There are no personal struggles, temptations, or character flaws; her naivete was used well in the beginning as an introduction to the world, but she lacked any sense of agency or incentive for character growth. Near the end she seemed to find her meaning (without trying) but, maybe because this is only the first book, there were no consequences to her choices. Nothing was hard for her in this book, and everything was given to or done for her.

Argent disappointed me as a missed opportunity. He has so much potential to be dark and complex and just fell flat. His responses were extremely mellow for someone with all that hinted past trauma. The darkest he ever gets in this book are harmless pranks. Argent’s romantic chemistry with Tsumiko was inevitable and predictable; I was a little uncomfortable with his confessions of love when his affection seem based more on addiction than a deep, abiding understanding of each other and shared experiences.

Forthright’s secondary characters were, by far, more intriguing. Their back stories, weaknesses, desires, and relationships warranted at least +1 star just for them; I finished this book wanting to know the rest of their stories and how they will influence future events. Overall, I’m looking forward to the next book and I hope Forthright lets all her characters loose to fail, struggle, and grow.

Reading all the “rave” reviews it must be just me, who felt slightly uncomfortable reading this book. Right at the start of the story, Tsumiko is portrayed as a young petite school girl of undetermined age, who has to “Tend” (make out) with a centuries old ( although good looking) ) stranger (Mr Fox). Couple of chapters in, it is mentioned that Tsumiko was a teacher and is twenty years old, however when they travel to good olde England , Mr Fox dresses Tsumiko in children’s clothes to fool her relatives into thinking that she is younger than her real age ( so they do not steal her from him), but insist sleeping in her bed ( oh, just to very closely cuddle and the occasional lick!?). There is lot of close physical affections and prolonged looks and desperate needs from all of the characters in this book. It felt like bunch of junkies desperate for their fix from their beacon (Tsumiko), they called it “tending”.
Tsumiko is portrayed as a saint (boring), nobody is like that, our faults make us human.
Tsumiko’s younger brother ( currently at school) shares his “bed”room with another ( Mr Bird )older character who likes to “nest” .
The writing is easy and the over all feel of the book is “lovey dovey”, however the read between the lines feel of this book comes across like child grooming , got to the last few chapters and stopped reading as I did not care for any of the characters.

I really enjoyed this book, it’s a fantastical journey through Japan (I believe or at least somewhere like it) but with mythical creatures who can take human form. These Amaranthine have ’emerged’ in order to gain human rights so Tsukimo is most unhappy to discover that along with an estate, she has inherited an Amaranthine named Argent who can take the form of a fox. She is determined to free him from his magical bondage to her family, he has been disappointed too many times before to trust her and is determined to hate her but Tsukimo never wavers, for someone quite young and initially naive as a result of her cloistered upbringing, she really knows her own mind. I loved her strength of purpose as she searches for a way to break the curse and the sweet romance that blossoms between them, it’s very hard to describe but well worth a read, try it!

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