{"id":2775,"date":"2025-05-07T11:48:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T11:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2025-05-07T11:48:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T11:48:00","slug":"book-review-the-fox-and-the-dragons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2775","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Fox and the Dragons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Fox and the Dragons<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Norman Luce<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Mystery, Thriller & Suspense \/ Dystopia<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798349208966<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 338 pages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Melissa Suggitt<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>This is what happens when women lead the resistance\u2014the revolution is personal.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s 2086 and the world is cracked dry. Power is gone, cults rise, and two women\u2014one born a protector, the other shaped by vengeance\u2014are the only ones who stand between what\u2019s left of humanity and total collapse.<\/p>\n

The Fox and the Dragons<\/em> is the second book in Norman Luce\u2019s Future History trilogy, and it hits like a sunbaked fist to the chest. It blends post-apocalyptic grit with character-driven emotional depth, serving up Mad Max energy with a soulful undercurrent of fierce female resilience.<\/p>\n

Set nearly fifty years after \u201cThe Wave\u201d strips the planet of all non-biological electricity, society has fractured into tribalized pockets of survival. Maya, the no-nonsense leader of Douglass Ranch, is called back into action when her closest ally, Kali, sends a desperate message: the Trade Post is under attack by a brutal cult known as the Dreaded Dragons. What follows is a taut, fast-paced journey of loyalty, trust, and power\u2014not just the kind we lost, but the kind we find in each other.<\/p>\n

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Maya and Kali are the fire and steel at the heart of this story. Their bond is earned, raw, and deeply human. Maya\u2019s strength lies in her compassion and clarity; Kali, in her pain and grit. The evolution of their dynamic is one of the book\u2019s most satisfying arcs. \u201cShe\u2019s\u2026 She\u2019s my friend,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Kali says at a critical moment, and those four words carry the weight of battlefields and betrayals.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Inari.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh, Inari<\/em>. The nonverbal fox companion who communicates through presence, empathy, and body language that somehow speaks louder than words. That a character with no dialogue feels this vivid is a testament to Luce\u2019s skill. If anything, my one quibble is that I want more Inari.<\/p>\n

Despite its novella length, this story is absolutely packed with immersive action and thoughtful worldbuilding. The combat scenes are lean and gripping, never flashy for the sake of spectacle. It reads like Luce trusts your imagination to do the work and you\u2019ll thank him for it. The imagery is brutal but never gratuitous. \u201cThe guards open fire at the cultists with everything they have: arrows, spears, old firearms\u2026 Even Molotov cocktails.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> It\u2019s a chaotic ballet of desperation and survival.<\/p>\n

But make no mistake, this isn\u2019t just action for adrenaline\u2019s sake. The story explores power, both the electric kind and the personal kind. It\u2019s about giving people choices when they\u2019ve had them stolen. Maya and Kali\u2019s dynamic captures this perfectly: trust built from trauma and hope kindled in shared decision-making.<\/p>\n

The Fox and the Dragons<\/em> doesn\u2019t waste a single beat. It\u2019s a story about choice, about reclaiming agency in a broken world. And while it continues the threads from Come See the Light<\/em>, it stands strong on its own. The ending leaves the door open for the trilogy\u2019s conclusion, but this chapter delivers its own full arc\u2014and a hell of a good time.<\/p>\n

Come for the desert cults and hidden blades. Stay for the resilience, the reckoning, and the fox.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Melissa Suggitt\u2019s book review of The Fox and the Dragons <\/em>by Norman Luce! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: The Fox and the Dragons<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fox and the Dragons by Norman Luce Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense \/ Dystopia ISBN: 9798349208966 Print Length: 338 pages Amazon Bookshop Reviewed by Melissa Suggitt This is what happens when women lead the resistance\u2014the revolution is personal. It\u2019s 2086 and the world is cracked dry. Power is gone, cults rise, and two women\u2014one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}