The Fox

Ash #.7

by Malinda Lo

"The Fox" is a short story set about two years after the end of HUNTRESS. You may read "The Fox" without reading HUNTRESS if you like, but it will make more sense if you've read the novel first.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Short Stories, LGBT, Queer, Fiction, Lesbian

13 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Hi Goodreads! I've only created this profile to claim my name here, and I don't check messages here or add friends. I invite you to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or visit my website at malindalo.com.

BIO: Malinda Lo is the bestselling author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, winner of the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, as well as Michael L. Printz and Walter Dean Myers honors. Her debut novel Ash, a Sapphic retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award and the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the Lambda Literary Award. She can be found on social media @malindalo or at malindalo.com.

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

After finishing Huntress, I thought I was okay with letting go of the characters, but turns out I was in denial. After reading this short story, I miss Kaede sooo much. Why isn't there another book or two?

[anteros · Rating 5 out of 5]

”She tasted her own longing.”

Goddamn it, let the lesbians be happy!

[Sam (Hissing Potatoes) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars. It's a short scene that exists solely to showcase a very brief glimpse of a magical fox creature. It says nothing about the character you don't already know from Huntress, doesn't add anything, doesn't stand alone, doesn't even read particularly well style-wise. *shrug*

[Jamie Coudeville · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me so sad. I want Kaydee and Taisin to be happy. Now I kind of wish there was a sequel.

[m&gs · Rating 4 out of 5]

“you could have me,” the woman said simply.

the rain slid in cold rivulets down kaede’s back. She said, “but I would still not have her.” 😭🫂

[luisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

PAIN. idk how i survived this

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

A continuation of Huntress, depicting Kaede's longing for Taisin, and "the fox" who can appear as a woman...

[Josie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This didn’t really do anything for me. It didn’t add anything that we didn’t already know about Kaede and Taisin from Huntress and I just wasn’t super impressed with the story itself. It didn’t evoke any particularly strong emotions and I found myself wanting/expecting more.

[Erin Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad.

[Sena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars.

[Alice Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful surprise. While reading Huntress, I was hoping the author would include Chinese mythical creatures like the huli jing. And here it is, a huli jing.

Looking forward to a sequel... Maybe set 5 to 10 years later one where Kaede and Taisin are adults...

Great cover art!

[Hayley Shaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good short story, a chapter left out of The Huntress. You can read it free on Malinda Lo's web site. https://www.malindalo.com/the-fox Read The Huntress first.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, pretty story set a couple of years after Lo's related novel Huntress. It's romance gone wrong on two levels, basically, but it's nicely told and I particularly enjoyed the quiet resolution of it. I haven't read a lot of stories using the kitsune figure before, though I have heard of it, so this was an interesting introduction to the mythology.

Also, that shadow fox on the cover is especially creepy. Just saying.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

maybe 2.5
admittedly i only read this story because it was a quick way to get the last one for the reading challenge, but it worked out because i just finished huntress a little while ago
december flew by, then i was in a reading slump so um, can I get a redo?
but i’m glad to be saying goodbye to this year, Happy new year everyone

[caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

tbh this just left me confused and a little sad, most open-ended stories have a similar effect but i was definitely rooting for them so it was more on the bitter side.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Included at the end of the epub of Huntress.

[OutSideTheBoxox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its stories like this that make me wish monster weman were real.

[Mahkala Burdenmeyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute but a little abstract

[Amanda Pereira · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5
Super short, just felt like the book stopped in the middle of a sentence, felt unfinished 🥴

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I don't remember the ending of Huntress but there was some solid angst in this.

[Isaac · Rating 1 out of 5]

2/10

To be fair I didn’t read the Novel this comes with just this story as a required reading in class. Not for me.

[Noria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really short story attached to the end of Huntress. Events unfold from the perspective of Kaede who is the main character from Huntress that I actually connected more with. She's still dealing with heartache and that feeling of sadness permeats the entire story, making it even more haunting.

The lore of the kitsune shines through and is done beautifully, and there is the added bonus of the story featuring only Kaede, meaning we are thankfully spared Malinda's love for jumping from one character's thought to another without giving us a sufficient heads-up.

Overall, it's a pretty decent short that I enjoyed more than the original, which says a lot about the original.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This worked fine as a short story but I'm actually glad it wasn't included in Huntress. It would have felt out of place as just a chapter since at no other point in the book did anyone interact with a magical creature this way or even have this type of disconnect with reality. It didn't really add anything to the world created in Huntress which was unfortunate since I loved that book. I was actually hoping for more. Maybe some day we'll get a story about Kaede going back to the Fairy Realm as the King's Huntress and having another adventure with them.

[Sunny Ostrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A melancholy short about Kaede one year after the end of Huntress.

[Cee Jolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the theme of this short story, haunting love, persuasion, mythical being and all. My rating on this is entirely based on my enjoyment and no critical thinking. It is very short and depends a lot on whether you like the characters from Huntress or not. A short read with nice atmosphere, give it a shot, won't take much of your time at all.