Samurai Girl: The Book of the Shadow by Carrie Asai and Renato Alarcao

This second book in the continuing series of Samurai Girl is as good as the first book. Here is the back of it first:

I am a new person-training to stay alive. The people I trusted, I now fear. The people I trust now, I am placing in danger.
I’m told a good samurai can make herself invisible. And I want to be invisible right now…to every person except one.

The Book of the Shadow continues to follow Heaven’s growth as a person. After another attack, she finally makes the decision to move out on her own. Finding a job for the first time(and then having to quit it right away), Heaven lives with her new found friend from the last book, Cheryl. More information about her adopted family, the Kogos, and the Yukemuras comes about. While still trying to figure out Heaven’s old life, her new one becomes even more complex. Now, Hiro and Karen are dating. Teddy’s attitude and actions towards Heaven are not only genuine, but are confusing Heaven even more.

I really enjoy this series so far and I am looking foward to the future books. It is not only a funny look at how people are, Samurai Girl teaches much about how Heaven finds herself when her life is turned upside down. I can really relate to this book in the sense that my life has also been very sheltered and pampered. Although not to Heaven’s extreme, Carrie Asai shows a part of the Asian society that many people must live. In each book, you can see the struggle one must go through. Even though this is an adventure book, the characters are very human. How greed, power, and loyal intertwines. That no one is really a superhero and everyone has flaws. Every character has their reason for how they live, and those reasons are not necesarily wrong. Just different. I can go on and on about the different analysis of each character and theme, but I’ll leave that up to the reader. It isn’t a book for everyone, but it is very entertaining. The deeper meanings in this book (as in every single book in existance, since we all know that books have those deep hidden meanings…er…sort of) are up to the individual readers to decided. I just like it. If only the publisher would hurry up.

The Book of the Pearl (Samurai Girl) by Carrie Asai and Renato Alarcao

This is the greatest so far of all 3 books.Things between Karen and Haven are getting worse by the minute.When Heaven finally gets a new job she turns into the new party girl Heaven.She makes new friends,enemies and decisions.Desicions might not be the best when you work at a club either are your friends.Ecspecially when all your friends are much happier without you.Poor Heaven though….Cheryl is still her friend but what is Hiro now…..and we all know what Karen is.

The Book of the Sword (Samurai Girl) by Carrie Asai and Annabelle Verhoye

Nineteen-year-old Heaven is famous throughout Japan — she was the miracle baby, sole survivor of a fiery plane crash when she was just six months old. When no one stepped forward to claim her, she was adopted by the wealthy Kogo family and since then has lived a sheltered, pampered life on their estate near Toyko. But now she is to married off to Teddy Yukemura, the son of her father’s business rival. Heaven desperately wants to avoid marrying Teddy, but fears she will have to go through. But her wedding is crashed by a mysterious ninja — and Heaven’s beloved brother dies to save her. She flees, and finds herself lost and alone in America. The only thing she can do is seek out her brother’s best friend — and persuade him to train her as a samurai so she can avenge her brother’s death and find out the truth about her father. This is the first book in a new teen adventure series that looks like it will be great. I highly recommend it to teenage girls who enjoy adventures with strong female characters.

The Book of the Wind (Samurai Girl) by Carrie Asai and Renato Alarcao

Heaven by a twist of fate escapes a house fire in this latest edition of this electric series. With a reluctant goodbye to Hiro she’s off to the dazzle of Las Vegas where she seeks an old friend. In Las Vegas one can be blown wayward on their path and Heaven says Hello to an old friend-Katie and a new bubbly friend-Mr. Alcohol which she had a wild, reckless and ultimately humiliating relationship with in Book 3 The book of the Pearl (remember the jelly fish scene?). The alcohol misuse aside this is a fun, fast paced book. We see a new side of Teddy which makes him a more multi dimensional character and something very sweet and wonderful happens at the end (quess cuz I’m not going to tell!:)
All in all a great book in the series. And if you look at the end of the book there is a preview of another book (from a wonderful series) Fearless.

The Book of the Heart (Samurai Girl) by Carrie Asai and Renato Alarcao

hmm. i thought this book was awsome. i was so happy that hero and heaven were togeather , but kinda. then that melissa girl had to shove her tounge down his throat. but hey, it was funny. well then i was soo happy that heavam and hero did *it* b/c he loved her and she really loved him even tho she didnt know at the time, he wanted to pretect her and he was never going to kill her. i think sara (her real mommy!)was right about it. he said he was going to do it b/c he wanted tp get her out of there. but any how, she just had mixxed fealings when she was pushing him away!!! all the lies around her i wouldnt be able to take eather, but i wouldve stayed with him, b/c she loved him befor she hered all his past. but she knew how he was so she shouldnt have thought diffrently about it. i was BALLING MY EYES OUT when the bad ppl killed hiro.. u no like :: NO HERO DONT DIE DONT DIE NOOO! mixed with a WHAT (…) WERE YOU THINKING, WERE YOU REALLY GONNA KILL HER!?!? but then i thought about it and he is too pure of heart for heavan to kill her. thats y he committed that suicide thing and let them kill him. he loved her, and thats all she shouldve belived. but im happy that heavan found her mom. by the way, am i the only one who sees that she *might* have a thing for teddy? i think she does!!!
soo when is the next book coming out? this one better not be the end book or i will die. it just stops at, so r u gettin in? that sux!

The Book of the Flame (Samurai Girl) by Carrie Asai and Renato Alarcao

The book of wind is the greaest book yet.I mean I love the
whole entire samuri girl book serious.Me and my friends love
it so much we’re going to make a little short movie of the first
book.

Samurai Girl by Julie

I bought this book recently. The images remind me of when I was in Japan before and captures the quirkiness, zeal for life, and craftiness of its people well. It’s hard to describe the images in the book except that each one will give you a wonderful new look on Japan and its fascination with manga and kitzchy images dubbed “too cute” and kiddie in the west. Though the themes depicted in this book go far beyond what I had expected modern Japanese art to be.

Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School, Book 5 by Reiji Saiga, Sora Inoue, and Ai Kennedy

Real Bout High School is one of my favorite series. Ryoko Mitsurugi, the samurai idol of Daimon High, is tall, beautiful, and kicks major a**. She reveres the samurai of the past and seeks to emulate them in the modern world. When the K-fights are introduced, she goes at it with her ‘enemy’ Shizuma Kusanagi and her rival Azumi Kiribiyashi. In her free time she practices with her bokken and dreams of dating the captain of the Kendo club, whom Azumi is also chasing.
This is an incredibly fun, action packed series and I can’t wait till the next book comes out!

Spirit of the Samurai: Of Swords and Rings (Spirit of the Samurai) by Gary Reed and Rick Hoberg

Kat and David Anderson have a pretty typical brother and sister relationship. Meaning they like to fight with each other. The difference between them and other siblings is that they’ve been trained to fight by their grandfather since they were little kids. Kat’s focus has always been on skill and agility. David is more about strength and force. They both like to win.

The only family Kat and David know is their Grandfather. He has taken care of them and raised them ever since they can remember. Kat isn’t sure how he supports them all without a job. He spends most of his time in his Dojo, or in the building next door to it. Kat and David aren’t allowed in the Dojo, but their Grandfather often takes them to the other building to train. Although he calls it teaching.

It’s a good thing that Kat’s had a lot of “teaching,” because she’s going to need all of it and more. When their family turns out to be legendary, and the legend comes to life, no one is quite prepared.

SPIRIT OF THE SAMURAI: OF SWORDS AND RINGS is a fun, action-packed adventure, and very vividly written. A story that gives a whole new meaning to family history and family reunions. And one that ends way too quickly! I’m ready to read the next one, now.

Peach Girl: Change of Heart, Book 5 by Miwa Ueda

Momo and Kiley have just prevented Sae from engaging in prostitution with an elder client. When she tries to sell Momo a skin whitening product afterwards the suspicions are raised as to what exactly Ryo has her doing for him. Toji discovers via the internet that Ryo is involved with a serious pyramid scheme and has basically enlisted Sae to make the money for him, no matter what she has to do.

Momo’s relationship has it’s stops and starts too… on the one hand she wants to allow him his space so that he can mourn the loss of his true love, Nurse Misao, but on the other hand she wants him to only desire her… even if she is still not quite ready to give into his sexual desires. When he asks her to work with him at a convenience store so that they can raise the money for their special trip she resigns herself to it, but halfheartedly.

Then things spice up again as Sae gets involved in a porno video that she is blissfully ignorant of, and the only reason Momo knows what it is because Kiley has seen the people involved in porno movies. They must stop her from making a terrible mistake, even if Sae has never been the nicest person to Momo.

I can’t stop reading this series. It’s wonderful, and just the right kind of drama without being overblown that really makes a manga series wonderful. Pick it up… but beware, this series causes dire addictions…you won’t be able to wait to find out what is happening next.

The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (The Samurai Mysteries) by Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler

Seikei is a fourteen year old son of a tea merchant who dreams of nothing more than living his life as a samurai. He writes poetry and admires the noble way of life, much to his father’s annoyance who thinks Seikei is wasting his time; since he was not born to a noble house he can never aspire to the noble life that is a samurai’s destiny. So, when a trip with his father lends him the chance to observe the samurai way of life Seikei jumps at the chance, although there is a catch. Seikei must help solve a case of robbery caused by the hands of a ghost. Let me explain further.

One night in an inn Seikei meets the daimyo Lord Hakuseki. While showing him his father’s tea Hakuseki reveals a large ruby that he intends to give to the shogun. Before Seikei retires he also encounters a young girl named Michiko who shares a ghost story with him. When Seikei retires thee is a sudden commotion and Seikei sees what he thinks is a jikininki (flesh eating ghost) carrying the gem. When the authorities come he tells them what he saw. His father thinks he is cracked but the senior investigator, Judge Ooka, not only thinks Seikei is onto something but asks him to join the investigation, especially when he helps discover the so called ghost’s escape chamber.

Suddenly Seikei is skirting all around Japan after an actor’s troupe, whom the judge suspects is involved, chasing a particular character named Tomomi. Tomomi may hold the key to solving the mystery, but when Seikei delves further he discovers that this actor is more than he seems. Meanwhile during all of this adventure and suspense Seikei learns the way of the warrior, the code of the samurai, and other things he was never exposed to thanks to his limited history of working at his father’s side. But can this determined young man find justice and do it without losing his life in this cut throat culture?

I was hoping this book would be more of a historical fiction as I adore books written on Japanese culture and life. It does go into explaining a lot of points about the Japanese way of life circa 1735. However, the overall feeling of the book, seeing as how it is a tame mystery novel aimed at children, is that it is a Nancy Drew novel set in Japan. This takes away from the story at times as it does seem a touch dumbed down for kids. (I never appreciate books for kid that feels as if they are pandering, you see.) But this book does have some good points to it, as I have said before. It is really good at explaining the samurai way of life to people who have presumably never been exposed to it before, and I think that children will be able to relate to the main character, Seikei, as it does seem that these books will have a huge coming of age element to them.

I probably will read the sequels at some point. The next one is about geishas being killed off, that is more my speed. Theft not so much. Of course this series is aimed for kids, so it’s not like they can go all out with the blood and gore. I don’t know quite what to expect. Still, it will be worth a read, as this one was.

Tags: Samurai Girl