Check out the review of the first book here
I have not enjoyed a book this much since Bad Kitty and Starshatter’s second book, Twin Suns of Carolla. And like Starshatter before it, I think this book takes all the good things about book one and builds upon it.
The book takes place fairly shortly after the first book and our characters have gotten into a very nice familial-like routine. Hana has taken up the sword, as we all knew she would, and has started her journey in the way of Bushido, or the way of the samurai. Gabriel is learning the extent of the powers that his nanobots gives him while carefully watching the growth of his new pupil.
The two of them have a really nice, enviable life outside of Tokyo. If only it could stay that way. We obviously know it won’t because how could it. They pissed off powerful people and we all know how that goes…
Enter the new character Oz. I found Oz to be a very nice addition to the story. I’m not going to go into too much detail on him cause I feel like anything I say will take too much away from the readers experience. I’ll just say that he’s a well written, very relatable character.
As expected, soon all hell breaks out and our heroes are, once again, fighting to survive. Just as the first book, the fight scenes are extremely well written with a lot of factoids that are spot on when it comes to sword fighting. I think I could see some people maybe getting confused since Daniel uses all the correct terminology but overall I would think this is a positive thing as you get to learn something that maybe you didn’t know and we all know the quote for G.I. Joe.
What I think this book does better than the first is the characters. I’m not sure if I can really explain why or how but they just felt a lot more real this time around. I’m not saying that the characters were poorly written in the first book cause that is absolutely not the case. Maybe it was the slice of life environment that was more prominent in this book that made them seem like they were warmer characters. Whatever it was I think people will enjoy the characters a bit more in this book.
Now full disclosure, I’m sure some could say I’m only leaving this glowing review because the author was kind enough to give me a small cameo in the book. There is really nothing I can do to dissuade them of this opinion. Anything I say won’t be believed anyway. But I think I’m honest and fair in all my reviews and this one is no different. I genuinely couldn’t put this book down. Sometimes going a little long on my lunches and breaks to finish a chapter or a particular interesting part of the book. It earned the perfect rating I’m giving it.
5/5
This was a good review and probably the best way to sum everything up without giving away too much.