L Benitez

Review done through Bit'N Book Promoters: http://bitnbookpromoters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/bite-on-this-book-review-for-shi...

Well, where do I start with this book? I still can't figure out what to call it. Is it a manga comic or a novel? It's actually neither. Like a hybrid of the two, and that's pretty brave to do. It's original and shows the author's passion for both manga art, Japanese culture and writing, all in one very long novel called 'Shinobi 7'. The main question is: does it work?

At times, yes. Other times, I'm not so sure.

I wanted to read this book because I love Japanese culture: the films, the books, the manga and anime, even the language which I'm attempting to study as we speak. So I was very excited to read this book.

I didn't expect it to be what it is. I thought it would be something like Lian Hearn's 'Tales of the Otori' : a grown up novel about clans, warriors, love, war, death; all the good stuff. But this book reads a lot like a comic. And sometimes it is very effective, other times the writing style can come off as immature. The author likes to use exclamation marks in narrative, and I've never been a fan of that simply because it doesn't look professional to me. Personally, I avoid using them and if there is exclamation marks in narrative, I think maybe a few times would be enough. Not several times a page. Especially when it is clear that something intense is going down; you don't need exclamation marks as a form of expression then, in my opinion.

The other point about her writing is that, yes I know, the characters are young. Most of them are between eight and fifteen years old, so it stands to reason that if we're reading from their point of view, they are going to sound their age. And the author does this brilliantly. But the problem with the young mind is they might ramble about insignificant things and there were times when it really disrupted the flow and killed the suspense. Reading from a young character's point of view was really enjoyable for me, don't get me wrong, just sometimes it needed to get to the point.

Speaking of POV changes: there were a lot. I mean a lot. We have the six main characters and then two or three other POV's, one of which seemed to be from the omniscient third person POV. So you needed to keep up. And the author handled it pretty well, but there were some points where the POV of the person wasn't mentioned, so in the first paragraph you'd have little thought inserts like, Come on, Luna, you can do it, just to help you remember who it is supposed to be. But then, that technique is very blatant. Titling whose point of view it is, is probably better, and easier.

The characters were wonderful. I loved them all for different reasons. Luna, the eight year old, with her spirit, vibrance and energy. Hanran for his mystery and aloofness and a not so secret crush on Cassie. Cassie the girl with a haunted past, full of grief and sadness but always hiding her pain both physical and emotional, just to appear strong; she also has a good heart and sweet temperament. Tabby the runaway, with her sugar addiction, and her sharp tongue giving Kirou a run for his money whenever they argue. Kirou, who was the lone ninja for a long time and never failed to amaze me with his arrogance and short temper. Luna drove him crazy, and only ever referred to him as 'old man' until things got sentimental. Then there's Yami, Luna's older brother, who gets teased by Hanran and Kirou (especially Kuroi, who constantly says to him 'Be a man'). They all have their personalities and quirks and even if it isn't clear whose POV it is from, I could guess who it was by the personality of the writing. That isn't easy to achieve as a writer. The author's strength is her characters. And her humour. I was in giggles several times.

Her weakness is, I think, her description. She describes what people are wearing way to often, and the way she does it is 'telling' not 'showing'. So she lists what they're wearing like: He was wearing a vest, black jeans and white trainers with green stripes up the side. Just an example here, not what she's actually written. But you get the idea, right? And that's just three items I've written about. She writes about more and describes them like that. It's off-putting. Even when she describes new people and their appearance it's the same technique most of the time. I think she needs to work on writing with more 'show' than 'tell'. The beginning part of the story was a lot of tell. I found the story really got into the swing at around 100 pages in, when Cassie gets possessed by the demon. After that, it started to get really good.

When I finished reading I was pleased with how it turned out. It is flawed, and I was reading an unedited copy too. I think the author needs to cut down on her adverbs, she needs to describe things with more 'show', she needs to always make clear whose POV it is because so many POV's can be difficult to stomach. I also believe the book doesn't need to be as long as it is. It's almost 400 pages and I'm not 'size-ist' but I think it could be reduced. The beginning of POV switches usually focuses on the person's inner thoughts and then gets to the situation. Sometimes the inner dialogue isn't needed, it can ramble. A lot of the time it is enjoyable but if it is trimmed, it'll be sharper and flow better, in my opinion.

After all that, I can say I did like this book. It was different and the author clearly is passionate about martial arts and Japanese culture and it shows. I enjoyed the characters, how they came out of their shell and grew stronger. The demons and magical aspect of it was very entertaining. The dialogue usually had me in giggles and it was very entertaining. The artwork wasn't amazing. It was cute and added a nice touch. But I think she used the wrong materials to draw the artwork. It looks like she used pencil and then a black ballpoint pen and I think if she did them in pens specifically for manga artwork such as Letraset pens, that would make a huge difference to the quality.

So to sum up: the start stuttered, the middle built up and the ending finished it nicely.

Thanks for allowing me to read this book. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens to the Shinobi 7 team next!



3 out of 5 stars!
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