{Bookish Review} Jet Black and the Ninja Wind by Leza Lowitz, Shogo Oketani

Jet Black and the Ninja Wind
By: Leza Lowitz, Shogo Oketani
Published by: Tuttle Publishing on October 29th 2013
Genres: Action/Fantasy (YA)
Source: Bought
Rating: 

Seventeen-year-old Jet Black is a ninja. There's only one problem--she doesn't know it. Others do, however, and they're scheming to capture her and uncover her secrets. When her mother dies, Jet knows only that she must go to Japan to protect a family treasure hidden in her ancestral land. She's terrified, but if Jet won't fight to protect her world, who will? Stalked by bounty hunters and desperately in love with the man who's been sent to kill her, Jet must be strong enough to protect the treasure, preserve an ancient culture, and save a sacred mountain from destruction. In Jet Black and the Ninja Wind, multiple award-winning author, poet, and translator team Leza Lowitz and Shogo Oketani make their first foray into young adult fiction with a compulsively readable tale whose teenage heroine must discover if she can put the blade above the heart--or die trying. 

I picked this book because of my interest in Japanese culture. Ninja story? Bring it on! Jet Black and the Ninja Wind is a story about a Jet's survival story as she travelled to her mother's birth country to protect a family treasure. This is also about her story to discover about herself, more specifically, trusting in her ability.

The book is filled with danger as Jet and her cousin travelled from one place to another and I was really engrossed in them. There is definitely character growth for Jet but somehow I didn't feel close to her as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong--I like reading about Jet's and her struggles through dangerous situation to protect what she need to protect. She did get on my nerves in the beginning but she slowly grew on me and I get to understand more from her point of view. Love interest? Not much. Not enough. I need more!

There is a valuable lesson to learn from the book alongside Jet which is why you need to read the book if you are interested. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about Ninja and Japanese culture but I'd hesitate if you are looking for some romance story. It's still a good read.

{Bookish Review} The Mussorgsky Riddle by Darin Kennedy

The Mussorgsky Riddle
By: Darin Kennedy
Published by: Curiosity Quills Press on 12 January 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Mystery (YA)
Source: ecopy from publisher
Rating: 

Psychic Mira Tejedor possesses unique talents that enable her to find anything and anyone, but now she must find a comatose boy wandering lost inside the labyrinth of his own mind. Thirteen-year-old Anthony Faircloth hasn’t spoken a word in almost a month and with each passing day, his near catatonic state worsens. No doctor, test, or scan can tell Anthony’s distraught mother what has happened to her already troubled son. In desperation, she turns to Mira for answers, hoping her unique abilities might succeed where science has failed.

At their first encounter, Mira is pulled into Anthony’s mind and finds the child’s psyche shattered into the various movements of Modest Mussorgsky’s classical music suite, Pictures at an Exhibition. As she navigates this magical dreamscape drawn from Anthony’s twin loves of Russian composers and classical mythology, Mira must contend with gnomes, troubadours, and witches in her search for the truth behind Anthony’s mysterious malady.

The real world, however, holds its own dangers. The onset of Anthony’s condition coincides with the disappearance of his older brother’s girlfriend, a missing persons case that threatens to tear the city apart. Mira discovers that in order to save Anthony, she will have to catch a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep the secrets contained in Anthony’s unique mind from ever seeing the light.

The Mussorgsky Riddle is a really interesting book about how Psychic Mira Tejedo was able to make a breakthrough with regards to the case of a withdrawn autistic boy called Anthony, who was trapped in his own mind. I was as skeptical as the boy's therapist initially about her abilities but she slowly grew on me and I found myself craving to know what happened next.

I like that the main character is not perfect--she has her own problems besides the cases going on. I also liked how the author used the Exhibition to represent Anthony's mind with interesting characters in there whom Mira has to interact with in order to solve the mystery behind Anthony's withdrawal. The twists that happened in the story do that me by surprise and that made the story even more interesting.

The whole story is easy to read and follow, with a full cast of well-developed characters to liven up the story. I must confess that it took me quite a while to get past the front part of the book but I'm totally hooked beyond that.

If you enjoy reading mystery with a hint of paranormal, The Mussorgsky Riddle is the book for you. In addition, this book is also suitable for young adults.

About Darin Kennedy

Darin Kennedy, born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Bowman Gray School of Medicine. After completing family medicine residency in the mountains of Virginia, he served eight years as a United States Army physician and wrote his first novel in 2003 in the sands of northern Iraq. His debut novel, The Mussorgsky Riddle, was born from a fusion of two of his lifelong loves—classical music and world mythology— and is slated for publication by Curiosity Quills Press in Fall/Winter 2014. His short stories can be found in various publications, as well as two short story compilations available on Amazon, and he is currently hard at work on his next novel. Doctor by day and novelist by night, he writes and practices medicine in Charlotte, North Carolina. When not engaged in either of the above activities, he has been known strum the guitar, enjoy a bite of sushi, and rumor has it he even sleeps on occasion. He is represented by Stacey Donaghy at Donaghy Literary Group. Find him online at darinkennedy.com.

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