Prebe wrote:I read Ninja when I was 16 and my hormones were raging. It STILL rates among the worst five books I ever read! Even the sex is dumbed down. It's a sad excuse for second rate violence/pornography. Sorry Fist and Jenn
On the outside chance that your view of things is different now than it was when you were 16, I'd recommend you try again.
Heh, that's ok, I know how tough it is to try something again when you have such negative memories of it. Still, I'll quote myself:
Although I think going past three was unnecessary, The Ninja, The Miko, and White Ninja are great! The first goes pretty deep into bushido, and the Japanese view in general. The way he weaves Musashi's Book of Five Rings throughout it is amazing. And I think Saigo's magic, the kobudera, is maybe the best I've seen anyone put magic into the "real world." (As opposed to things like Buffy and Charmed, where every street corner has a hugely powerful witch, demon, vampire, or god performing acts of great power.)
The second is a very good sequel. The third deals a lot with his mother's father, and the magic of China. Great depth to the characters too.
It's
not a book about violence. Yeah, there's ninja. But the best of martial arts movies and books are about the
philosophy of martial arts, not the violence. And the characters' discussions of things like bushido, and learning a character's attitudes on life by watching his fighting style clearly put the book into the former category for me.
And just because it's so much fun
, here's the quote I posted in that other link I gave above:
"But you're just using woden practice swords," Croaker said. "You can't hurt anybody-"
"On the contrary, these bokken are every bit as deadly as the katana is. They-"
But in that instant he had whirled, somehow sensing the dual attack from both the student at his side and the sensi directly behind him. The student had already been disarmed with one cut and Nicholas was deep within battle with Fukashigi by the time Croaker had time to react to the situation. That would be about a tenth of a second, he calculated dazedly. My God, I saw the attack coming before he did!
The clash of bokken filled the room but the contestants' movements were so swift that they were a mere blur. Croaker stared carefully but, try as he might, he could not distinguish one movement from the next, so fluid were they. He recalled Nicholas's analogy of this movement to the sea and he understood.
Then there came a momentous crashing as Fukashigi landed a ferocious overhead blow against Nicholas's upraised sword. Nicholas was not moved backwards, however, and as he stood immobile, the sensi sprang backwards as lightly as a current of air, preparing himself for a second attack. But as the sword moved backwards to gain momentum for the forward thrust, Nicholas was there, extending himself outwards like a river, his own sword following precisely the path of the other's and, beating down the "point", stabbing inwards at the sensei's head. It touched the tip of the nose but, at the same instant, Fukashigi's left fist was at Nicholas's face in a blow that might have broken his nose and stunned him.
Both stepped back, bowed to each other. Neither of them seemed to be breathing hard.
The only other author I can think of that is comparable to him is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. (IMHO) Then of course there's Tolkien, who's LOTR paved the way for the modern Fantasy genre.
He writes some good sex scenes. 
