(13-year-old) Jess Reviews: Sisters of the Sword – The Warrior’s Path

When I first picked up this book, I saw that there was a picture of two girls in a fighting stance, and I thought that it would be one of those awful books full of stereotyped nonsense, but I decided to read the blurb and see.  The blurb, however, was the thing that marked it out as a special book – “I see you blink with surprise.  A girl? you are thinking.  Surely a girl cannot be a samurai!”

So I opened the book, and was introduced to a world of samurai and power struggles and Japanese customs.

Honour, pride and justice play a large role in this book, and it is these three elements that make it really interesting.  You also get a real sense of danger and fear, and come to know the sisters, Kimi and Hana, well.  The techniques used in this book are simple to understand, even if they are referred to by their Japanese names, and I can relate to them easily too because I do karate.

The plot is also an interesting one.  The two sisters, after their father was murdered, are on the run, hoping to salvage what’s left of their broken family.  However, they see a chance to avenge their father’s death by training in Master Goku’s school.  However, finding no room to be students, they offer to be servants instead and hone their skills while working.  But they must pretend to be boys, both to be able to work in Master Goku’s school and to avoid detection by their father’s murderer.

What they see and learn there proves more valuable than anything they learnt before, about inner tranquility, power, friendship and, above all, honour and justice.

I will most certainly read the next novel – Blade’s Edge!