The Ninja (Shadow Warrior Book 1)

Excellent - love the way the eastern culture and mystique is brought out

Books were as expected.

I purchased this item amount deducted from my bank account but there is no date of delivery and no other information is showing in my account.

Good book.. somewhere could hav been better.. ninja’s were fascinating and the fight sequences are awesome...... anticipating the next .. maybe the series will evolve

Descriptive like always. Too good. Knows America and Japan like no one else. Knowledge of the traditional martial arts is equally great.

First published in the US in 1980, so this is the first book in the Shadow Warrior series. I vaguely remembered reading this many years ago, and so I decided to read this again when it was on promo on this site. I thought that I remembered enjoying this somewhat back when I first read it, and perhaps I did, but nowadays, being that much older and wiser even as a slice of escapism I found this only average at best.The current period in our tale is the Seventies, but this does have flashback parts which take us to earlier periods, from the war and up into the Sixties, as we read of Nicholas growing up. The story revolves around an assassin, one who seems to have come to America to kill a businessman, but as we read, we soon see that this is more complex than that, with Nicholas also in the assassin’s mind. We of course know the real identity of the killer long before anyone in the book does, and we also know that the killing of the businessman is a contract killing, and that of Nicholas is purely for revenge. But of course, things do not go that easily for our killer, who has perhaps bitten off a bit more than he can chew.The main problem with this is that it is arguably too long to keep up a fast paced and a more enjoyable read. Some of the background information in the past is necessary, but quite a chunk of it is really quite irrelevant to the story, and it feels just like filler, as with the sex scenes, but then that was not that uncommon for thriller type tales of the period. Although we have some good fight scenes here, they do become a bit silly with the added mysticism and at one time, magic being implicated. If this had been kept to something a bit more realistic then this would have flowed better, and we would not have some of the cod philosophy and crackpot mysticism that we are given, which with The Way, and the good and evil routes, does make you wonder whether the author got the idea from the original Star Wars movie, that came out in 1977. In all then this is okay, but nothing here really takes it above the average standard of such stories giving you then an average read with nothing that is really that enjoyable or even memorable.

I was amazed to see, when looking at other reviews, just how many of the people who had bought this Kindle book had done so for precisely the same reason that I had; because I read it, aged 26, when it was first published in 1980 and it had made such an impression upon me that I wanted to read it again to see if, having had 34 years to mature my reading habits, my opinion was as favourable. As far as I can see, very few of today's purchasers are coming to this book for the first time, and that's quite a novelty. For me, back in 1980, I was so impressed by The Ninja that I spent the next few years steadily reading my way through about 75% of Mr Van Lustbader's other books.Upon re-reading The Ninja, one thing that struck me was how much detail of the plot I had forgotten; it was like not remembering a whole film but only the 'taster' clips. For me, that was good as it was like reading a novel for the first time. Overall, I liked the book almost as much as I did decades ago.Firstly, lots of reviewers have been highly critical of the long and prosaic passages throughout the story, and I agree that I found these to be just that bit too extreme for my, modern, tastes. EvL's writing style is fluid and poetic yet, although some passages are quite beautiful, it can become a little tedious after a while. For me, it was a minor irritant rather than a huge spoiler. Further, having read lots of other books by this author, I know how much they vary in this respect, some are a bit more spare than The Ninja but several are so weirdly prosaic as to be almost impenetrable. So, if you find The Ninja rambling, try Under an Opal Moon!The other thing that marks this book is that it is set in the late 1970's and 80's (apart form those passages deliberately set in the 1940's and 50's). The world was different then and many of those reading this now will wonder at a world with no mobile phones or internet. The result is that the book does feel just slightly dated. Thinking about this a bit more, it occurs to me that, when a modern author writes of, say, the 1980's, he/she takes trouble to include references to draw the reader into that age but, here, because EvL was actually writing this in what was then, to him, 'now', that doesn't happen. It leaves the reader slightly disconnected.The descriptions of the various martial arts involved are effected wonderfully and in great detail. Indeed, I recall that, although many of the skills and techniques described, especially of the villain, are pure fantasy, many impressionable readers took them to be fact back in the 1980's. Back then, very few people in this country had heard of the martial arts until two things happened. David Carradine appeared in an American 'western soap opera' called 'Kung Fu' and EvL wrote The Ninja. They were the catalyst for a surge of interest and a spate of martial arts films (mostly rubbish) and books. Even today, many of these legends persist and few stop to consider that Aikido, one of the martial arts used extensively in The Ninja, was created with a strong intention of preventing an attacker from harming you while still protecting the attacker from harm; it isn't an aggressive form at all.Despite the varying quality of EvL's output, I recall enjoying most of it. Some of it, like 'Zero' and 'French Kiss' are really quite dark tales while others, like 'The Sunset Warrior' and 'Beneath An Opal Moon' are like the obtuse ramblings of a junkie. Having read the first two of Robert Ludlum's 'Bourne' books and hated them, I didn't go on to read any of the sequel books written by EvL in that series, so I can't comment on those. I'm not really a fan of re-reading a book as I find that I've retained so much of the story (I'm not a skim reader either) that I become bored but, on this occasion, I'm really glad that I re-visited The Ninja and it just might make me re-read a couple more.

Well I remember reading this in my teens and thoroughly enjoying it, apparently I've grown up since then.I'm about halfway through and really starting to struggle, I've skimmed through the sex scenes - doesn't need 3 pages, skimmed through a fight scene and a murder scene - too much detail, skimmed through the adolescent style 'romance' angst bits - woah! Dude she's just too messed up don't go there. Just too much skimming needed.I'll try and persevere but..."Her firm breasts swelled with her breathing, the nipples visible points. Her waist was narrow, her legs long and elegant. She moved like a dancer."But you do have interests, I see" she said flatly. "How would you like it if I looked at you that way?""Flattered" he said "I'd certainly feel flattered."

Van Lustbader's meditation on Western and Eastern martial values is brilliant if flawed. There is a great deal more to find both technically and spiritually in the West, its martial arts and its warrior codes than was been altogether fashionable to point when this book was written. Equally there is much in the values of nations in the East worthy of the same disparagement offered by Van Lustbader's use of Japan as a comparison for the U.S.--not merely in obvious excesses but in the core of those values.And yet, and yet...the writer also makes both of these clear at times---the honour of the hero's father; the stick master who turns away from the Five Rings because its core is too dark. All this is an odd element to find in what is at base a sharply written and exciting thriller and one which works excellently as such.What emerges is the optimistic proposition that it is possible to blend the best of these two worlds, that the result is combat efficient both physically and mentally and that the blend has a nobility which stands above much of what surrounds it wherever it is.

There are many books, movies, comics etc written about Ninjas.This is the best one.I first read it as a kid, I found it in a hotel library - and thus begun my fascination with the East. Reading it again, it is dated in some parts, but as a primer on the Japanese, the history of the Ninja, and as a great read - well its up there with the best of the page turners.I always dreamed of being Nicholas Linnear. Hopefully my son will too.