Wednesday 17 June 2015

The Shield of Kuromori by Jason Rohan (Young Adult, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

You can tell Kiyomi is more important because she is in the colourful part of the cover this time, not the background!
 May 2015, Egmont, 352 pages, Paperback, Review copy 

Content: Japanese folklore, fighting, bit of magic, humour, lots of peril, 

Summary from Amazon (I don't gain anything by mentioning them) 
Science meets Myth when ogres armed with high-tech weaponry steal a huge telescope as part of an insane plan to cast the world into permanent darkness. With global catastrophe looming, Kenny and Kiyomi take the fight to the enemy, even if it means going out of this world. 

But all is not well between the friends. Kiyomi's behaviour is growing increasingly erratic and it soon becomes clear that her life - and her humanity - are in danger. Kenny is faced with an impossible choice - does he save his friend or fulfil his duty?

Nayu's thoughts - for once a spoiler warning is needed. I can't write this review any other way!
I am one seriously ticked off reader/reviewer. I don't know why I didn't see this coming. I have no idea why I was convinced that in this book sweet Kiyomi, who gets more than a little 'grrr' thanks to having an oni soul in her, would be free from the anger driven beast within her which happened in book one, The Sword of Kuromi.
She doesn't. I realise this is kind of a spoiler, but Kiymoi is the only reason I read this series! I am not joking, as most of you know I prefer female protagonists. Kiymoi is AWESOME!!!! For starters she rides a motorbike, the vehicle of my dreams (actually it's more a moped, but sadly muscle weakness & the need for comfort means I have to stick with cars). She's got ninja powers, she can look after herself - cue dreamy sigh. I love Kiyomi!!!! 

While in some respects her going oni (Japanese word for demon) is endearing, the charm soon wears off when her behaviour endangers others and becomes a mega problem for Kenny, who chooses to go off the rails because of Kiyomi rather than being good but you can read the story for the details involving telescropes, actual oni, and waaaay more exciting incidents which I didn't envisage happening (but totally loved them all the same). Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I have a few theories about how Kiyomi may get back to herself (Jason understandably is keeping quiet on their validity, although I suspect one of them is a bit too crazy to actually happen), and will have to wait until at least book 3 to learn truth. A thing about book 3 - it's not out until at least May 2016! I know it's only 11 months away, but considering I naievely expected to have Kiyomi her normals self by the end of this book, it seems like forever!!! 

Her 'grrr'-iness is hilarious especially at the completely unexpected scenario which is the grand finale. Ah, have I mentioned I love Kiyomi?!!! and Poyo, who is a greedy little tankuki ^o^ Kenny isn't bad, and I really love Stacey, a newbie who had better be in book 3 or I'll be fuming even more. I'm one happily frustrated reviewer!

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