Customer Reviews

The Ninja: A Novel

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This excellent read is the first in a series of six about Nicholas Linnear, a half-Oriental and half-Western man well versed in many martial arts. Through present-day plots and flashbacks to post-war Japan through the eyes of Nicholas's father Colonel Dennis Linnear, watch as the story unfolds. Nicholas is torn up over a Japanese woman he knew as a younger man and his present-day girlfriend Justine who is being hunted down by a ninja assassin. But who is behind the ninja's actions? How does Justine's father's company Tomkin Industries fit in, and what is the secret behind several ritual killings in New York? This book also introduces Nicholas Linnear's friend Detective Lew Croaker, who, in a related subplot, is investigating the murders. And to top it all, some explicit sex and stunning martial arts action scenes! The part where Nicholas hunts the ninja down through New York, is one of the best action and suspense scenes in literature ever. If you are new to Eric Lustbader, read this one first and then read the rest of the Linnear chronology in order, and I guarantee you'll become addicted to him! Awesome.

Ok, Ninja stories are passe now, and so 80's. I'm sure Ninja is to the 80's what the vampire is to the 90's. But you should really read this book. The story is rich, the dialogue is fantastic and the action is beyond compare. The Ninja is entertaining all the way through, and it's well worth the price of admission.

Eric Van Lustbader's "The Ninja" has all the trappings of a cinematic thriller: a fast-moving plot, a villain skilled in the deadliest martial arts, suspenseful encounters, a narrative fuelled by passion and revenge, lashings of sex and spellbinding action scenes. Although it is regarded as a popular book, which is to say, "a good read" on account of its standard storyline and characterisation, its sophisticated language, with choice descriptions and refined diction, elevate to the altogether higher plane of literature.

Lustbader introduces his readership to Nicholas Linnear, a half caucasion, half Asian man whose maternal lineage is still quite a mystery. The supposition is that she (Linnear's mother) was Japanese, but Nicholas, nor the readers ever find out for certain. But lest I digress...

Lustbader does an overall wonderful job of describing life for a non-Japanese in Japan, especially during the post WWII era. Since many Japanese believe their race to be descended from that of the gods, it is understandable that they would look down upon anyone not of their stock; nevermind the fact that they were beaten, bombed and forced to re-write their constitution. Animosity could run amuck for many reasons....

Linnear is an incredibly intelligent individual--an intelligence coupled with a maturity level that causes the reader to find his character somewhat unbelievable--whose primary desire is to study bujutsu (the traditional feudal Japanese military arts). He is allowed to study at a dojo along side his "cousin," Saigo. Unfortunately for Linnear, Saigo does not like him and is destined to leave the dojo setting for much darker things.

I give Lustbader high points for the amount of research he puts into the settings and general "feel" he gives the reader. However, he is somewhat obsessed (seemingly so) with sex. Perhaps it is the lack of taboo that the Japanese place on sex that causes Lustbader to focus so much on it; nontheless, the scene in which a grown man sodomizes a young boy is a bit much for me!

Sans the sexual exploitations of the book, it is an overall good read. I think the potential Lustbader follower will enjoy his/her introduction to Linnear and the web that is his life.

Can you believe Lustbader's Ninja is 21 years old! I read this book when it first came out, and recently decided to stroll down memory lane and read it again. Actually what prompted me was reading Arthur Bradley's Process of Elimination, which reminded me a lot of Lustbader's work... both martial arts books filled with powerful violence and descriptive sexual scenes. Lustbader's work is truly a classic. I don't think his sequels (e.g. White Ninja, etc.) ever had the same magic as this first one. Very powerful stuff.

This book is a really great reading for anyone interested in martial arts or Orient in general. The novel is action-packed, fast-paced and complex. This is the first time I read a book where ninjutsu was presented in real enough and complex terms. Although the scenes of sex and violence were vividly described, I believe they only added to the power of the novel.

By turns tranquil and explosive, this is the pinnacle of martial-arts fiction writing. I must have read it ten times and will doubtless return to it again. Linnear is the most compelling and believable of characters in a genre that is usually packed with exaggeration and circus acrobats. The book is not entirely free of magic and mysticism, but in these proportions it fits perfectly. It is a pity that the later books tended to degenerate into oriental sorcery, but this is a stunning opening to the series and stands perfectly well alone.

Linnear is a man who stands between East and West, the son of an American diplomat raised in Japan, Western on the outside and Japanese in his heart. Nicholas Linnear takes up the burden of learning bujutsu as a child and becomes one of the greatest living masters of the Japanese fighting arts. With the pain of a broken relationship with a sexually insatiable lover blighting his life, and a conflict with the "black" side of ninjutsu which he has tried to leave in his past, Linnear has come to live in the US and taken a Western lover. The lover's life is bound up by deeper fate with his own, however, and a series of martial-arts-style murders points to a murder contract on her father being executed by a ninja. As an expert on this art he is drawn into the police investigation. As the events spiral closer in towards Linnear and his difficult relationship with the police investigator mutates into friendship, he is forced reluctantly to the realisation that his conflict has come back to pursue him, and he must take up the sword again.

This is some of the most graceful and lyrical writing that I have ever encountered; reading "The Ninja" is like entering a dream. The action scenes are absolutely rivetting, and still have me writhing in my seat trying to block as the blows fall. It is the masterpiece of its kind, entirely unique in my experience.

At first glance, "Ninja" is a mystery novel about a series of murders. But the plot is much more complex than that. It goes back into our hero (Nicholas Linnear)'s childhood and connects events from that period with the main story. I was kind of wonderhing how he would be able to tie it all together at the end, but it worked. Unfortunately, the result is that there's many things that happen that seem irrelevant when you read about them but are important for the ending. This inevitably slows down the pace of the book and make it slightly less enjoyable than it could have been.

So the story is good and there are some great action sequences, but the pace sometimes drags too much. It should have been tighter paced and it would have been very good.

Just read the first 10 pages and you'll be hooked! This first book (and by far the best) of the Nicolas Linear series takes you back and forth between Japan and the US, between past memories and the current reality. If you love martial arts, I garantee that you will identify with Nicolas. The sequel (The Miko) is also as riveting! A true page turner for those of us who love Japanese martial arts.

The reviewer, JR Geoffrion (JR@Geoffrion.com), has been practicing karate (Shorin-ryu, Shito-ryu, and Chito-ryu) since 1984. JR Geoffrion also practiced Kendo and Judo. JR earned his MBA from York University and completed the Wharton School Multi-National Marketing and Management Program. He also holds a Engineering degree from the University of Toronto.

Lustbader really does spin a good story. I found the book hard to put down. The mix of archaic martial arts mixed with modern day scenarios. Just don't take the history of ninjutsu quite as it is put across.