Customer Reviews

Village of the Vampire Cat

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent book - a great fast-paced story that can be enjoyed by adults as well as the young adult age group the author recommends it for (12-15). However, compared to the other Zenta/Matsuzo mysteries I have read (den of the white fox, island of ogres, valley of the broken cherry trees), it is MUCH, MUCH DARKER. I bought the books for my 7-yr-old, who is a great reader and loves both samurai and mysteries. In the other 3 books, there are fight scenes, obviously, and a mystery which is a little scary, obviously, but there is also a lot of humor. Enemies are defeated most often by wits that by plain slaughter. They are OK for very young readers, like her, who understand that samurai are warriors who kill. The mysteries are good and solved neatly in the end, like in Poirot stories (which she also likes), and there is a happy ending.

This book however, contains a very gruesome crime (with the possibility of a sexual element) that must be solved, and the reality is much more disturbing than the supernatural explanation - the vampire cat. There is a horrifying psychotic killer and some graphic hara-kiri scenes involving important characters (one which brought me to tears). The ending is neat, with a few happy wrap-ups, but definitely not all happy.

i could not let my young daughter read this one of the series. It is quite different from the others in the level of maturity it requires from the reader.

I had this book for a long time and have read it at least five times.This book basically puts you into it and you can almost feel the cold environment as well as feel the chills and suspense that laces the book throughout.I found that it also captures Japan in a rare and realistic way. A must buy....when and if you can find a copy.

This is truly a great book. It may not be great as in deep and spiritual, but great as in really, really fun to read. It is too bad that this book is out of print. It deserves to be a bestseller.