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Free on 12th - 14th Mar 24
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Living over the garage on a remote estate will never fulfill Emily Kane’s dreams. No mother and no friends, the chauffeur’s daughter has one joy in life, the martial arts, which she’s studied for as long as she can remember… though she never really thought she’d have to use them. But when covert operatives attack the estate, Emily is forced to confront the past her father has hidden from her. With her “family” dead or scattered, Emily embraces shotokan karate’s principle of go no sen: counter-attack. Now she takes the fight to her enemies, and discovers a growing talent for mayhem. The only thing more terrifying than the men hunting her is what she may discover about herself.
Books 2 – 5 in the Emily Kane Adventures are available now:
Girl Punches Out – a kidnapping, and the trail leads to Kamchatka
Girl Takes Up Her Sword – when the swords come out, things get nasty, and there may not be a way to stop the violence
Girl Spins A Blade – a trip to Nepal to find inner peace, but trouble follows
Girl Takes The Oath – Emily finds a calling in the Navy, trailing danger in her wake.

And look for Book 6 in May 2015 – Girl Rides The Wind – Emily’s Marine unit tracks terrorists in the Celebes Sea, but she finds something much more profound in the windward islands, and something much more menacing finds her.

An excerpt from Chapter 5:
One of them seemed to have had some karate training, and swung a roundhouse kick at her head. She leaned out of the way, and when he tried to his leg back and down she hooked his ankle with her left foot and pulled him towards her. As she expected, he spread his arms in a vain attempt to regain his balance, and when she pulled his foot even further forward, forcing him into a perfect hurdler’s split, he shrieked in pain. A sharp chop across the throat quieted him, and she let him fall forward onto his face. He gasped for breath, and the thought occurred to her that she might have crushed his windpipe. “This isn’t the dojo,” she muttered.
The last man grabbed her ponytail from behind, no doubt thinking to control her with his other arm, and expecting her to pull away so he could yank her head back. Naturally, she pivoted into him, wrapping an arm over his elbow and under to force the joint out at the same time as she pulled his shoulder down. The pressure on his arm left him no way extricate himself from her grip, and she was so close to his chest he couldn’t even grab her with his free hand. The heel of her left palm smashed his chin, and she heard his teeth crack through his tongue just as his elbow snapped. He crumpled to the ground in tears, and looked up at her, not quite able to focus as she slammed her knee into his head.
She turned to the first two men, her cheeks warm from the rush of ferocity she had just unleashed. The one with the broken face, groggy but still more or less conscious, moved to pick himself up until he saw her eyes and shuddered. With a finger pressed to her lips, she pushed him down until he lay flat on his back on the pavement.
Crouching next to him, she said, “Don’t make me hurt you,” and flashed him a crooked smile, her head tilted to one side. 
    

Free on 12th - 14th Mar 24
View on Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

"I simply did not fall in love with the story."

Reviewer: .


The story of Emily Kane, the first in the series, this is the story of a girl who is studying martial arts, the destruction of her family by black-ops agents and eventually her entry into a martial arts tournament.

This is an interesting book. Despite its apparent action focus it has a slow start that paints a portrait of the main character, her focus on martial arts and does not even name her until the last paragraph. It works.

What works less well is maintaining the same extremely slow pace throughout the first part of the book, with the first three chapters spent on set up describing events and background while you wait for the plot to actually start. None of the characters appear dynamic, more reactive and waiting for something to happen - much like this reader. At some points it appeared point of view changed without a scene or paragraph break, and yet this clearly was not omniscient view point. It's not badly written, just slow and even once the action starts the pace hardly picks up.

This is apparently aimed at children, but I have doubts from the descriptions of Emily and the genetic modification program, gangsters etc. that this would be suitable for anyone under 13 - or really appeal given the exceptionally slow start.

Because it is for children I probably should not critique it for realism issues, but I'm going to anyway. There were a few things that jerked me out of the story early on. There are a couple of moments in the first chapter which read as though the character is a female being written by someone who is not a woman. The only place I have ever seen street clothes worn for sparring or even training was not a martial arts class, and given the damage buttons can do the chances of her being allowed to wear a denim jacket (armour) in a martial arts class are low. Striking an opponent during a tournament when a bout is not in progress? Carries a felony charge in the US and a DQ and assault/battery charge in the UK - it's not something you want child martial artists thinking is cool.

If you aren't into martial arts you will probably love this, but the detail isn't there. I put it down several times and finished it for the sake of the review.

The formatting is great, the cover is attractive and caught my eye...and I simply did not fall in love with the story.

3 stars - it did not hold my attention but I'm not the target audience. Teen readers may love it.

Rating: 3



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Third Party Reviews:


Sadie Forsythe

"I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to read Jacques Antoine’s Go No Sen as well as its sequel, Sen No Sen..."
Read Full Review by Sadie Forsythe

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