Rate this book

The Way Of The Sword (2009)

by Chris Bradford(Favorite Author)

4.28 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0141324317 (ISBN13: 9780141324319)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Puffin Books

series

Young Samurai

review 1: In the book Young Samurai: Way of the Sword by Chris Bradford, Bradford continuously comes back to never giving up. This story takes place in the early 1600’s in the so-called “Japans”. It all starts when Jack’s father and crew members are slaughtered by ninjas led by Dragon eye. When Jack awakens, he figures out that the great samurai Masamoto, who lost one of his sons to Dragon eye, rescued him. Next, Masamoto takes him to a highly respected samurai school. When this book starts, Jack is going through his second year at the school and even in Japan. This story is told in 3rd person omniscient, but the protagonist is Jack. Jack is a brave native-English boy, who was growing up to be a sailor but after the events unroll he is now growing up to be a Japanese ... moresamurai. Other characters are Akiko and Yamato. Akiko is young pretty Japanese-native who is the niece of Masamoto. She shows a talent in archery. Yamato is Masamotos other son who is still living. He shows a talent in fighting with the bokken. In the story Jack finds that members of his school are starting this scorpion gang that is completely against Jack. In the middle of the book all of the students are tested for the Circle of Three. When it is his turn in the tests, he didn't win many. He only won one challenge but was the closest to finishing the last test than any other student in the school. When everybody is done the samurai teachers huddle up and decide who moves on to the Circle of Three. When they are done deciding it is clear that Jack and four others make it in to the circle of there. When the five students arrive at the place where the challenges will happen, their first challenge is just starting. After the three challenges mind, body, and spirit Jack and Kazuki meet up to fight. Their fight is interrupted by ninjas looking for trouble. While everybody else runs away, a ninja corners Jack. When the ninja gets closer to Jack, Jack realizes that the ninja is dragon eye. When the ninja almost kills jack, his blind master saves him from the ninja. The book ends with a Japanese celebration of the New Year. I thought overall this story is a well-written story. I especially enjoyed the body challenge in the Circle of three because it is where you see who Jack really is as a person. Putting his friend before winning and using every ounce of energy he has to save his friend. What I didn't like so much was the fact that the names were still very confusing. Since this book is second in the series, some of the names are repeated instead of adding more, which makes it a little bit easier to follow the names. What I find amazing is that Jack has gone through so much, but he still finds peace with himself. Also after everything has happened, he still wants to see his sister, so he can know that she is safe. Some strengths of this book are that the action never stops and just reading the book makes you think, “Wow, it would be awesome to be a samurai.” There was nothing really negative about this book other than the fact that the names were hard to follow. I would recommend this book to any of my male classmates because the book is action packed and you don’t even know what will happen after you turn the page.
review 2: The Young Samurai book #2, Way of the Sword, was great because it was full of danger and action. The story was with the main character getting into the Circle of 3, and if you did you would be taught a very dangerous and invincible sword technique. The book was full of suspense because one would never know if the characters would pass the test or not. The ending was also very surprising because the character got in trouble at the end and the third book they have to redeem themselves. less

Download links for: The Way of the Sword

Advertising