Fire Lizard

Samurai Kids #5

by Sandy Fussell

The Nine Valleys Are Suffering.

Terrorised by the corrupt Governor and his cunning henchman, Hyo Moon, the people of the Nine Valleys grow desperate.

Their only hope is Sensei's former teacher, Pak Cho. Now a frail, blind, old man.

At great risk, Sensei and the Little Cockroaches escort Pak Cho to Daejeon City, to deliver a warning to the Governor.

Will Pak Cho's message stop the Governor from deastroying the Valleys?

Can the Little Cockroaches defeat Hyo Moon?

284 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Sandy Fussell lives south of Sydney with her husband and two sons. She studied mathematics at university, is intensely interested in history and now works in IT. From the moment she could read, Sandy loved books and always wanted to be a writer. In school, she wrote what she refers to as “booklets” and “terrible plays that the teacher made the class perform”. After school, Sandy forgot about writing for a long time and started a family. She came back to writing after one of her children stopped reading and she suggested that they write a book together.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better books in this very fine series. I would highly recommend the series to upper primary to middle teens, depending on reading ability and level of maturity. Some of the themes are quite mature, but the writing style is accessible and the protagonist, whose eyes we see through, is a gentle soul.

A particularly delightful aspect of this series is the way in which, despite the title which suggests non-stop fighting, much of the story is to do with avoiding violence. But there's so much more.

In Ki-Yaga, Sandy Fussell has created a wonderfully pleasing and successful character in the iconic aged mentor (Dumbledore / Gandalf) role. I will be sorry to say goodbye to these characters at the end of the last book.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only the first four books of this series were published in the US, and I finally purchased the rest from Australia so I could finish the series. The action for the series is usually slow but it seemed a bit slower here there was a lot of waiting for the task to begin and we are kept on edge for a dramatic confrontation that eventually becomes more of a fizzle, but there are some fun action scenes, a little bit of magic, and some thoughtful ethical discussions along the way. I was disappointed that the final action takes place without our little troop even being really involved or even on the scene, but on the whole I enjoyed the book.

[Katharine (Ventureadlaxre)]

Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.

I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once you have read up to about book 3 it is easy to predict what will happen and so it is not always as exciting