Miko

Nicholas Linnear #2

by Eric Van Lustbader

"Swiftly paced and fascinating...An intricately designed puzzle."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
She is a sorceress--indescribably beautiful, overpoweringly sensual--who possesess incomprehensible powers. She is also a murderess who plans to use her power to kill Nicholas Linnear, the hero of THE NINJA.
This is only the beginning of this exotic thriller, where Lustbader weaves an utterly compelling tale of the CIA, the KGB, the technological world of modern Japan, and the mystical and dangerous realms of Ninja warriors....

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Action, Adventure, Japan, Mystery, Crime

469 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Eric Van Lustbader was born and raised in Greenwich Village. He is the author of more than twenty-five best-selling novels, including The Ninja, in which he introduced Nicholas Linnear, one of modern fiction's most beloved and enduring heroes. The Ninja was sold to 20th CenturyFox, to be made into a major motion picture. His novels have been translated into over twenty languages.

Mr. Lustbader is a graduate of Columbia College, with a degree in Sociology. Before turning to writing full time, he enjoyed highly successful careers in the New York City public school system, where he holds licenses in both elementary and early childhood education, and in the music business, where he worked for Elektra Records and CBS Records, among other companies.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ericva...

Reviews

[Terence M [on a brief semi-hiatus] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent follow-up to The Ninja.

"I am an ageing lover of books and reading, but in recent years I have developed physical problems, the result being that my vision has deteriorated and I have found it difficult to hold any book long enough to be able to read it for any meaningful period.
My physical condition has improved, so I am trying to 'read' this edition on my Kobo Glo HD to test the state of my vision and how well I can handle the Kobo."

Unfortunately I am simply finding it too hard!!
I give myself one point for trying though and for the time being I will continue with my audiobooks (at least I get to finish them!) 😎 Thanks to all my friends for the encouragement!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author has written other books that are much better. This is a sequel to The Ninja which was really good.

[Bon Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic to the point of being too much, and still... I can't imagine this book being any different.

Numerous characters, their lives "before" and "now". You head is spinning, lines and pages pass until you connect who it even is you're reading about... But you end up with satisfying,
comprehensive understanding of the characters and their reason d'etre.

Stilted, unnatural narration by the computer engine (I hadn't been able to obtain this narrated by human narrator)... but I think I wouldn't be able to push through if I had to sit with it, pausing every two sentences in hopeless attempt to connect the dots.

Because this is one of those books that become clear on their own - eventually - if you give them benefit of the doubt. In a strange way, something like the TV show Billions. You don't have to understand any single detail, but you will grasp complete picture perfectly when it's done.

All in all, very satisfying, enjoyable thriller with martial arts theme in the style of the 80's. Which I like, very much.

If there's a thing I'd change, it's the constant cliche comparisons between "western mind this", "eastern mind that", where said former mind is all mathematically rational, dry, inpatient, material, practically uncultured, and eastern mind is one with nature, zen, enlightened to the point of not giving fresh sushi about whether it will live or die, because, you know life and death are two faces of the same thing, which is unity of it all. My western mind says it's all bullshit, of course, but what do I know.

However, even in the confines of the book, it's at odds with WWII references and the sins of the Japanese fathers chosing the dark side of the force in those critical times when all those centuries of Zen and "culture" should have helped them make better choices, but didn't.

[fleurette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series years ago. I think at least fifteen years have passed. And I don't remember almost anything. Not to mention the fact that when I read the first book I was still a teenager and since then I have read many books. My taste has changed, I have grown up, I am looking for different things in my stories. Does it matter? Without a doubt.

From the first book I remember only the main character and without many details. Reading this book, I began to recall certain things but at the same time it was difficult for me to fully engage in the story. Also because I skipped some pages to speed things up a bit. Nicholas is a very interesting and complicated hero, although I do not think if his potential has been fully expended in here.

Resurrection. This should be the title of this book. Because the number of characters who should be dead and yet somehow return is impressive. But that's how it is if you kill too many important characters in the first book and realize that you need them in the next book. Unfortunately, I've read many books, and such things make me laugh at best and irritate me at worst. And so it is here.

This book was written in 1984 and you can feel it. In the eighties, the threat from Soviet Russia was very real, and therefore hundreds of thrillers were written on this subject. Unfortunately. Reading another thriller with Russian intrigue and espionage is really unexciting. There is nothing interesting about it, no novelty charm. The plot is similar to thousands of others that were written at that time. Despite the Japanese part, which is noteworthy, this book has not aged well.

Finally, we move on to something positive. I do not know Japanese culture very well, but I feel that the author has carried out very extensive research in this regard. The whole story is perfectly embedded in the culture of Japan and this is its biggest advantage. This is the only thing that distinguishes this story from others. A completely different way of thinking of Asians, so different from the Westerns, is captured perfectly. I read these parts with real enjoyment. They are excellent, for them it is worth reading this book.

I remember years ago, when I read the first book, I planned to get on with the next one. But I never did it, I found something else to read and left the next part in the series for later. Now I regret that it happened. I think that I would like this book better back then.

[Meichan · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's a quite old book, and judging by its thickness and small fonts one may not be willing to read at all, but then again, once u've started, u'd be absorbed!! with a fluent narration, van Lustbader managed to tell us worlds apart: the ancient Eastern minds and the Western minds. each character is very strong, the plot is rationable and easily understandable for both eastern and western minds of those who read it^^
-meicHan-

[Robert Nacke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this a lot ,it was a well written novel ,with a good story line.The various story line can be confusing ,but it adds intrigue into this book .Such a well rounded book with much excitement in it .I highly recommend to any who loves intrigue and the martial arts .

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eric Van Lustbader (EVL) is clearly a very smart eloquent man. He paints vivid and often beautiful word pictures, and uses "like" a lot, as in the rain fell like, he threw dollars onto to the taxi drivers' seat like, the sky darkened like, her skin was like ... very descriptive but sometimes a little too much. He describes, although poetically, where it doesn't add to what you are reading, like gilding a lily (see what I did there?)

His plot is convoluted. And I mean confusing. It jumps back and forth in time, between America and Japan, between character stories and I didn't really follow a lot of the politics and of course it's out of date - geopolitics have moved on from when the book is largely set. That said I've been reading this book for about six years so I really could put it down. About half way through, very recently, the plot opened up and I finally got more absorbed.

I enjoy the Japanese culture that EVL opens up to the reader, I learned new Japanese words and phrases and believe him to have clearly done a lot of research for these books. I read The Ninja a while ago and didn't enjoy it as my feelings for it were overshadowed by Linnear's awful experience, but when I saw Miko for 50p in a charity shop at work I bought it - mistakingly confusing Maiko with Miko. It it not about trainee geisha!

Miko are temple handmaidens, trained in various arts, often fortune telling, not priestesses, and below the priest in hierarchy but a very prestigious role albeit in part servile. EVL's Miko - Akiko - is a mistress of all the "dark martial arts" including "concealing her wa" (spirit). Much of the Japanese bit of this book is Eastern philosophy fantasy. Whilst these practices exist, they exist in legend or have been interpreted as such by EVL. if you can suspend your disbelief and eye rolling at the fight scenes and sex scenes you'll do fine.

EVL writes characters that are not nuanced with shades of grey (like clouds rolling in with a storm ;) or his personal favourite "like a plover's wing") they are 100% the character he gives them, perfect in what they are, the best Russian assassin with a high sex drive, the most deadly sumo a master in all kinds of esoteric fighting skills, a man born so evil he lives in an implausible lair and trains people in the dark arts, the most skilled marksman and cop who never lost a case (except this one) etc... everyone is vivid and implausible. Nicholas Linnear with his dai-katana calloused hands (!) is able to do anything and everything with his body, mind and spirit plus be tall a good looking and make women out to kill him swoon; useful skill if you've got it, flaunt that wa! PLUS running holding a gun, whilst supporting the weight of a wounded man who may try and escape and/or kill him he can fashion a flying device (there's a ninja practice that of course he's highly skilled at, for that) from bits of clothing and bamboo poles he happens to obtain as he passes. Implausible much?

It probably would have been better if someone told me this was urban fantasy. I thought EVL was writing "normal" fiction. So, dear reader, EVL writes urban Eastern philosophy fantasy, and going in knowing this you'll feel much better. Sex scenes? Fantasy. Fight scenes? Fantasy. Things it's possible to learn in Japan? Fantasy (I'm hoping!) Most of the dialogue? Cheesy fantasy! Getsumei no michi as interpreted by EVL? Fantasy but I'm not sure about its origins. Japanese tea ceremony? Taken very seriously, don't mess with that.

Enjoyed this book in the end. Taken at face value; a clever yarn. Got a bit bogged down with the business side of things, but persevered. Linnear is a dude, and rightly a character I'd not want to cross although more suited in a superhero book! Fascinating book actually. I struggled through it and just learn there's more in the series! I think I'll leave Linnear to his cherry blossoms and plovers wheeling playfully in the sky.

[Bathsheba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worth reading as the sequel to The Ninja, however some of the sub-plots were tedious. Questionable physiological feats by the characters also lowered the score compared to The Ninja where these skills were perhaps more believable. Valuable source of information on Asian culture however, and definitely fills many gaps in my knowledge in an enjoyable manner.

[Gabe S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in the mid 90's when just a horny teen - the Ninja stuff (and of course the sexy stuff) blew my hormonal juvenile mind. Haven't read this since, and I honestly don't know if I'd like it just as much but a nostalgic 5 stars for sure - for then at least.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot going on in this book-spies, ninjas, a back and forth timeline, corporate mergers, personal vendettas, explicit sex scenes, Cold War maneuverings, WWII reconstruction resentments, etc. It didn't help that this was the second in the series. I think it would have helped if I had read the first book so I didn't feel so overwhelmed by all the subplots in the subplots.

[Michael Joe Armijo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah...the saga continues in THE NINJA series. After finishing THE NINJA book I was happy to locate the sequel, THE MIKO. The story surprised me and offered more insight into the mind and adventures of Nicolas Linnear. I am anxious to begin book #3: THE WHITE NINJA.

Here are some out-of-context lines in this book that struck me for some reason or another. I love this ongoing story of intrigue that mixes business, martial arts, romance, and hidden messages.

‘To subdue the enemy without fighting shows the highest level of skill. Thus, what is supreme is to attack the enemy’s strategy.’

“Often, times dictate that one becomes more intimate with one’s enemies than with friends. This is a necessary lesson of life.”

She felt the horror squirming there like a palmful of live worms.

“My doctor prescribed a permanent Palm Springs vacation. He wants me to rot by the side of a pool like the rest of those flyblown palms.”

For all Orientals, friendship meant duty, the upholding of a friend’s honor, bonds of iron no Westerner could fathom.

*” ...Life’s more often shades of gray than it is all black and white.”

“What the hell’s going on here? I come to Tokyo to negotiate a straight-ahead business merger and suddenly we’re involved with a weird cultlike murder. I could’ve gone to Southern California if I’d wanted that.”

“Time has a way of molding people to its own ends.”

“Even a warrior must feel fear. A samurai must have his nemesis, just as he must do battle.”

He was continually asked the importance of the sixth sense and his answer was always the same, “Intuition is everything.”

“No file on a human being is ever complete, no matter how up to date it is. I want you to remember that.”

He knew in that flash just how clever they were, knew also from his years of experience that there would not be time to regain control of the situation: he was not James Bond and this was no movie. So, he did the only thing he could. He concentrated on his own survival.

“This vapor is like the darkness but far more difficult to negotiate. In the darkness you may be guided by albescence, a sliver of moon, the path of a household lantern, even the glitter of the stars. But here there is nothing but the mist.” …... “I cannot even see you.”

“Westerners, as we are aware, seek to understand death because they fear it so. They cannot accept as we do; they have no concept of karma, nor can they see what is most apparent to us, that death is a part of life.”

Always he was conscious of being in a hive filled with buzzing, angry bees.

In the end, life has a way of making fools of us all, and why should I be any different?

“What do you know of the capacity to bear pain, disappointment, and suffering? You are only twenty-nine. When you get to be my age you might have some inkling although, Buddha protect you, I hope not.”

He trusted his senses enough to know that if he took the time to probe beneath the surface, he would find the link.

He knelt...gazing whit blind eyes out at the near perfect beauty of the garden. It would never be perfect, of course, As the nature of Zen dictated, one must spend one’s life searching for that perfection.

It was thought to reflect the cleanest light, to be able to reflect everything as it truly is and not how we would wish it to be.

“Jesus, why don’t you try blindfolding me, putting the donkey’s tail in my hand, and spinning me around.”

In the time he had been here he had come to understand that there were more forces in the world than he had ever dreamed could exist.

Hara, strictly speaking, was the Japanese word for stomach, but it was also the symbol of a man being well integrated with all the aspects of life. One of the primary lessons of all martial arts required the student to find that dep well of reserves of inner strength that resided in everyone just below the navel.

I found myself understanding in a purely visceral way the mystique known as the nobility of failure.

He bowed so low that his forehead touched the ground.

It is said in Japan that hard times are the best friend of tradition for it is during these periods that the people fall back most heavily on the ways of their ancestors.

“I want you to teach me what you know.”

His father found intelligent women who showed any kind of talent troublesome. “Sooner or later,” he should tell is son, “they will open their mouths and talk back to you, and then what use is their talent?

In Japan as well as in China a woman was expected to follow the dictates of her father until she was married. Then she was required to obey her husband and, in the event of his death, her eldest son.

Real life presented problems Hollywood scriptwriters never seemed to address.

She did forty minutes of centristic meditation leading ultimately to shinki kiitsu, the unity of soul, mind, and body that is so essential to reaching the very apex of all martial arts.

“Listen,” he said. His voice was as indistinct as the buzz of a mosquito in the distance.

I make RINKIOHEN my principles.” (RINKIOHEN: Adaptability to all circumstances).

My days are sometimes lonely; one’s life can be filled with too much contemplation.

“Even the voracious crow knows when to quit the corn field.”

Charades were never acted out unless there was an audience.

Once a warrior, always a warrior.

Still, logic dictated that he attempt to assess his current situation.

Women’s motivations were so opaque to him.

There was not any place on earth where he was not at that moment. Connected once more to the cosmos, he stood at the Void, and was replenished.

“May ALL the GODS protect you,” he whispered.

He was exhausted again. Physically the drugs had been dissipated, eliminated from his system. Yet their accumulated effect on muscles, tissue, and brains still lingered. Exercise was the only remedy for that.

For a long time they did nothing but that, basking in the presence of each other’s spirit, becoming reacquainted, finding a new, and unexpected, level to their relationship that the heavy baggage of the past had denied to them before.

“There are many things you do not know about me, though surely in all the world there is no other with whom I have shared so many secrets.”

“LIFE is imperfect because we are humans and not gods. Gods by their very definition do not live but rather exist.”

There is nothing like being with one’s family to restore the spirit.

How many people in one’s life were there who one could talk to? How many were there in a lifetime who understood him? One or two, a handful if one were exceptionally fortunate.

One is never as alert to one’s surrounding when at a place one despises.

“Never rejoice over the death of another human being. Rather take satisfaction that a source of evil has been expunged. If a man aligns himself with evil, we have our duty before us. We must act. Mankind could no longer tolerate life without this weeding-out process.”

She was MIKO, a sorceress who could reach out at any time masking her true intent, and snuff out his life. It could come in the midst of a kiss or an embrace; he would never know the difference...

“You look like somebody put you through the meat grinder and forgot to turn the thing off.”

Japanese accept earthquakes as part of nature. To Californians it’s like death: they’d rather not think about it.

It was a myth...Life could never be controlled. And yet he continued to try.

He felt enormously tired, like a long-distance runner who had just expended his last ounce of gallant reserves to embrace the finish line only to be fold that the course has been extended another mile.

Together their lips opened, their tongues met, tasting. They felt the heat, passion rising, a cloud of heavy emotion enveloping them.

One gave one’s heart in a kiss.

“Your father was an exceedingly strong personality. He was too much for many adults. It’s not particularly surprised that he should have overpowered his children. The important thing is that you realize that he did not dominate deliberately. He didn’t know any other way to live.”

He was an enormously powerful man.

There was a wistful look on his face, and a calmness young boys have after a long day’s exertion, when, happily exhausted, they return home to a secure rest.

[Pedro Carias]

Secuela del libro “El Ninja” del mismo autor. La historia parecía estar completa, sin embargo, con en Miko el autor se da la oportunidad para crear relatos a eventos fugaces que quedaron sin mayor explicación. Michael Korda, con su libro “Editar la vida”, muestra el salto que da la industria literaria en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica gracias al gran desarrollo que tuvo el cine y que demanda nuevas historias. Lo anterior es notorio cuando se observa este país del norte la abundante producción de novelas, de ficción y no ficción, el arte tipográfico y pictórico, diseño gráfico, uso de técnicas literarias muy probadas para mantener al lector “enganchado”. Tanto el primer libro de Eric, El Ninja, como este otro, Miko, denotan de forma directa esta intención de lograr captar la atención para llegar a la pantalla, ya sea como película o como serie de televisión. Bien me comenta el abogado Galeano sobre su interrogante del porque estas novelas no fueron consideradas para tales propósitos y si otras que han estado en la gran pantalla y que son carentes de mejor contenido. Miko fue lanzado a mediados de los ochenta y tiene los elementos de una ficción que combina lo romántico y la acción, muy propio de esa década y visible en las películas de cine. Cuenta con elementos de la historia de Japón que ilustran ese cambio económico y cultural dado después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la presencia de los “keiretsu”, conglomerados de inversionistas de extrema “derecha” que fueron tomados por el gran proyecto de reconstrucción del Japón y que tuvieron el gran objetivo de disuadir-eliminar la amenaza del socialismo-comunismo. El salto constante de la novela en épocas permite contrastar las costumbres, de repente extremas para el mundo occidental, en la cultura de ese país asiático. También es de valor el hecho que el autor haga este esfuerzo por describir todo lo que gira alrededor del entrenamiento y ejercicio de las artes de guerra, de los samuráis y los “temibles” ninjas. Occidente y oriente siguen conectados con gran fuerza hasta nuestros días, las relaciones comerciales llegan a ser tan “oscuras” como lo muestra Eric, donde los negocios siguen el lema de “cueste lo que cueste”.

[Randy Daugherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is a sorceress--indescribably beautiful, overpoweringly sensual--who possesess incomprehensible powers. She is also a murderess who plans to use her power to kill Nicholas Linnear, the hero of THE NINJA.
This is only the beginning of this exotic thriller, where Lustbader weaves an utterly compelling tale of the CIA, the KGB, the technological world of modern Japan, and the mystical and dangerous realms of Ninja warriors....
The 2nd in the Linnear series, this improved even on the first,mixing the past/present, science/magic, all of which is the Asian countries.
This is probably my 4th reading of the Miko and each time I discover a missing item.

[Shawn Tich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Named my dog after this book

[Colin Darby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh man where do I begin.

Lustbader decided the stakes of "The Ninja" just weren't high enough and decided to go over the top. Of course, when going over the top, one possibility is that you're going to walk face-first into a strand of barbed wire and get hung up, looking like an idiot as you get pincushioned by machine guns. That's very much what happened here.

Here, Lustbader introduces us once again to the same characters as "The Ninja," except these might as well be completely different people. Like the one who died in "The Ninja," but who is now a beach bum. Everyone thinks he is dead. Who is supporting his beach bum lifestyle? IT IS A MYSTERY! Nicholas Linnear, who swore vengeance against his employer at the end of the last book, now is super best buddy pals with him. How did this metamorphosis take place? MYSTERY! His girlfriend, Justine, son of said employer, reverts to being remarkably childish and has one of her patented "And then Justine started to grow up" moments, rationed strictly at one per book. Was she hit on the head between books and forgot all of her emotional growth from the second half of the first? MYS-TER-Y!

For some reason, the CIA and KGB are involved, because Lustbader was writing a thriller in the early '80s, so of course they are. Except that, plot twist, the CIA "master spy" happens to have blind spots the size of Belarus in his personal life and personnel choices. There's some random anti-Catholic bias, except that it's supposed to be a good thing that the icy Japanese bureaucrat is also a practicing, and devout, Catholic - and, I should point out, Catholicism's history in Japan is itself kind of fascinating, with underground communities surviving from the early 1600s to the Meiji Restoration, and the Pope declaring there were no major contradictions between State Shinto and the Church... but don't expect to hear about Christianity in Japan, or even how that cultural tension works, despite also talking nonstop about how minor deviance can ruin careers in a highly structured society.

And then there's the villain. She is the widow of the villain of the first book, never mind that he explicitly stated that he could never love another woman after Nicholas Linnear out-sexied him with his cousin... no really. Now he was in a loving marriage that gave meaning to his life, as opposed to the death-seeking nihilism of the first book, and she has gone and resculpted her entire appearance to look exactly like said sexy-times cousin from the first book... again, no, really. She marries again, this time to Nicholas's Japanese business partner, who isn't allowed to see her naked because of the glaring flaws in her plan, namely the giant dragon tattoos on her inner thighs... despite making a big deal out of how rare true privacy is in Japan. Except Sexy Cousin Ghost possesses her... maybe... and she falls in love with Nicholas, and they have a very brief affair, because remember I said Justine was apparently hit on the head between books?

This all leads up to a dramatic resolution. Well, it leads up to a resolution. When they go to have their final confrontation, Sexy Cousin Ghost DEFINITELY possesses her and an earthquake happens, and she's swallowed up by the ground. This is what passes for a "satisfying" end in the mind of Eric van Lustbader.

Everything I complained about in "The Ninja" remains true here, with the addition that That's Not How Computers Work, and my personal favorite howler, the "extra-long" sword of his that's... thirty-two inches long. I'll spare you the math, but assuming even remotely sword-like balance, if as seems likely, Lustbader's only talking about cutting edge, that's shorter than my longsword (34.5 inches), shorter than a Patton saber (35 inches), and shorter by a head than Sasaki Kojiro's semi-legendary "laundry pole" (35.5 inches) and is eminently controllable with one hand. It's dumb. Especially when you read about how it's oversized at... thirty-two inches long.

Folks, it's just a dumb book.

[Karmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's amazing to read this series 30 years after it was first published.

The background is very interesting - Japan coming into its own and why.

The people responsible for Japan's ultimately failed expansion were not prosecuted for war crimes. Most were leaders in the largest companies in the country and were needed to grow Japan back and into democratic rules so as to be a beacon and firewall against the rise of Communism in the area.
The US was very anxious about China and Southeast Asia.

So there is espionage - Chinese, Russian, and American interference. China is manipulating the Hong Kong economy as the hand-off from Great Britain back to China looms. Actions that effect Japanese banks and the Tomkins and Sato companies.

On the personal front, Nicholas is under siege by the Sato CEO's spouse Akiko. A spouse that bears a striking resemble to Yukio. Confusion.

Robots. Earthquakes. Russian torture.

Overall an interesting read, but could have been longer given the number of plot points in play and stop using deus ex machina moments.

[Michael J. Gentile · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much Japanese

Van Lustbader clearly has good writing skills and this could have been a good story. However, I couldn’t get past the first half and dropped it for another book to read. The problem was way too many Japanese words. Yes - we know he has a good knowledge of Japan but it seemed every paragraph had Japanese words in it. To add to the confusion he even added Russian into the story. That was when I decided to dump the book and move on. Too bad as it really could’ve been a really good story.

[Tim Ruesch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first became acquainted with the work of Eric Van Lustbader in 1981 when I read his first Nicholas Linnear novel, "The Ninja." I was captivated by Asian culture and all things martial arts. "The Miko" did not disappoint as the author unfolded an intricate story of corporate espionage, assassinations, deception, historical revelations, mistaken identity, a questionable genealogy, prejudice, lost love, renewed love, and the list goes on. Mr. Van Lustbader handled each of those themes in such a way as to keep the reader's interest peaked rather than overwhelmed.

[Cory Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
Eric Van Lustbader has created one of my favorite series with the Nicholas Linnear novels. I can't wait to read the next one. The only thing that keeps me from giving The Miko 5 stars is that he seems to get lost on the backstory that goes on for far too long for one of the other characters in the book, I didn't really care about the character to begin with and the backstory didn't help. However, the action and the unique look at the various aspects of training and skill of Linnear-san was fantastic. Highly recommend for any fan of martial arts.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mighty read. Eric Van Lustbader know how to write a novel that keeps you intrigued.
This is a very different type of book for me to read, but the cover caught my eye and the byline - The Miko - ice cold violence, flaming sensuality, ritual vengeance and all this was in that book. I have not been able to put this book down but I did find the style of Japanese thriller a little harder to read them if it was a western one.. I did like how the Western and Oriental style was written by the author , it worked well. The narrative goes slightly slow for me flowed nicely.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this the first time more than 30 years ago and of course it was completely fresh to me now. It's a good book for the right audience. A complex plot; interesting characters, though many are a bit cartoonish; and a lot of obscure martial arts culture.
Like many books from the 80s, they seem current except for being pre-cellphone and pre-internet. Tough to remember what life was like without that technology.
It is a sequel to The Ninja which one really should read first.

[Ste · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Read this a while ago, forgot to review at the time)

The worst thing you can say about any book about a thriller about a sexy sex ninja who kills with sex - it's boring. Bloated with encyclopaedia facts about Japan and tedious orientalism. It's an interesting artifact of an era when Japan was poised to take over the world (and an era when erotic novels for men still existed), but not worth reading beyond that.

A few random highlights:

The eponymous Miko emerges nude from the mist of an onsen hot spring, pubic hair first. Just try to visualize how she must be posed for that to be possible.

The main character's mother speaks to him in English, but calls him "watashi no musuko" (my son) every sentence..

The main character is mixed race white/Japanese. This is presented as an incredible and unique superpower to understand all ways of life.

We're told that to Japanese people, "friendship" has a deep meaning of bonds of iron that no white person could ever fathom. In the very next sentence, we're told about a white person who fathomed it.

The Miko pauses mid-murder to appreciate the fact she has a womb.

If you are a ninja, you can concentrate hard enough to cause the Soviet brainwashing drugs in your blood to simply dissolve away.

[Michael Lottamoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. However, I find the style a bit cumbersome. A lot of terms and references in either Japanese or Chinese. if you want to know what they mean you have to interupt the read and do some research. I also found that in parts of the book the descriptive texts to be repetitive. Otherwise an interesting book which does teach as well as entertain.

[Miko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible book. Read this because my name is "Miko". Just... truly.. Godawful. So many very wrong things about Japanese people and other Asians. Also in all of the other reviews there's no mention of the r*pe of a child in the book that is portrayed to be some sort of romantic bullshit??? If you liked this book you are TRASH throw yourself away

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sex and violence, violence and sex.

Prime freebie. A sorcerous female ninja is stalking Nicholas Linnear. A complex novel of Japanese culture. The glossography in the back is helpful. Reading the first book is helpful , but not necessary.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bello, avventuroso, ma un po' tanto confusionario. Nicholas un personaggio bellissimo, ma avrei elaborato meglio la fine che sembra un po' troppo veloce e mitizzata (il conflitto con Akiko soprattutto). Nel complesso un ottimo romanzo

[Ekthiti Yimcharoen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, mysterious, full of puzzles from the ninja and new ones that will gradually be solved at the end of the story. You may be confused at first as it is filled with many unpredictable and unpredictable mysteries. nice ending I really enjoyed this book.

[vk chompooming · Rating 1 out of 5]

Upon trying to read this I decided life is too short and DNF. I enjoyed the 1st book a lot, but this one I could not get n2. I checked the log and apparently I have been trying to read this since March '25!!!

[Rajesh Pande · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reading

Very Oriental. Tantalising & unstoppable. Exposes the dark belly of Japan. Nicholas Linnear is a surreal character & so are his adversaries.

[Jeffry · Rating 4 out of 5]

While feeling a bit dated (pay phones?), the story is nonetheless entertaining.