The Ninja Daughter

4 Stars *A gritty, exciting mystery about revenge and redemption* ARC provided by Agora Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I love Martial Arts, and I love kickass heroines. So The Ninja Daughter caught my eye right away. This is the story of Lily Wong, a young woman who dedicates her life to helping abused women after her sister is raped and murdered. Sometimes her work involves helping women orchestrate their escape from abusive situations. Other times she distributes vigilante justice herself. Lily is a flawed character who operates outside of the law, but I enjoyed reading about her. Her work was gripping to read about, but I also enjoyed the exploration of Lily’s personal life. With a Norwegian father and Chinese mother, Lily’s heritage pulls her in conflicting directions. She struggles with balancing family expectations with her own self-given task of protecting women. And I liked how Martial Arts teachings were infused into the whole story. So many people misunderstand Martial Arts. It is completely evident that Eldridge draws from her own training in To-Shin Do for both the fight scenes and the mentality of Martial Arts. According to her bio, she also has a similar cultural background to Lily, so she draws a lot from her own life experiences. This is definitely an adult story. It deals with topics of abuse and rape and other violence. The opening scene is a torture scene. That being said, the overall story is not too graphic. The violence falls into the middle ground: there is enough content to put off sensitive readers, but it is not nearly as graphic as some popular books. The story ended up being more of a Mystery than a Thriller. Lily’s roll as protector often has her functioning like a private investigator, so the story had a strong Mystery vibe. That wasn’t what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it. I love reading Mysteries. Combined with the other elements of the story, The Ninja Daughter was my kind of book. There were some aspects that showed this is a debut novel and the first in a series. There was a lot of information that had to be set up. Not just the characters and plot, but also a lot of background about Chinese and Norwegian culture as well as the different Martial Arts disciplines. It was a lot of information to fit into a short novel. But I was engaged the whole time, and this was a great debut novel. I look forward to reading the sequel! RATING FACTORS: Ease of Reading: 4 Stars Writing Style: 3 Stars Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars Level of Captivation: 4 Stars Originality: 4 Stars