Shadow Shinjuku by Ryu Takeshi

  

    It isn't very often that a book throws me for a complete loop, that what I had expected and what I actually got ended up being two very different things. Shadow Shinjuku did that in the most wonderful way possible. 

Sato is an orphan living on the street when one day a man walks by his cardboard box and offers him a job and if he does well the opportunity to get off the street. Sato, of course, does well and the man, who is the leader of a Yakuza family, takes him in and Sato eventually becomes an assassin. For most of his life he's just done what was asked of him, he owed Boss Yamaguchi his life it was the least he could do, right? But lately Sato's been questioning his life and when he meets Boss's daughter Ren he begins questioning what he's done even more.

This book was a wonderful meandering tale of the bonds we create by choice and the ones we have no choice but to form. Sato's questioning of bonds he has formed whether by choice or by a feeling of obligation I found to be something many of us can relate to, the manner in which that author presents these questions borders on poetic.

And yeah, it was really slow going but in the best way possible. The book really revolves around Sato's inner dialogue and through this, we get a vivid picture of Tokyo at night and those that inhabit shadows found there.

And yes there is magic. And Sato does remove some truly evil bastards heads from their body so there's a bit of violence in it. But, seriously, truly evil bastards.

The only drawback I found was some of the dialogue between Sato and other characters seemed very clipped, unnatural, and downright awkward sometimes. That being said, I didn't find these conversations enough of a hindrance to the story to give it less than five stars.

I really hope the author plans on this being a series because the end is a cliffhanger and I really want to know what happens next.