The Way of the Warrior

The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford

This is book 1 of the Young Samurai series.

The year is 1611, Jack Fletcher is a young English boy who is sailing toward the Japans with his father, the pilot, and a crew on a trade ship. Until now, only the Portuguese have known the route but Jack's father claims to have knowledge of the way in his rutter, a navigational diary of sorts that apparently others would kill for.

After the ship becomes damaged and waylaid in a bay off the coast, it is attacked by ninja. The next morning, Jack finds himself orphaned and shipwrecked in Japan. He knows nothing of the language or customs save one thing, if you see a samurai, bow low. This bit of knowledge saves him in a tense situation. After that, he tries to begin learning everyday words to help him communicate. Soon after, the leader of the Samurai adopts him into his family and with the help of a Portuguese priest, Jack learns the language of his captors turned saviors.

This book talks about karate and the training of the samurai but also covers the values of this training. Loyalty, honesty, courage are all inspected in different ways in this book. While Jack never forgets the little sister he left behind in England and wonders about her fate, he stays focused on the task at hand. The task placed before him is to complete samurai training at a school in Kyoto. He also must figure out who has hired the ninja assassin to kill him and steal his father's rutter.

The Son of Neptune

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Book 2 of the Heroes of Olympus series

Percy Jackson is back! Only, he doesn't remember anything about himself except his name and a vague memory of Annabeth. After spending time on the west coast with a pack of wolves, he arrives at a camp for demi-gods. He knows this is where he belongs but it doesn't feel quite right. He quickly falls in with a pair of mis-fits who are fairly new to the camp. Soon, they are tasked by the God of War to take on a quest.

As the quest continues, Percy's memory slowly comes back as the horrors of what is to come unfold before them. These three unlikely heroes must join with others to save the world - again.

I am looking forward to the next installment in this series.

The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

This is book 1 in the Heroes of Olympus series. This series picks up where the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series left off.

In this series we meet three teenagers who are at a Wilderness Camp for Wayward Youth. They are visiting the Grand Canyon visitors center at the south rim on the Havasupai Indian Reservation. One of the kids claims to have no memory of who he is or anything else for that matter. His two best friends claim to have months of memories together with him. Their strange and very grumpy counselor also has no idea who this kid is but suspects that he is the "special package" that the counselor has been waiting for.

In this book, we realize that there is more than one camp for the demi-gods of Olympus. The mystery and adventure is wrapped up in the revelations since the amnesiac hero, Jason, slowly unravels the mystery of himself while on a life-threatening quest with his friends, Piper and Leo.

This is a great addition/continuation of the Olympians series. Again, I think this is a wonderful way to get today's kids interested in the mythology of old.