The Way of the Christian Samurai

News of ABC family getting permission to create a show based on Carrie Asai’s ‘Samurai Girl‘ book series brought the title to my attention. Having seen it at my local library, I was at least familiar with the book and its premise.

Many of the samurai figures in American media are male, so there is a somewhat unique angle to a samurai heroine. In book one of the series, subtitled “The Book of the Sword,” an adopted heiress named Heaven, is far from being a ‘samurai heroine‘ - she has lived most of her life in her wealthy father’s compound in Tokyo, oblivious to the feuding of her father and his rivals, absorbed in American movies, TV, and MTV culture.

During the wedding ceremony of her arranged marriage to the spoiled son of one of her father’s rivals, a ninja breaks in and kills her brother. She flees to the unfamiliar streets of LA to find a family friend to train her to become a samurai.

There are true samurai ideals brought up in the book, though Heaven’s constant fascination and day-dreams of having “movie moments” frustrate both her trainer and quite possibly the reader. Acceptance of death is a central theme, which as jarring and brutal as it sounds is quite easily understood in Christian terms, as explored in The Way of the Christian Samurai.

While the book is targeted for younger readers (it’s in the young adult section of my library) I’d preview it before getting your son or daughter involved in reading the series. There is, of course, violence - including the death of two characters, as well as the constant references to pop culture in America which may or may not be an issue for your family. The main character is 19, and so there are a few references to sex (who’s sleeping with whom) and the female body (Heaven at one point is considering her own build to the infamously bosomed video game character Lara Croft) that I wouldn’t want my daughter to be reading/worrying about until later in life.

For an adult, it might be considered a good but quick read, and not entirely negligent of real Samurai values. There’s nothing overly objectionable according to Christian morals, but I wouldn’t recommend using the publisher’s age guidelines on this one.

Tags: Carrie Asai, Samurai Girl, book, samurai, heroine, Christian Samurai, Samurai values, Christian morals