I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to read Jacques Antoine’s Go No Sen as well as its sequel, Sen No Sen.

Go No Sen starts with the idyllic home life of martial arts protégée Emily Kane. She may be the chauffeur’s daughter, but she is as much a part of the family as anyone else. She loves her father and sensei and they love her. Training is a game, a comfortable way of live, and something she is very very good at. Unfortunately, just as she is starting to emerge from her familial alcove and venture into society (going on her first date, making friends for the first time) her tranquillity is shattered. I don’t want to give anything else away, but suffice it to say she put all of the that training to good use.

Go No Sen will appeal to anyone with an interest in martial arts or eastern meditative practices. There is a lot of fighting action, but it is interspersed with quite a bit of careful technical detail and martial theory – just as the title Go No Sen would suggest. Emily is ultimately a good girl who tried to always do the right thing and I appreciated this about her. She did seem just a little too perfect though. She is pretty, becoming popular, polite, parents like her, boys think she is cool, and she is the BEST fighter anyone has ever seen. If she lost a fight or had a few character flaws she would have been more believable. Though, the plot does hint that there might be a reason for her superiority. It is, in fact, the central premise of the novel.

Sen No Sen is the sequel to Go No Sen and follows Emily as she continues to try and maintain a normal life despite being hunted by a number of international covert operatives. It is apparent from the very beginning that Emily is struggling with how to balance her own strengths with both the life she wishes to lead and the dangers she can’t seem to escape. Her difficulties are easy to relate to as is her love for those around her.

Antoine’s writing is comfortable. It flows smoothly from the violence Emily is forced to inhabit to the peace she is trying to protect, effectively mimicking the very internal dilemma is facing. I particularly liked the pacing and writing style.

Like Go No Sen, Sen No Sen includes quite a lot of martial arts theory. It is as much about the proper mind set of a fight as the proper physical conditioning. It wasn’t quite as heavy as in the first book and I found it enjoyable. As I appreciated the little bit of Japanese mythology that comes in at the end of the book.

Anyone who is interested in martial arts will likely like these book, as will those who like strong female YA characters.