In Their Own Words

The Japanese shogun demands that two clans of ninjas to battle each other to the death. But a young man and a woman from the opposing clans have fallen in love, and try to stop the war. Superficially, this novel is an exciting X-men-style novel about battles between ninjas with supernatural powers. At its heart, however, the book is a meditation on serious issues, such as unquestioning obedience to power, and the legitimacy of war. A fun, light novel, this book will be of interest to teenagers, adults, and anyone interested in fantasy novels that come with some depth.

The Kouga Ninja Scrolls is the first Japanese fantasy novel ever published by Del Rey Books, and may very well be the first Japanese fantasy novel ever translated. It is one of the most popular fantasy novels ever published in Japan, and is the basis of many movies, including Shinobi. The original author liked to quote actual historical documents about ninjas within his book, and so this translation required translating ancient Japanese documents, some of which were many hundreds of years old.