The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

The Emperor of Nihon-Ja was a really great book. If you want to read this book you first need to know that there is nine books before this.So, if you want to understand what in the world this book is talking about, read the Ranger's Apprentice book series first. Some parts can be kind of slow or boring but it makes up for that in the end.

Horace is probably the best knight in all of Araluen. He is sent to Nihon-Ja to learn new fighting techniques. While staying in the foreign country, he has the opportunity to stay with the emperor, Shigeru. (They are staying in the emperors' summer home while there, which is up in the mountains and is going to lead to some very big problems. You might want to keep that in mind.)While in Nihon-Ja, a man named Arisaka starts a rebellion against the emperor. He does this because Shigeru is trying to make the poor people have better lives. Arisaka is ticked off about this because he is a senshi. The senshi have always had power over the poor folk and he intends to keep it that way.

Somewhere else in Nihon-Ja, Halt, Will, Selethen and Alyss are on a diplomatic mission. While there, the princess Evanlyn comes to them and informs them that Horace is missing. They quickly have a plan to find Horace and the emperor.

Horace very quickly gets wrapped up in all the politics of Nihon-Ja and finds himself trying to help the emperor out of his predicament. Because they are up in the mountains they cannot go back to the cities because Arisaka will be waiting. Their only choice is to find a fortress in the mountains. The legendary fort of Ran-koshi. An impenetrable fortress made of stone. This poses a problem because they don't even know if it's real. They begin to ask the Kikori, woodcutters who live in the mountains, how to get Ran-koshi.

As they begin to climb to Ran-koshi(which is real by the way.) kikori start teaming up with them and coming to the fort to help stop Arisaka. Who just happens to have a army of trained senshi coming after the emperor. The idea is to get to Ran-koshi before winter and train the kikori to fight the senshi once they attack. Piece of cake.

Meanwhile, The other four people I mentioned early find Horace. They help the emperor and his officers make a plan to battle Arisaka when he arrives. The Rangers are very helpful in making battle tactics while the girls help with other things. They travel across a huge lake to get help from some natives who live there. This will help appose Arisaka. The Kikori, Araluens, and the emperor finally are ready to defeat Arisaka.

I thought that this book was really good. It had a lot of action and battles. It also kept you in suspense and I found it hard to put the book down. The book has a lot of battle tactics and other complicated things like that but I love things like that. Throughout the book it is kind of trying to tell you that peace is much better than war. The emperor is always trying to avoid bloodshed and making wise decisions. The Emperor of Nihon-Ja was a fantastic book and kept me dying for more. I'd give it an A-.