Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 6-9. This first installment of The Ancestors series features Fu, or Tiger, one of five orphan monks, each named for an animal he most resembles. As the book begins, the boys are hidden in a water barrel during a raid on their temple. The emperor's army, under the command of their former brother, Ying, the Eagle, is out to destroy the Cangzhen Monastery, kill the grandmaster, and steal the sacred scrolls. Impetuous Fu rescues the scrolls, but his own rash act leads to imprisonment in a remote village. Although set in 1650 China, this is a kung fu novel, not historical fiction, and despite the grandmaster's peace-seeking Buddhist philosophy, Tiger is not for the squeamish, as Ying is a terrifying villain and bloodstained flesh dangles during violent battles. Characters are virtuous or evil, but the slam-bang, pedal-to-the-metal adventure stands a good chance of luring kids away from video games; they will definitely line up for the forthcoming sequel. --Linda Perkins Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in 17th-century China (aka "4348-Year of the Tiger"), Stone's debut novel launches his riveting Five Ancestors series. Five orphans live at Cangzhen Temple with their Grandmaster, and consider themselves brothers; "each had mastered a style of animal kung fu that reflected both his personality and his body type." Their names are Cantonese for monkey, snake, crane, dragon and-this novel's focus-tiger. As the novel opens, Ying (Cantonese for "eagle"), a 16-year-old former student, returns to the school with the Emperor's army to retrieve the "dragon scrolls" ("He yearns to be an all-powerful dragon," Grandmaster explains) and also to exact revenge on the Grandmaster, whom he blames for the death of his best friend. The brothers learn that Ying may harbor a deeper motive ("Grandmaster wasn't the holy man everyone thinks he is," Ying tells them). In a titillating foreshadowing, Grandmaster warns the boys not to kill Ying: "Your pasts are interwoven with Ying's and so are your futures." While Ying battles his teacher, 12-year-old Fu ("tiger") retrieves the scrolls and flees, and the five brothers "scatter into the four winds." Fu spares the life of one of Ying's soldiers, who then repays the favor at a pivotal moment; Fu and Malao ("monkey") each bond with their animal counterparts, who also aid them at key junctures. Stone credibly portrays Fu as alternately sympathetic and maddening, true to his adolescent nature, and the martial arts scenes will keep even reluctant readers flipping through the pages, and anxious for volume two, Monkey. Ages 10-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-9-Essentially a graphic novel without the graphics, this book (the first of five) should have broad appeal to readers who love computer games and Japanese anime. As the story begins, five orphans, being raised as foster brothers and Buddhist monks in 17th-century China, are hiding in a large water jar as imperial forces, led by their renegade older brother, Ying, attack and slaughter their temple's residents. Grandmaster has given the boys animal names and has trained each of them in a martial-arts style related to his titular animal's strengths. He intends the five to escape, even if everyone else dies. Fu-the "tiger"-is this book's main character; in addition to remaining free, he is determined to reclaim the valuable ancient training scrolls that Ying has taken from the temple. Fu finds friends in unexpected places and learns to control the impulses he has fought against all of his life. Teens are likely to warm to the implicit theme that each person has a particular destiny, an inborn sense of identity that must be brought to light. While quite a page-turner, employing slapstick humor from time to time in true manga style, Tiger is nonetheless an adventure story and not a more serious work of finding one's self and one's place in the world. Cheryl Aylward Whitesel's Blue Fingers (Clarion, 2004) is a fine story that also examines those topics.-Coop Renner, Hillside Elementary, El Paso, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This first installment of the projected series introduces five orphans raised together as brothers at a Buddhist temple in seventeenth-century China. This story features Fu, or Tiger, who is charged with retrieving ancient scrolls stolen from the temple. Fast-paced and action-packed, this Kung Fu adventure doesn't offer much depth, but the detailed (and vivid) fight scenes will enthrall fans of the genre. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Five young brothers, each master of a different kung fu style, flee the destruction of their hidden monastery in this unpolished but energetic martial-arts series opener. Here, Fu (Cantonese for "Tiger," as the author repeatedly explains), the largest and most hot-headed of the quintet, struggles to master both his temper and a host of soldiers led by older-brother-gone-to-the-bad Ying, while several times saving and losing a precious set of scrolls that lay out the deepest secrets of kung fu. Stone is better at describing gruesomely effective fighting techniques than at dialogue--"He let me loose, and now we're even. If he ever stands between me and the scrolls, he'll taste my fist!"--but fans of lower-budget martial-arts films, or for that matter the character interplay that animates Lensey Namioka's samurai adventures (which are set at roughly the same time), will find themselves on familiar ground. Readers hoping for the wild twists and epic sweep of L.G. Bass's Sign of the Qin (2004) may be disappointed, though, and several plot threads are left a-dangling. (Fiction. 11-13) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.