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amandajeanne's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
duparker's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a lot of fun. The story seems original, and the focus on both family and protecting family is interesting. It works really well to have it be contemporary and have elements of familial issues and modern crime issues I'm curious how a series is created that sustains the fun element here.
historyrebel's review against another edition
2.0
I'll admit up front I didn't quite make it to the end, but I did get through the majority of it. I wanted to like it early on, but there's just too many problems here.
First, some things I did like, which is why the book gets two stars and not one. I like Lily's overall attitude, with the right mix of seriousness and sarcasm. I could relate a little bit to her relationship with her mom, the overbearing control freak type. She's also not entirely perfect, and despite her fighting and athletic skills, has to think her way out of problems at times. It is entertaining to see how she gets herself out of trouble. The story gets off to a good start with a scene of Lily in a lot of trouble and saving herself. The early stages of the book were pretty good and kept me reading for a while despite some of the problems below.
You will be reminded of Lily's heritage...constantly. It quickly crosses the point where it's informative to being repetitive and starts dragging the story down any time Lily's family is involved, which is quite a lot of the story. In particular, one scene is hard to keep up with because Lily has to stop every other sentence to explain some aspect of Chinese culture (Lily's Norwegian heritage is also frequently mentioned, but given much less focus). This is one of those "women empowerment" stories where women's empowerment is code for a woman beating men, where random creeps are thrown in to molest Lily who do absolutely nothing to further the story but give her a reason to beat some creepy men to show she's some lady badass. It's also one of those stories that relies on double standards to try to fight other double standards, which kills whatever message it's trying to send. Considering how much Lily is clearly a stand-in for the author, there are times the story feels very much like a revenge fantasy against men. It's not as bad as some stories, in that not every man is a terrible scumbag, but most definitely seem to be. On that note, Lily's work helping women get away from abusers dominates the first few chapters, and then just disappears for a long stretch of the book, only occasionally being referred to. It does finally pop back up, but it's so much later I'd pretty much forgotten about it. Characters in this book speak differently depending on their ethnic lines, and the ones of different ethnicities are generally almost completely indistinguishable from each other.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. The premise was interesting. The execution didn't work out.
First, some things I did like, which is why the book gets two stars and not one. I like Lily's overall attitude, with the right mix of seriousness and sarcasm. I could relate a little bit to her relationship with her mom, the overbearing control freak type. She's also not entirely perfect, and despite her fighting and athletic skills, has to think her way out of problems at times. It is entertaining to see how she gets herself out of trouble. The story gets off to a good start with a scene of Lily in a lot of trouble and saving herself. The early stages of the book were pretty good and kept me reading for a while despite some of the problems below.
You will be reminded of Lily's heritage...constantly. It quickly crosses the point where it's informative to being repetitive and starts dragging the story down any time Lily's family is involved, which is quite a lot of the story. In particular, one scene is hard to keep up with because Lily has to stop every other sentence to explain some aspect of Chinese culture (Lily's Norwegian heritage is also frequently mentioned, but given much less focus). This is one of those "women empowerment" stories where women's empowerment is code for a woman beating men, where random creeps are thrown in to molest Lily who do absolutely nothing to further the story but give her a reason to beat some creepy men to show she's some lady badass. It's also one of those stories that relies on double standards to try to fight other double standards, which kills whatever message it's trying to send. Considering how much Lily is clearly a stand-in for the author, there are times the story feels very much like a revenge fantasy against men. It's not as bad as some stories, in that not every man is a terrible scumbag, but most definitely seem to be. On that note, Lily's work helping women get away from abusers dominates the first few chapters, and then just disappears for a long stretch of the book, only occasionally being referred to. It does finally pop back up, but it's so much later I'd pretty much forgotten about it. Characters in this book speak differently depending on their ethnic lines, and the ones of different ethnicities are generally almost completely indistinguishable from each other.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. The premise was interesting. The execution didn't work out.
spac3energy's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
littletaiko's review against another edition
4.0
Nothing like a kick ass woman sticking up for other women to perk up my reading life. Lily Wong is a trained ninja who is using her skills to help protect abused women in Los Angeles. She's of Norwegian and Chinese descent which impacts her family life and how she views the world. There were a few coincidences that made the story a bit too pat at times but I enjoyed the character quite a bit and would like to read more by the author.
rrs255's review against another edition
3.0
I like the idea and the character, but this read like a screenplay. The descriptions (of her father's food, her apartment) were too long and contributed nothing to the overall story.
mahaliathenerd's review against another edition
The Ninja Daughter is a fast-paced, thrilling, action-packed story of Lily Wong and her job in protecting abused women. Lily's emotional baggage from the brutal death of her sister has driven Lily to protect women like her sister. The action scenes to the mixed cultures of a midwest Norwegian farmer and her wealthy Chinese mother are interesting. This is a pageturner, and I look forward to reading book two.
theoliveprincess's review against another edition
3.0
Okay book good for a light read as long as you don’t go in expecting traditional ninja fights or deep cultural lore. Less Ninja, more watered down Jessica Jones with no superpowers or alcoholism. It kind of reminded me of a CW show. Just take things at face value and don’t think about it too much. Probably more of a chick book - female protagonist protective of female victims. Author’s note at end explains the urban ninja and other culture.