Review: Romance, ancient Korean/Japanese conflict, ghosts
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 1, 2013
This is a complex novel, although intriguing, and it takes a few chapters to understand the dramas being played out.  Kendra Jinju MacGregor is a 23 year old Eurasian student at Berkeley, half Korean by her deceased father.  After her death, her mother and sister moved to Shanghai, leaving her so she could finish college.  Kendra found an antique doll in a store, and at the same time she met the salesman, a Japanese American, Hiro Peretti, who was attractive and intelligent.  Immediately he was interested in her, and she went back another day and purchased the doll, even though she couldn't explain why, especially when it used up her tuition funds and she had to now work on the side.  The story gains momentum as Kendra became embroiled in certain violent experiences and it was obvious to her that the doll was protecting her.  But why?In time she found the doll could communicate with her mentally and the doll's former name when she was alive was NanJu, she having died in the 16th century in Korea during an invasion by the Japanese. NanJu had been in love with a young Korean man, but because she had been selected by the local shaman to also become a shaman, she would dedicate her life to that and could not marry, even though her former fiancé, a military man, always remained in love with her and she with him.The story is a series of flashbacks between NanJu in her former lifetime and her dramatic experiences then and Kendra, now being slowly absorbed by NanJu.  NanJu was destined to be a ghost forever unless Kendra could perform certain actions to release NanJu from her ghostly existence.  The scenes are well written, although in the flashbacks, it sometimes gets a little tedious to be so tied up in NanJu's experiences.  By the same token, Kendra is not a physically strong women and yet she is thrown into situations where she has to physically fight her way out, which is confusing to the story line.  The plot is complex, fascinating and informative, but perhaps the overall story would be better if it hadn't been so long.  I kept hoping it would end soon but I recommend it as a good book for those who enjoy history, the paranormal and romance all in one novel.This book was given me to do an honest review.