She stretched out her hand and touched SIRCA’s waist which felt as it looked, smooth and solid. When she removed her hand, a trail of stringy mucus-like fibers dangled from her palm like glue—How is this a suit?
On a cold winter night in New York City, former NYPD officer Cindy Ames snuck into a top-secret lab and stole a dangerous technology. With this device, she physically transformed herself into an unstoppable superhuman.
Tortured by guilt over her partner’s murder, Cindy swore to use her new weapon to bring justice to the killer who ruined her life. But when the deaths of innocent people plague Manhattan, all evidence points to her.
Has Cindy's quest for revenge gone too far?
The truth she discovers about herself may be more than she bargained for.
A Bitter Winter is book 1 of The Silver Ninja series.
Super powers can save a city but BREAK a hero.
If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you'll see mostly the same nature of books. Most book bloggers prefer to pigeonhole themselves into a couple of genres. Mine typically fall under paranormal fiction, urban fantasy, or horror, and I'm perfectly content with that. Every now and then though, there will be a book that shakes it up and practically begs me to review it. The Silver Ninja is one of those books.
Science fiction, superhero, comic book fiction... Whatever you designation you want to give it, The Silver Ninja is all of those things and none of those things. Wilmar Luna has taken the usual superhero saga and deconstructed it, shattering any expectations of the ordinary lawful good hero. Cindy isn't quite an anti-hero, but she is certainly not playing things by the rules.
After the death of her partner, she's adrift. While working security, the event is attacked by terrorists, including the man who killed her partner two years before when she worked for NYPD. What's worse is that she doesn't even merit recognition to the man who changed her life forever. Can you imagine how unbelievably insignificant that would make you feel?
While convalescing from injuries sustained in the attack, Cindy starts obsessing about not just justice, but revenge. It soon becomes a destructive enchantment and Cindy will stop at nothing to attain her desires, including stealing untested technology right from under the nose of her husband and his employers. However, there's a catch. His employer will let her use the suit to cultivate her revenge, but only after she first fulfills his tasks; tasks that may not be what they appear.
Keep in mind: Cindy isn't a vigilante crime fighter. She has a vendetta, but she is utterly human. Underneath the suit, Cindy is still haunted by the death of her partner, guilt for deaths she couldn't prevent, and the inescapable perception of not being good enough. The SIRCA technology lets her become more, but it comes at a price, both physically and mentally.
The Silver Ninja brings so much to the front line: wondrous technological detail, a ruthless female protagonist possessed by an unholy need for retribution against unambiguously evil opposition, phenomenal fight sequences, and ultimately, self-forgiveness and a chance at personal redemption. The book culminates in a brilliant burst of energy and heart, in the very fashion it began.
And at this moment of weakness, where her body was ready to surrender, she had never felt so alive.
