Chow Lei is a ten-year-old girl on Hong Kong Island in 1896,
who sees her parents murdered. This is the beginning of a sequence of events
that leads to her becoming, Miao-Shan, the living Goddess of Justice! 'Miao
Shan' book 2, 'Justice For All!', is set to be released for Christmas 2019.
MIAO SHAN: The Awakening (Superhero Fiction)
By G. AM Morris
Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN #978-0620924330
Price $14.99 (Paperback)
Price $2.99 (Kindle)
346 Pages
Rating 4-Stars
Ten-year-old Chow Lei watched as her parents are murdered by
the Celestial Body Society Triads, then she went to live with her grandmother
Po Po. She dreams of vengeance against the triads, and joins a local kung fu
school in Hong Kong, but her quick learning impresses Master Sung and he
suggest she should train at the Shaolin Temple in China. So with heavy heart,
her grandmother sends her to China and the Shaolin Temple. There she trains
until she’s 18, mastering the 18 kung fu fighting styles. She then returns to
Hong Kong only to find that the Celestial Body Society Triads have killed her
grandmother. Chow Lei now goes by the name of Miao-Shan, the Goddess Guan Yin.
She inherits millions of dollars and becomes one of the richest women in Hong
Kong, but she is a master of kung fu and wants revenge against the triads. A
student of Master Sung tells her where she can purchase a mighty sword and she
meets elderly Wang Deshi, a sword maker, and Shaolin Monk, who tells her she is
the one they have waited for to bring compassion and judgment to evil men. She must
refrain from killing if possible. Miao Shan becomes a beautiful young woman by
day, and a black-clad vengeful goddess by night, offering compassion or death
to the triads.
The writing flows well, and keeps the reader entertained. This
was a multiple faceted novel, however, the first 150 pages being juvenile,
especially the dialogue. Thankfully, the rest of the book moves into comic book
superhero prose, and a little more mature dialogue. The mighty sword,
Whispering Wind gives her immortality, eternal youth, superhuman speed and
strength; in other words, she can now leap tall buildings and is faster than a
speeding bullet, and has superhuman strength. It also has some similarities to Warren
Murphy’s The Destroyer at this point. In
fact, one of the Triad leaders hires a mysterious personage to protect him that
reminds the reader of Chiun from that series. Shen has moves like the Korean
assassin and trainer of Remo. Shen does kill all her family and friends, but we
know he will lose the fight against Miao-Shan. The juvenile dialogue was hard
to read at times, but my main complaint is we don’t see good fight scenes. She
goes into a Black Fist stance, then a few seconds later two dozen triad
warriors lie dead on the floor. She moves so fast you don’t see her kill her
foes. And then she just gives the evil eye to a dozen more and they run off in
fear. The author is working on the second volume, and I certainly want to read
it when it’s ready, but I hope there is more realistic fight scenes, and better
dialogue. As it is, I highly recommend this first novel because it introduces a
very interesting character in Miao-Shan.
Tom Johnson
Author of THE BLACK SHADOW
