Shadowboxer

by Tricia Sullivan

Overview

Jade is a seventeen-year-old mixed martial arts fi ghter. When she's in the cage she dominates her opponents - but in real life she's out of control. After she has a confrontation with a Hollywood martial arts star that threatens her gym's reputation, Jade's coach sends her to a training camp in Thailand for an attitude adjustment. Hoping to discover herself, she instead uncovers a shocking conspiracy. In a world just beyond our own, a man is stealing the souls of children to try and live forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849977784
Publisher:	Rebellion Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	10/09/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	516 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tricia Sullivan was born in 1968 in New Jersey, USA and has been writing stories since the age of seven. She attended Music Program Zero at Bard College under the guidance of composer and philosopher Benjamin Boretz, receiving a B.A. in 1990. She also holds an M.A. in Special Education from Columbia University. She wrote her first novel, Lethe, while teaching secondary school in New York City, but by the time the book was published she had moved to London. Her science fiction novels include the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Dreaming In Smoke, Double Vision, Sound Mind, Someone to Watch Over Me, and the British Science Fiction and Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated novels Lightborn and Maul. She also wrote an epic fantasy trilogy under the pseudonym Valery Leith. Her works have been translated into seven languages and praised by prominent critics. Tricia has a longstanding interest in martial arts, has herself trained for many years and now administers the mixed martial arts website of her partner, martial artist Steve Morris. Currently she is raising three children while writing and studying physics and mathematics full time with the Open University.

Editorial Reviews

'Tricia Sullivan writes intelligent, zesty and freewheeling novels that are so entertaining they're almost embarrassing. Seriously, when was the last time you read a really smart book that was also fun?' - Patrick Ness bestselling author of The Knife of Never Letting Go 'A genuinely kick-ass protagonist with personality.' - Lauren Beukes, NYT best-selling author of 'The Shining Girls', 'Zoo City' and 'Moxyland' 'If someone doesn't turn Shadowboxer into a kickass martial arts film there's no justice.' - Jon Courtenay Grimwood, best-selling author of 'The Blade' trilogy 'Shadowboxer is a fast-paced, gripping contemporary dark fantasy thriller. Everything about this book feels utterly real from the monsters out of Thai mythology to the cage fights but especially the incandescent Jade Barrera whose passion and fury are sometimes bigger than she can control.' - Justine Larbalestier, Andre Norton Award winning author of Liar and Razorhurst. 'Vivid, exciting, immersive and unforgettable.' - Stephanie Burgis, author of Kat, Incorrigible 'Hits like a punch to the guts' - Marie Brennan, author of the 'Doppelganger' series, 'Onyx Court' series and the 'Memoirs of Lady Trent' series. "In this adrenaline-fueled supernatural adventure, a young woman channels her anger into fighting, only to risk losing everything due to her lack of control. Jade Barrera, 17, is a rising star in the mixed martial arts (MMA) circuit, but after she snaps and hurts the wrong person, she's sent to regain her focus by training in Thailand, where she's exposed to new ways of thinking and living. Unknowingly, Jade becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy involving drug smuggling and slavery when a girl capable of walking between worlds and a magic-touched investigative reporter enter her life. With a feral god watching over Jade and her newfound companions, Jade fights for her life inside the ring and out of it. SF author Sullivan (Lightborn) spins a kinetic, violent, and magical tale that makes excellent use of Jade's hard-edged voice. Sullivan brings to life the beauty of Thailand and the sweat and blood of the gym, infusing them with magic and danger." — Publisher's Weekly

From the Publisher

Shadowboxer has fantastic fight scenes, the best: passionately written, intense and real.”

Kate Elliott

"In this adrenaline-fueled supernatural adventure, a young woman channels her anger into fighting, only to risk losing everything due to her lack of control. Jade Barrera, 17, is a rising star in the mixed martial arts (MMA) circuit, but after she snaps and hurts the wrong person, she’s sent to regain her focus by training in Thailand, where she’s exposed to new ways of thinking and living. Unknowingly, Jade becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy involving drug smuggling and slavery when a girl capable of walking between worlds and a magic-touched investigative reporter enter her life. With a feral god watching over Jade and her newfound companions, Jade fights for her life inside the ring and out of it. SF author Sullivan (Lightborn) spins a kinetic, violent, and magical tale that makes excellent use of Jade’s hard-edged voice. Sullivan brings to life the beauty of Thailand and the sweat and blood of the gym, infusing them with magic and danger."

Publisher’s Weekly

2014-08-12
Mixed martial arts, Thai legend and human trafficking come together in this gritty fantasy adventure. Seventeen-year-old martial artist Jade Barrera's anger management issues threaten to sabotage her dreams of winning a title on the professional fight circuit. After she assaults a movie star who is working on a business deal with her gym, her mentor sends her to Thailand to lie low and train. Meanwhile, a young girl in Thailand, Mya, realizes that the man who is both benefactor and captor to her is using her ability to travel back and forth from Himmapan, a magical forest filled with legendary animals, for criminal purposes. Mya flees and eventually finds her way to New Jersey, where Jade is discovering that fresh trouble has followed her home. Sullivan deftly evokes the brutality and adrenaline rush of MMA and Muay Thai fights, but she struggles to weave the supernatural elements smoothly into the novel. It's more than a little jarring when the story first shifts from the contemporary urban realism of Jade's life to a magical forest. Jade's strength and tenacity make her an appealing protagonist—and it's refreshing to see a black Latina lead, given their rarity in fiction for teens—so it's unfortunate that the chapters told from her first-person perspective are hobbled by clunky dialogue and inconsistencies of tone. Less than the sum of its many interesting parts. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews