ORPHANS OF THE SEA

In the year 3989, Sook Joo begins her teen years living at an orphanage with her grandfather Ryu, a village surgeon and master practitioner of Orikido, an ancient form of martial arts that uses traditional techniques and locally fabricated steel weapons. When the gentle peace of the orphanage is broken by a group of “Slängers”—a notorious gang of enforcers for the underworld boss, Quan—Ryu is killed defending his home. Sook Joo is separated from her pseudo-sibling, Futotta, and sent to live with her Uncle Hai, himself a degenerate who allows Sook Joo to be raped to pay off a debt. She’s then kidnapped by a human trafficking ring and selected by the mysterious Cho, who will deliver her to her ultimate fate: to be interred aboard a nightmare ship where passenger-slaves are made to fight each other, often to the death. Though she did nothing to deserve such a punishment, Sook Joo is well equipped to survive it, given her experience in Orikido, and as she fights to stay alive, she plots her revenge against the powerful, sinister forces led by Quan. Cooke and Ryan’s gripping novel takes place in a world not entirely different from our own, despite being set nearly 2,000 years in the future. The setting is an intriguing reality in which 21st-century technology (and its imagined advances) mingles effectively with the old-world ways of life concerning loyalty, honor, and martial arts. The combat scenes are well drawn, especially when the opponents are mismatched: “Sook Joo kicked her in the groin, threw a sharp punch to her nose, and again cast her to the ground. Tòa, half-blinded with blood and tears, leapt up and took a series of wild swings. She’d clearly had no training. She was a farm girl or street orphan, nothing more.” While Cooke and Ryan may not be breaking new ground, they’ve delivered an entertaining, action-packed revenge tale.