Little street urchin ShaoSu has always wanted to belong. His small size makes him an easy target for bullies and baddies and this little "mouse" always needs a place to hide. When he is befriended by Hok and Ying, he thinks he has found a new family, and eagerly tags along as they continue on their travels. What he doesn't know is that his new friends are the most wanted criminals in China, and their adventures will land him in the middle of a battle not only for their lives, but for the future of China itself.
As the characters rush towards a dramatic conclusion to the Five Ancestors series in this, the penultimate title, Jeff Stone has again created a marvelous story, a compelling voice, and a ton of exciting action.
Long, the dragon-style warrior, saw his temple burned, his brothers killed, and his novice siblings fleeing to the four winds. But that was many months ago. Now the five young warriors have reunited with Ying, the redeemed renegade who put all of these events in motion, and ShaoShu, the mousy street thief, to prevent the wily mantis Tonglong from taking over China.
Time is short and distances are great, and the future of China lies in the hands of five young monks.
For year, Ying hated his grandmaster for denying him the opportunity to train as a Dragon, and held a deep resentment for his five younger brothers–grandmaster’s favorites. He took his revenge and burnt the Cangzhen temple to the ground, but the five youngsters survived and continue to be a thorn in his side. Yet, when betrayed by the emperor and imprisoned, it was his younger sister, Hok, who rescued him. Now Ying begins to realize that Tonglong has been manipulating him for a long time. Ying needs to figure out who are his friends and who are his enemies . . .and he needs to figure it out fast!
Drugged. Wounded. A price on her head. And that’s the good news.
Herself. For years, Hok has hidden her true identity from her brothers at Cangzhen. Now, at last, she can be herself. And yet, who is she? Calm and thoughtful, Hok is a crane-style kung fu master carefully attuned to others, but she has never spent much time looking inward. After barely surviving the destruction of two warrior monk strongholds, Hok realizes her old world is gone. She finds her way to the city of Kaifeng and begins a new life.
But her old life intervenes and she must join forces with Fu and Seh to pursue the captured Malao. Their quest takes them to the city of Jinan and into the sinister underground world of fight clubs, where matches are fixed and rules don’t exist. Against incredible odds, the young monks must use their sharp wits to stay together and their formidable kung fu skills to survive.
Twelve-year-old Seh is a snake-style master and a keeper of secrets. Close-lipped and ever-watchful, he has used his highly attuned senses to collect information about his brothers, his temple, and even Grandmaster. Now, with the temple and Grandmaster gone, Seh sheds his orange robe like an old skin, joins a bandit gang, and meets a mysterious woman whose name means Cobra—all the while trying to stay one step ahead of vengeful Ying!
From the Hardcover edition.
The temple has been burned.
Grandmaster is dead.
The only five survivors have scattered like the wind.
Alone. For the first time. No brothers, no mentors, no teachers–just eleven-year-old Malao, the “monkey,” all by himself in the woods. Malao loves to make jokes and fool around, but now the only home he has ever known is burning and his four surviving temple brothers have disappeared. Suddenly nothing seems as funny as it used to.
Grandmaster told Malao to discover the secrets of his past, but for a monkey nothing is ever simple. He hasn’t traveled far when he stumbles into a battle between a group of bandits and an army of monkeys. One of the bandits looks strangely familiar, and the monkeys are led by a large, white, one-eyed male, who seems to know Malao.
In this second volume of the Five Ancestors series, Jeff Stone continues the exciting story of five youngsters destined for greatness–if they can only survive!
From the Compact Disc edition.
Twelve-year-old Fu and his temple brothers Malao, Seh, Hok, and Long don't know who their parents were. Raised from infancy by their grandmaster, they think of their temple as their home and their fellow warrior monks—their "temple brothers"—as their family. Then one terrible night the temple is destroyed by an army led by a former monk named Ying, whose heart is bent on revenge. Fu and his brothers are the only survivors. Charged by their grandmaster to uncover the secrets of their past, the five flee into the countryside and go their separate ways. Somehow, Grandmaster has promised, their pasts are connected to Ying's. Understanding that past is the key to shaping the future. Book One follows Fu as he struggles to find out more and prove himself in the process. Fu's name literally means "tiger," for he is the youngest-ever master of the fierce fighting style modeled after that animal.
