Katana by Cole Gibsen

Katana by Cole Gibsen
Release Date: March 8th 2012
Publisher: Flux
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥

Katana has been on my to-read list for a long time and I think it's easy to say that this was one of those books that I was disappointed in, but still thoroughly enjoyed. Whilst there was SO much potential for this to be a fantastic read; reincarnation, samurais, fighting, a little romance... It was delivered unsuccessfully.

As a person who loves the idea of reincarnation, having the same soul and encountering the same souls in every lifetime, this was awesome. Rileigh starts having dreams of her old life as Senshi-a female samurai after she completely kicks the arses of three guys who try to mug her. Now, females weren't allowed to be samurais but apparently Senshi had major potential (Oh, and everytime I read senshi-I thought of Sailor Moon: "Warrior"-haha) and had some pretty cool abilities, okay cool, whatever. She ends up on the news and captures the attention of an old enemy and her soulmate.

Whilst I really enjoyed the fighting aspect and the reincarnation aspect, I feel the story was somewhat predictable and that it fell flat in areas. As it turns out, I got the villain completely wrong, but I was happy with who it turned out to be because:
1. I didn't correctly guess who it was
2. I would've given this book a lower rating if it turned out that way

It read like a lot of other YA novels (Fallen, Hush Hush etc) in that the writing was very simple and the plot was sort of 'meh'. The other characters were also a bit irritating. Whitley just freaked me out and whilst he was the "hottie", I found him to be a bit creepy :S. Quentin, oh dear god. Rileigh's gay best friend. At first I thought, "oh yay, he isn't being stereotyped like say, Damien from the House of Night series", but he is basically just Rileigh's sidekick and has no real purpose apart from supporting his 'BFF'. I thought Kim was kinda hot at first, but then the ending ruined him for me - I felt cheated! Here is this hot samurai guy who gives the chick he loves her space and tells her what she needs to know (MOST of the time), but then he turns into some over-protective, lovey-dovey guy. Dude, seriously? As for Rileigh's mother, she needs to be hit in the face with a chair - she is not a mother, she is a nasty, selfish person.

Despite this, I found some things to be funny. For example: 
'Whitley had more of that "I play polo and go yachting on the weekends" look.'

And as it turns out, apparently AC/DC is the music that bikies love. I mean, The Angels are pretty cool too right (har-har)?

Overall, Katana had an original, fascinating premise with a poorly executed outcome. What would've been an amazing story, turned out to be flat and predictable. The reason I'm giving this three stars is because I LOVED the actual story so much, it was just the execution that ruined it.