Code of Bushido

One of the best books from this author so far in my opinion, the writing quality for his first SuperBolan is top notch, reminding me of the level of writing I remember from titles like Blood and Thunder and Devil’s Horn. As far as action goes, there was a good balance here between bloody mayhem and story development and characterization. Starting off with a frenzied battle in Beirut, the book then develops characters and story before a massive apocalyptic Chicago battlezone. This might have worked better as an ending sequence considering its scale, but plenty more action is yet to come. Moving on to Japan, the action cools off a bit as the plot develops, and then Bolan does some globetrotting between Japan and Iraq to finish the job. Along the way, this story brings ninjas, samurai, yakuza, corrupt FBI agents into an entertaining action flick that keeps you turning the pages. I would have liked to rate this book higher, but there were some things about the story that seemed off to me. One example was Osaka, the main villain, wanted Bolan sent to Iraq with his top ninja after Bolan’s infiltration was discovered. With the ninja chomping at the bit to kill Bolan, it just made no sense to me to send Bolan to Iraq with the ninja and his crew alive just to kill him and present his head to Saddam there. As much as I enjoyed the scene of Bolan’s heroics there, it was really rather predictable, one of those things where you think well gee golly, what do you think is gonna happen here? It made Osaka seem like an inept villain, and the honor thing wasn’t making me buy the premise of letting Bolan go like that. It kind of weakened the remaining ending scene a little for me, too bad because it was an excellent finish to the story. Great book though, if you are looking for one of the better books from Schmidt, this is one of them.

I would have to say that overall I enjoyed this title with a couple of reservations. Firstly I struggled with the idea of the Big Guy taking the terrorists prisoner and bringing them back to the States for trial perhaps a little out of character. Secondly whilst this author has perhaps been associated with some of the bigger body counts in previous titles this time within the context of the title where the Japanese free the terrorists is bloody ridiculous. The damage caused, explosions left right and centre, the rivers of blood, the amount of body parts flying through the air, carnage, massive casualties and whilst it doesn't offend me in any way totally over the top I reckon. Having said the above I enjoyed the read certainly have read worse I enjoyed the way the daughter and her old man were taken out and the Big Guy shows off his skills as a swordsman good stuff. Recommended reading here from me.

I am hesitant in how I should review this book. On the one hand it was quite well written, on the other hand - for reasons explained below - it was awful. The plot was nothing original, a rich Japanese wants revenge against the USA for the atomic bombs dropped at the end of WWII. It has been done before, even in the Bolan series (Ex 99: Code of Dishonour). However how the villain goes about it is extremely twisted, and it left me wondering why he waited so long to implement his plan. However, that is not the reason why this novel doesn't rate higher. First, in the openening scenes, we have Bolan and a team of commando's in Beirut to arrest the Iraqi's who have committed the worst attrocity (to date 1997) in American history. Bolan arresting somebody? Hmm, that does not sound like The Executioner. However, there was a greater character flaw to follow. The second action sequence is a big one. In order to rescue the arrested Arabs, Chicago is turned into a war zone. Buildings are destroyed, trains are destroyed, the Sears tower is all but destroyed. This all comes about because of a team of dirty FBI guys, who are in it for the money, are working for the Japanese. Bolan is sent in by Brognola to investigate the FBI guys. Bolan knows at the outset that the guys are bad, but he decides to sit on his hands and see what happens. So we are treated to the utter carnage in Chicago in which thousands must have died (we are not told how many) which Bolan could have prevented had he acted sooner and put pressure on the FBI guys. Does he feel guilty about not acting sooner? No, in fact the Chicago incident is barely mentioned again. This spoiled the book for me, hence it gets only five stars.

One the better superbolans. This one had everything in it; arab terrorists, ninjas, global conspiracies of doom, yakuza, terrorist attack on U.S. soil, nuclear menace and a confrontation with saddam. They need more stories like this one. Definitely a must read for any true Bolan fan.

I liked this one a lot. Great windy city scene, as well as opening scene! And mack almost takes out sadaam, to bad he didt have better aim! Good ending with the kitana blade in the castle.

This is one of my personal favorites because it involved the deadliest villian Mack has faced. Also there's a lot of character building so prepare to give some time to the enemies. But the character building just helps the book lead to the explosive ending. Also this book has a special treat. It's the scene where Mack was about to blow a airplane out of the sky that had a crazy guy we all know.

Not a bad book, but I didn't find it as satisfying as the classic Schmidt books, way back in the (#)90's and early 100's.