Blood Ninja

Blood Ninja is a 2009 novel written by Nick Lake. All you really need to know about the novel is that it features vampire ninjas.

The novel starts with young Taro's sickly father's death at the hands of ninja. Another ninja immediately pays a visit and assassinates the other ninja. He then convinces Taro's mother to fake her death and flee, giving her a messenger pigeon. Taro's own escape isn't easy, though - a horde of the first ninja's allies come to take him by force, and even with the backup of his best friend Hiro, Taro ends up dying in the fray.

Immediately the "good" ninja takes Taro and bites into his neck, effectively bringing him Back from the Dead, just in time to start the story. This ninja, named Shusaku, proceeds to explain how all ninja are vampires and, since Taro has been turned, he will also become a ninja. Together with Hiro, they will journey to the home base of Shusaku's ninja clan and later, find Taro's mother.

Action-fantasy novel that really Needs More Love.

A sequel, Blood Ninja II: The Revenge of Lord Oda, was released in 2010. A second sequel will be released in 2012.^[when?]

Do not confuse with bloodninja.

Tropes used in Blood Ninja include:

• Action Girl: Yukiko and Hana, but especially Yukiko.
  • Faux Action Girl: Heiko.
• Badass: Shusaku. Oda. Namae.
• Badass Normal: Hiro, Yukiko, Heiko.
• Badass Princess: Hana.
• Berserk Mode: Taro gets locked into this after passing the Despair Event Horizon in a fight.
• Big Bad: Oda Nobunaga gets this again.
• Bishonen: Taro has "delicate" features.
• Bloodless Carnage - Averted. For a young adult novel, Blood Ninja can be quite bloody and gory at times.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Taro.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Hiro.
• Book Ends: Literally. The prologue and epilogue both describe Yukiko's Face Heel Turn, from two different points of view.
• Crazy Prepared - Tokugawa Ieyasu.
• Complete Monster: Oda, sorta. He does kill a swordmaker because the swordmaker couldn't think of a price for Oda's weapon soon enough.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Little Kawabata.
• Driven by Envy: The male Kawabatas. Kawabata-tousan killed Shusaku's love because he wanted her and the son has burning desire to beat and kill Taro.
• Face Heel Turn: Yukiko.
• Famous Last Words: ..."Shogun...".
• Healing Factor: Vampires heal really quickly.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Both Shusaku and Heiko, and we mourn.
• Ho Yay: Taro and Hiro hold hands because they're both afraid of the dark - in their teenage years.
• Honour Before Reason: Taro holds this sort of mentality, but Shusaku repeatedly warns him of its impracticality.
• Instant Expert: Everyone - or at least, all the ninja students - are said to "progress to the sword ... naturally, as if they hand spent their early childhoods wielding katana".
• Invisibility: Shusaku is Blessed with Suck - he had the Heart Sutra tattooed over his body, rendering him inivsible to other ninja. However this ultimately leads him to his death. ^[1]
• Ironic Echo: "You told me there was no honor in this .... Do you believe it still?"
• Jidai Geki
• Japanese Honorifics: Counts as Gratuitous Japanese here because the novel is written in English.
• King Incognito: Taro is Tokugawa's son, hidden in the village he grew up in. And Endo Shusaku was a former lord of Tokugawa's.
• Master of Unlocking: Taro takes Heiko on a mission with him specifically because she is this.
• Never Learned to Read: Both Taro and Hiro. They were peasants, after all.
• Orochi: Taro draws inspiration from this for a particular revenge scheme.
• Period Piece
• Rebellious Princess - Oda no Hana.
• Shallow Love Interest: Hana for Taro.
• The Archer: Taro 's quite skilled with the bow.
• The Obi Wan: Shusaku.
• The Rival: "Little" Kawabata, to Taro.
• Tomboy Princess: Hana, said to have "the soul of a man".
• Twist Ending: A MASSIVE ONE.
• Our Vampires Are Different - Well for starters, they're ninjas. See the main article for details.
• Weakened by the Light: The sun has this effect on vampires.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Little Kawabata, very, very much.
• Wham! Line:
  • "The truth is, Taro...you are Lord Tokugawa's son." closely followed by "Lord Endo Shusaku at your service."
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Heiko briefly pretends to be Taro so they kill her instead of him.
• You Killed My Father: Oda sent the ninjas who killed Taro's dad. Well, not his biological father, but still...

1. ↑ He has to remove his clothes for it to work...and ninja burn in sunlight.