Let me be up front about one thing: when Steve Perry writes a book, I buy it. I may wait until it comes out in paperback, but he is on my short list of "buy it now" authors.

I didn't expect much more than the normal high quality action-adventure story I've gotten used to from Mr. Perry. From the title I expected this one to be set in his 'present day' Matador Universe (for lack of a better term) and perhaps take up after the start of the Fall of the Confederation. What I found was a historical novel set in that universe...

The premise of the Musashi Flex (named after a Samuri of whom several books have been written) is your basic "Fight Club" with the winner advancing in the standings and taking on whoever ranks high enough to challenge the position. Cool enough in the way it's been presented in the other books, but this book used the Flex as the main topic and not as a background. ...and it wasn't until I was well into it and realized the protagonist was developing 'steps' to follow that I realized this was the genesis of the "97 Steps" that are featured prominently in the other novels, the later novels. Very cool...

I tend not to review on plot lines; those are available from Amazon or wherever you purchase your books; I prefer to talk about whether a book is a good read and if it fits well into the genre. This one meshes very well with the universe first shown to the reader in in the mid-eighties with "The Man Who Never Missed". It details the beginings of both the style of combat that carries the later books of the time line and perhaps even the genesis of the fall of the Confederation. Time will tell on both of those topics: if this book isn't the first of several in the time before Emile Khadaji (and Pen) I'll be very surprised.

As to the story itself? It's as fast paced as any of Perry's books and contains plenty of not only physical and mental conflict, but also social conflict. ...and as is his style, he spins things in such a fashion that there seems to be no way he can tie all of the characters together by the end without losing a major piece of his puzzle. ...and as usual, he weaves them and the plot into the fabric that is the curtain we hope to open to reveal the next progresson in this universe.