Well, it is different. The action starts right away. But it did not hold my interest. The fighting is violent, more than I expected. As I read the book I pictured it in comic book format where the moves would be more graphic. Or even a cartoon movie. Not a bad book, just not my taste.

The Girl From Wudang brings a all new meaning to the word 'mind-bending'. To be in the Tigress' mind-scape, you must learn to keep up. Scattered threads of a story in one mind, weaving into a mind-blowing story of an immortal, best describes this tale.

The pace of the story is fast and the protagonist that takes us along for the ride has a scrambled mind. I found myself taking quick breaks to understand what was going on and where the transitions happened. Though I did not put the book down. The protagonist's teeth gritting persistence makes it hard to (even though I did not like her much).

My favourite parts were the understanding of AI and the working of an unfamiliar world through the teachings of Dao. Hard-to-put down for a seasoned sci-fi readers and demanding a second read from the novice reader, the Girl From Wudang is the perfect blend.

You can read a more detailed review on the blog.

P.S: The book is not as gritty as the cover suggests. The cover is more accurate to reflect the temperament of the protagonist.

I was absolutely lucky to receive this book as an ARC
I was totally impressed by the story of Claudia and the detailed events and everything!! After I read the last sentence I was like " OMG!! How can a story be written like that in this genius way?!!!"
It exceeded all of my expectations!
I loved how there are explanations in the footnotes to explain the scientific terms or the terms related to the marital arts! It helped me so much to understand the mysterious terms!
Also loved the blending of the marital arts and the artificial intelligence and its consequences
It actually made me go back, think about this issue that I've never been able to contemplate and consider its consequences and dangers and imagine our status if there'll be such a thing in the future which I'm pretty sure it'll be, the dispute between us and the AI which is pervading everything now in our lives!

It delves into the future of AI and the challenges that lie ahead, as well as the possibility of connecting our minds through neuroscience experiments to combat the AI.

In a nutshell, he's an absolute genius to write this magnificent story like that!!

It seems so exciting, but I struggled with this book. The cover is so cool, but I was confused at times, and couldn't get into it no matter how much I wanted to like it.

The Girl From Wudang, PJ Caldas
Reading this book was not an easy feat for me. It is a novel touching on subject matter about which I have little knowledge, apart from the pain of migraine headaches, from which I suffer, and from which my twin brother suffered. Mine are classified as retinal migraines, but his were of the same nature as the main character’s, which are known as cluster migraines. The pain of these headaches is so unrelenting, they have been known to cause suicides.
The book’s author delves deeply into the fields of martial arts, artificial intelligence and concepts that transcend life, as we know it today. There have already been many experiments into the merging of these fields for technological, health care and military purposes, some of which the author footnotes in the book. As the author marries today’s advanced technology with yesterday’s well known martial arts techniques, she creates a book that also marries fact and fiction, making it not only a thriller, but an adventure that explores the world of science and science fiction, subjects currently very prevalent in the news today. Artificial Intelligence has been described as what could be a dangerous threat to life as we know it, by no less a personage as the famous scientist, Stephen Hawking, and has led others to wonder what Albert Einstein would have thought about it.
Claudia Yang, the main character, known alternately also as the Tigress and Yinyin, studied Tai Chi from early childhood. She believed that it was her destiny to become the greatest teacher of martial arts for women, thus empowering them to protect and defend themselves from the violence of evil men. She believed she would ultimately earn immortality. For this reason, she left China and moved to America to train women in her unique use of the art of self-defense. Claudia had a major problem, however, which interfered in her life at unexpected times. She suffered from a kind of disabling migraine headache that was uncontrollable, from which she sought relief, both physically and psychologically, by engaging in violent fighting. This caused a different kind of pain to herself, pain she believed she could control, pain she also inflicted upon others.
Meanwhile, in the world of scientists, investigations into the merging of the minds of human beings with each other and with programs utilizing artificial intelligence, were being conducted. The ultimate successful “being” created would have to be capable of outsmarting an “actual being” that was created by artificial intelligence. It was thought that the created artificial bot might one day wish to wipe out its original creators, and thus the human race. Could artificial intelligence bots be implanted in the human brain that would someday want to control that human brain for their own benefit? Could they be controlled once unleashed?
When Claudia appeared on the radar of scientists involved in these experiments, she was suspicious. They promised that they could rid her of her crippling headaches if she allowed them to implant bots into her brain. So great was her pain that she agreed. In return, however, she was supposed to teach them how to fight effectively to combat those beings created by artificial intelligence, in case they ever organized against humans. Merging their scientific minds with hers, to learn her fighting skills, would give them the needed advantage. Was that the real end goal of these scientists? Was the government involved? Had AI already escaped the laboratory?
I struggled through page after page, hoping I would understand more than I did. The story bounces around, and the timeline shifts. Sometimes the characters are not fully introduced or developed enough to comprehend their actions, but at the same time, the themes were so interesting that they kept me reading regardless of the effort involved. The footnotes provided by the author refer to many factual experiments in the world of AI. The science involved is very real. The martial arts themes are accurate. If someone takes the time to investigate the terms and the theories brought forth, they will learn a great deal, but it will require research to understand the book completely.
I found the main character to be a contrast in human qualities. On the one hand she was interested in helping women, but on the other her own moral standards seemed non-existent as she bounced from bed to bed, preoccupied with sex, when she wasn’t engaged in life threatening violent fighting. She was a study in contrasts as her base instincts seemed to rule her behavior. Perhaps the author wanted to show the difference in the passion that exists in a human vs a bot created by artificial intelligence, a being with only one purpose, that being to exist. The narrative raises the questions of whether or not AI has already escaped the laboratory and/or its subjects, and the question of which world is the real one, the one we are living in, or the one that artificial intelligence has already created for us.
A smarter person than I am, might be able to understand more of the book than I did, or perhaps a younger person, who is more familiar with the gaming industry, the martial arts world and the experiments in artificial intelligence development. Regardless of who it is that reads this book, I guarantee they will come away with questions they will want answered. The possibilities presented in this marriage of fact and fiction, are capable of becoming reality. That said, you don’t really have to understand every concept presented in the novel to be intrigued by the theme of robots and other technological anomalies overtaking humans in the world, ruling them instead of humans controlling the beings created by artificial intelligence.
The novel is written both intellectually and creatively, even though I won’t pretend to have understood a lot of the technical terms. I had to look up many of the words and had to work at trying to understand the information about the use of AI in our world, but the current scientific approach means that the joining of minds and bots is definitely a possibility, and is an idea currently being explored and exploited by our government and our military.
These are just a few of the words and terms I chose to look up, some of which I could not find a meaning:
Dao, Eclosion/ecloding, Hymenopterans, Anamnodome, Shifu, Wu Wei, GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks).
This was an ARC, so perhaps there will be a glossary in the final copy. I read to learn, so I have to say this was a real learning experience. I recommend it to those who want to learn.

The Girl From Wudang by Brazilian writer PJ Caldas is an interesting effort that tries to blend science fiction with martial arts action. Though it has its share of flaws, its winning grace is the solid way in which Daoist philosophy is used to tell the story of its protagonist. The book made me interested in reading more about Dao, and that itself is a great achievement for a book intended as popular fiction.

The Girl from Wudang - eBook ARC from NetGalley

I don't know where to begin with this review. As I was reading it, I kept thinking to myself, "What am I reading?" This is sci-fi and martial arts mixed together. There were moments where I really connected with the main character Claudia (aka Tigress), and then things got a bit choppy and prose was off.

In come scientists who want to help Claudia and this is where you lost me. See, Claudia gets horrible migraines and it's affecting her ability to pass on her new style of martial arts. These scientists offer a way to help her migraines, but in doing so she would be betraying her standards. This part got way to sci-fi for me and I checked out. I almost DNF'd but decided that I cared enough to see how it ended. Overall, kind of wished I would have followed my gut and stopped reading.

I really didn't enjoy this book, but I think if you love Martial Arts and Sci-Fi with a taste of feminine rage... this might be for you!

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Science Fiction is my favorite genre. The thing about it is that for it to be good, both have to be believable. The science has to be based in some type of logical, explainable system, and the fiction has to have relatable, somewhat realistic characters who respond within and to elements of the scientific system the author has created. Caldas has done well incorporating both within this book.

The pacing was fast overall, with enough breaks in the action for the reader to catch their breath. Some elements of the story could at times be a little tough to follow, but I’m basing my review on an ARC that was intentionally formatted to prevent premature sharing so I attribute part of my struggle to that. I liked the characters, who were flawed and interesting and not completely predictable.

Four and a half stars. I enjoyed both the premise and the characters, with the science being near future and totally plausible. My thanks to Tuttle Publishing via NetGalley. All opinions are mine and offered without compensation.

This book caught my attention because the blurb advertised many things I like, such as spec fic with a strong Asian influences and examination of old concepts of immortality via the lens of an AI. My reservations were largely along the lines of — well, faithfulness to ownvoices for the lack of a better world to describe it. I would normally go to Asian (or expat Asian) writers for something engaging with these themes so I could enjoy it without wondering about where this perspective was coming from, and whether I could not give my time to something more nuanced and authentic instead. I couldn’t quite shake off that reservation when reading this. Another hurdle was the chosen style: it heavily leans into the stream of consciousness, and to each their own, but I find that alienating rather than immersive. And as for following martial arts aspect of the book, I can say that I found my golden standard to be Fonda Lee, and this book is way, way more into it than me or my golden standard. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 for LA perspective.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an advance copy of the book.

****Non Spoiler Alert**** The Girl From Wudang , provides a story you will not soon forget! Pj Caldas takes us one a tour de France of Immortality, AI, Science, Martial Arts, Science and so much more!!! If you want to be taken on a journey from the voice of a young immigrant girl in the fight of a lifetime, Check it out!!!

This is like no book I have ever read before! The concept, the FMC, the fights and the absolute whirlwind plot, amazing.

Told from the perspective of Tigress, a master of tai chi who has moved to America to teach women how to fight, to be able to defend herself, and hopefully create a new style of martial arts which will make her name live on. She builds her reputation by competing in organised fights, taking on the biggest, toughest opponents possible and kicking their butts! Unfortunately she suffers from crippling cluster migraines (look up the aka for cluster migraines and you'll get the picture!) and during a fight, one of her migraines strikes and she loses the fight, and as such, her undefeated title.
She is approached my two scientists who offer her the chance to take part in an experiment, to have a chip planted in her brain which will connect with them, thus teaching them all she knows about fighting, but can guarantee no more headaches. Teaching men to fight is against everything she stands for but the pain is so bad, she begrudgingly agrees. I mean, what could possibly go wrong!

This is a complex read, a few chapters I had to reread to fully understand but this does not detract from the story itself. This is highly addictive, the idea and plot are so different that you cannot guess what is going to come next. The descriptions of the martial arts throughout are stunning, a focus on the art rather than the damage inflicted. Towards the last 70 pages or so I couldn't read fast enough, so much happened and the anticipation and suspense was astonishing.

And Tigress. This is how to write a strong FMC. The depiction of her character makes this book what it it.

Sci-fi and fantasy
Strong FMC and strong side characters
Amazing fight scenes
Concept
The side notes for further reading and explanations
Drama
Suspense
Little bit of spice

This book lacks absolutely nothing!

It's an interesting book with a sense of urgency created by the narration in the present tense. It jumps into action and never slows down. That said, I can't say I was truly immersed in moved in a significant way.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC copy of this book. And I’m glad I did. My expectations weren’t incredibly high, but it proved me wrong, and I am glad it did. This book was excellent. It was an amazing presentation of martial arts, and feminine power. Reading Claudia’s story was amazing. Incredible character arc. Some of the story was a little hard to follow, and got a little boring at times. But other than that I enjoyed it. Incredible work of fiction. So glad I got to read this.

The Girl from Wudang was a book with an intriguing premise and I enjoyed the blending of sci-fi and martial arts, the author's love of which you can definitely feel throughout the story. It started strongly and I was interested in Claudia and her narrative arc. I thought things got a little bogged down with the science in the middle, but once that eased out, I was happy enough with the ending. I did find the footnotes a bit too distracting though. Yes, it helped at times to have some explanation of the science or the mythology, but I think I would have preferred them as end notes. Having footnotes kept pulling me out of the story and the action every time I paused to read them. I am giving this book 4 stars. Worth a read if you like genre-bending fiction.

This was a new take on AI technology and I absolutely loved it! Not only did the author give you a look into martial arts but also how AI technology can be used. You go on a journey with the heroine and see how her life changes when she meets the doctor. I felt like I could see the story playing out in my mind and enjoyed every second of it! Can't wait to see what the author does next!

I requested this book because from net Galley because it sounded fantastic, but I'm 20 percent through it and it is the fever dream of someone having a migraine. The entire narrative is first person stream of consciousness of someone who is inarticulate, sweary, interrupts herself. Most of the :action" has been interminable description of fights and the main charachter getting, or not getting Ubers. . We may be sliding around in time, I'm not sure because I'm disoriented, just like our main character. It's all very odd and not very good.

There are also factual footnotes, but I'm not sure who's footnotes they are. They reference academic articles, but I don't understand them in this context.
What a disappointment. Hopefully some of the issues will be resolved before publication,. because the ideas of this book have a lot of potential.