The Keeper of Light and Dust: the Next Craze after Vampire Fiction?

I'm tongue-tied when I try to describe the Keeper of Light and Dust. Part martial arts novel. Part horror fiction. Part romance. All these parts sound strange, and fail to add up to the whole, a refreshing and fascinating novel written by Natasha Mostert.

A great deal of the action takes place in a sweaty boxing gym in a tough part of London where two very different groups of fighters train every day: the vogues and the grunts. The vogues practice the ancient, graceful but deadly movements of Reiki and other martial arts forms without making contact. The grunts are trained to fight in the ring.

The novel centers around a strong female heroine. Mia Lockhart is a beautiful woman with the long, lean body of a martial arts expert. Her back is tattooed with the ancient mark of the Keeper, a role she inherited from her mother. As keeper, she protects a handful of fighters by performing deep meditation and casting a protective net around their chi. The bond between Mia and her fighters is secret and for life.

But a mysterious predator seems to be causing the death of fighters around England. A few days after a fight, the men suddenly die without any medical cause of death. It is as if they have been suddenly drained of their energy. Mia worries that one of her fighters may be next but when a handsome strangers enters her life, she can't help but be drawn to him, almost as a moth to the fire.

Although much of the martial arts and Asian philosophy subject matter of the Keeper of Light and Dust were new to me, the novel was still fast-paced and suspenseful. I learned a great deal from the author's careful research of Reiki and other forms of martial arts and found the story to be very creative. I thought of it as a new type of vampire novel, with Chi energy instead of blood as the coveted element. In contrast to vampire fiction, I liked that the female character was a strong fighter instead of a weak woman in need of rescue.

If you've been hooked on Twilight or the Sookie Stackhouse True Blood Books, consider adding the Keeper of Light and Dust to your to read pile. I promise you'll never have read anything like it!