The Gatekeeper's Son by C.R Fladmark

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 348

Publisher: Shokunin Publishing Company

Released: 1st of October 2014

Junya’s grandfather is a billionaire who keeps the secret to his success hidden in a heavily guarded safe.

His mother is a martial artist who wields a razor-sharp katana—and seems to read his mind. 

And a mysterious girl in a Japanese school uniform can knock him over—literally—with just a look.

What do they know that he doesn’t?

Junya’s life takes a dangerous turn on his sixteenth birthday, when someone sets out to destroy not only the family’s business empire—the one that he’s set to inherit—but Junya himself. He’s fighting for his life, and doesn’t know who to trust. 

What has his family been keeping from him?

Junya’s journey takes him from the narrow streets of San Francisco to Japan, and through hidden portals to the top of the ancient Japanese Izumo Shinto shrine, to places where death and violence are a way of life. And in a mystical world he’s never imagined, he finds his true destiny.

What I Have To Say 

 This book got better as I got into it, but I had a lot of issues with it. I liked Junya's computer skills and how they were utilized in the plot and I quite liked Shoko's character in general. But I don't really think that the Japanese culture fitted into the story. It didn't seem to have a reason to be there except for the big shrine in Japan where all of it is supposed to have started.

Shoko had no reason at all to be wearing a Japanese school uniform in the middle of San Francisco except for possibly the fact that it gave her an excuse to were a tennis racket case to put her katana in (though why not have a proper case for it, since it isn't uncommon in Japan for students to carry cases to put their Bokken in for Kendo practice, they've already got her in a school uniform?). Since her people are supposed to come from another world where they don't wear modern clothing, there was no reason to have her in a Japanese school uniform. It would have made more sense to have her in regular clothes.

Also, I didn't like the way that Junya came into his powers, automatically knew how to use them and was amazing at it. I get that he had loads of training in martial arts from his mother throughout his childhood, but that doesn't really make someone good at magic... just at martial arts. He might have the mindset already... but surely he'd still need some sort of training to apply it to magic and learn to direct it?

This book just wasn't for me.