7 Star Praying Mantis Gung Fu Legacy Series Vol. 1: 4 Roads Swift Striking (Sei Lou Bung Da) Paperback – Illustrated, April 23, 2012

My 10-year old granddaughter took an interest in martial arts and received some instruction in Praying Mantis Kung Fu. We moved away and to her disappointment, she could not finish her classes. Therefore, upon the recommendation of a friend, I purchased this book to further help her. She was delighted with the book and was able to practice to some degree using the pictures. I have some knowledge of martial arts, and found this book simple to read and informative. I would highly recommend this book to someone looking to improve their martial arts forms.

An interesting book on an interesting style of Mantis. I would have given it a higher rating if the sequence of illustrations were clearer & systematic. The simple explanations may not pose a problem to people well-trained in Kung Fu but to novices, it would be trying to put together a jig-saw puzzle. I hope future series would improve this area.

The introduction informs you of the rich history of the 7 Star Praying Mantis Style. The Strikes are easy to follow and effective. If you want to get into Kung Fu ,but don't have time to travel to China, get this book

Maybe too generous with 5 stars, but 4 would be a disservice. There's a very good form presented in the best way of presenting a form - whole page per movement, although I will say some of the photos are the finished position of a three-move combo, but none such are especially tricky to fathom. Where the book does nearly get only four stars though is the lack of much else, apart from a quite entertaining discussion of the origins of 7-star Mantis.There is no real discussion of any of the individual moves, even though the form is very simple and only contains a dozen or so different techniques, there are no pointers on individual techniques and such like.But all in all, a great book, and a good price for anyone looking for an intro to Mantis style.

Interesting book but does differ from the version of 14 Roads I have been taught