Customer Reviews

In Darkness, Death (Puffin Sleuth Novels)

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Synopsis:
Samurai Lord Inaba is murdered in his sleep while under the protection of the Shogun. Judge Ooka and his adoptive son, Seikei, attempt to investigate with a bloodstained origami butterfly as their sole clue. Judge Ooka enlists the aid of a "retired" ninja, Tatsuno, to accompany Seikei as he travels across Japan searching for the maker of the origami butterfly.

Their travels lead Seikei and Tatsuno to meet impoverished farmers, wary monks, and powerful daimyos. While Tatsuno attempts to warn Seikei to rein in his idealistic fervor, Seikei's code of honor win Tatsuno's respect. In the end, Seikei must flee from false imprisonment and face a dangerous and powerful ninja to find the truth behind the assassination.

Review:
In Darkness, Death introduces another interesting character in the series. Tatsuno, the "retired" ninja is cynical and resists having to accompany the young Seikei. Though Tatsuno could have abandoned Seikei numerous times, we find that Tatsuno follows a strict code of honor of his own. I enjoyed learning about Tatsuno and the lives of ninjas during the 1700s, their relationship to the monks and to the local farmers.
This adventure shared the wonderful balance of action and insight into Seikei's personality. His slow realization of the plight of the farmers, the power of the daiymo and the role of the Shogun and his officials was sad but very interesting. The dilemmas that he faced added further depth to fourteen year old Seikei's character.

This book is one best one in the series. Its filled with mysteries. This is one of their best work.

It's the eighteenth century in Japan and Lord Inaba, the most powerful lord in the country, has just been killed. If that's not devastating enough, the murder happened right under the noses of two guards. They ask the famous Judge Ooka and his fourteen-year-old foster son and apprentice Seikei to figure out who did it. A paper origami butterfly stained with blood is their only lead.

Judge Ooka and Seikei begin to ask servants and villagers about the night of the murder. They all insist that they saw nothing and weren't involved. Then they ride to a guard's palace and capture Tinsuno, a ninja, and talk with him about the murder. The judge then asks Tinsuno to go with Seikei to see a papermaker named Bakkoro in Minnowa about the butterfly. Tinsuno agrees, and the journey begins.

When they get to Minnowa to see Bakkoro, they find out that the paper was made for the O-Miwa shrine at the base of Miwayama and that the shrine is forbidden; it has no shelter for the Kami to reside in because he lives on a sacred mountain. They next go to Etchu Providence to question Lord Inaba's enemies.

Upon their arrival, they find out that Lord Inaba had many foes. He murdered children and ordered farmers to pay full taxes on their crops, causing families to starve. Seikei decides to help the farmers get a petition of their complaints to the new Lord Inaba, Yotoro. But the petition is denied and Seikei is held as a prisoner. He escapes and goes to the governor's house alone.

While at the governor's house, Seikei and his father talk with the Kannushi about the murder. The Kannushi asks Seikei to perform one very dangerous task: to climb on Miwayama Mountain and confront the ninja who they believe committed the murder. Will the ninja confess to the crime, or will the mystery remain unsolved?

IN DARKNESS, DEATH is a must read for mystery fans because it will keep you guessing all the way to the end. When I discovered who the murderer was, I wasn't surprised. Can you guess who it is?

--- Reviewed by Ashley Hartlaub

Just like the other books in the series In Darkness, Death is a must read! I use the Hoobler's Samurai Series in my 7th grade classroom to teach ancient Japanese culture. The books are highly entertaining while being also highly educational. I recommend them for public, private, and home-schools.

I've read them all - they are really fun. I wish there were more books in the series.

I think of these as being like a younger version of the Robert Van Gulik "Judge Dee"stories - Judge Dee was of course Chinese, while Judge Ooka is Japanese.

I lived in Japan, I've studied a lot about medieval Japan, these are well done and entertaining. The boy is wonderfully naive. The books rate fairly well in terms of historical accuracy, and the plots are well done. The authors do an excellent job of hinting that medieval Japan is a place of harsh laws and harsh realities while keeping the books appropriate to younger readers.

This third novel in the Judge Ooka mystery series is my fave cuz it involves a ninja, Tatsuna. The characterizations aren't deep or tremendous, but somehow that's OK in a mystery. The story has enough twists and turns that it held my interest over a day or 2 -- a quick read. The main character, Seikei, is a young boy who's been adopted by the samurai judge and wants badly to live up to being a samurai.

The other Judge Ooka mysteries are also worth reading. Also, I read In Darkness, Death along with a separate novel of samurai Japan called Blue Fingers: A Ninja's Tale. It has deeper characterizations, and more ninja action. The two books are interesting read together because In Darkness, Death shows ninjas from the outside, and Blue Fingers shows ninjas from the inside. [Guess what, I am into martial arts. :)]

This is the third book in the Samurai Mysteries series; there are six books in this series. I think this was the best book in this series so far. There is more adventure and the plot is more complex.

Seikei is helping Judge Ooka to solve the mystery behind the murder of a samurai lord. In order to cover ground quicker Judge Ooka sends Seikei on an adventure with a ninja Tatsuno to track down the maker of some mysterious paper left at the scene of the crime. Seikei will learn many things on the journey but mostly he will learn that a samurai's honor is not as black and white as he had believed.

This book was a bit different than the other ones in that Seikei faces some very interesting moral decisions. He goes on more of an adventure than in the previous books and gets put into more dire situations than ever before.

Each of these books has focused on some aspect of Japanese history and for this book that was the way of the ninja. Seikie learns how ninja's think, he learns some of their tricks, and he learns what drives them. Along the way Seikei also learns some hard lessons about samurai. Not all of the samurai are the noble heroes he expects them to be.

As with the previous books the writing style is nothing special. This book is definitely aimed at kids, so the syntax and words used are dumbed down some (more than I think they need to be for this age group). As I have mentioned with previous books in this series I think that the writing could be more complex and then these books would be absolutely wonderful. In this book the story does get more complex, so that was nice.

Overall I enjoyed the book and the look into historical Japan. I will definitely be reading the rest of the books of this series because I find them very interesting.

In Darkness Death
This is the best book hat I have ever read and finished. There is one and only one part I don't like about this book is one paragraph.
Yutaro's face clouded. "I expected more that, he said. The shogun told he was sending the best investigator he had. If that is true, it is surprising anyone in Edo considers theme self safe.
I don't like this part because Yutaro [lord Inba] is kicking them out when they are trying to find out who killed lord Inba, Yutaro father. Now Yutaro is new lord Inba.
I like this part because they find out who is Lord Inba's enemy is.
Seikei slipped under the rope and bowed to show his gratitude. "Father," he said, "I have followed the path you pointed out for me.
He handed the Judge the writing kit. The murderer's confession is in here. Seikei realized he was shaking, unnervedbyhidtripdownthemountain.
I like this part because they found who paid the ninja to kill Lord Inba.
You accomplished not only the task I set for you, but the one you took on for yourself, said the Judge. The ninja writes that the person who paid him to kill Lord Inaba was Lord Inba's son, Yutaro.
I hope you read this book and enjoy it the same way I did.