Customer Reviews

Shogun: A Novel of Japan (Coronet Books)

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Thoroughly researched, as are all of Clavell's works, Shogun takes you on a non-stop cultural and political roller-coaster ride. I read this novel in 3 days - with work interrupting - over 15 years ago. It has never left me. The Portuguese have been guarding the trade route to Japan. Profits are high. Politics are dangerous, both within the European community that has the sudden influx of the wreaked sailors from an English vessel, and the Japanese court and its Samurai warriors and generals - and their ladies. Advancement and power are paired with honor and death. Torture is not so much a tool as an advocation. Deception might just be honorable.

If you enjoy intrigue, an insider's indepth view of the workings of power in a culture both unlike and like our own, powerful relationships of all kinds (based on power, on gender, and on both), and exciting historical fiction of the highest caliber, then you don't want to miss this one. King Rat and Tai-pai follow, but this is the best of the three.