Shogun

James Clavell

A bold English adventurer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in an extraordinary saga of a time and a place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust, and the struggle for power…

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Not being a student of Japanese history, I can’t judge the accuracy of what Clavell writes in those terms, but he has written a fabulous book that gave a great insight into a culture I know little about but am fascinated by.

It’s hard to judge the actions of the Japanese characters by modern or Western standards, but once you get past the problem, this is a very well-written book with some amazing characters and a very interesting story.

This is exactly the sort of epic novel that tends to grab my attention and keep it.

Shogun won’t be to everyone’s tastes, for a variety of reasons, but I found it really good, and was glad I didn’t let the length put me off. There are other books by the author, set in different periods of Japan’s history, and I look forward to reading them.