For a standalone story, I didn’t expect the book to have such a sprawling storyline and a large set of characters for us to follow. Shōgun is an epic. Set in feudal Japan, it’s a fictional retelling of the political maneuvering of the daimyō Toranaga-sama (Tokugawa Ieyasu is his real-life counterpart) as he plots his rise to the status of Shogun of Japan. We watch this through the eyes of an English Sailor- John Blackthorne- who is loosely based on one of the only Western Samurai in Japan: William Adams. The plot follows his slow integration into society as he probes for a way back home, while he slowly gets embroiled into Toranaga’s schemes and plopped right into the middle of Japanese politics.
It’s become a standard trope to have an outsider witness a new culture/region, as he becomes a natural vehicle for exposition to be spouted towards. Naturally, it works well here though there’s a LOT of exposition as we peel through the different layers of ‘Eastern’ culture. There are a lot of areas that I’m sure aren’t historically accurate. In particular, I’m quite sceptical about the portrayal of seppuku in the book. Not with the action itself, but the frequency with which it’s committed. A little bit of leeway can be given for the purpose of enhancing the story though.
Another negative: the amount of time spent on Blackthorne-Mariko could have been reduced and still retain the same level of impact on the main plot. It was a chore to read through a lot of those sections.
The interplay between politics, religion and personal vendetta as the various factions played their pieces was enthralling: Local daimyos vying for power, the reach of the Church, Portugal and Spain having trouble with a possible Englishman taking over local trade, constant backstabbings and shifting loyalties. The characters and their personal ambitions make up a large chunk of why this book is such a quick read. Clavell managed to cram a lot into the book, even sparing some time to showcase the evolution of geishas. Oh, and yes. The book has ninjas.
Anyone suffering from a withdrawal of aSoIaF can jump right into this. I’m quite sad that we won’t be getting a chance to explore more from this Age through Clavell. But he covered the most important period right before the rise of the Last Shogun, so there isn’t a lot of interesting material remaining to cover.
alotofrandomcrap 