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melli80's review
5.0
I loved it.. I love the historical aspect. I loved the writing I loved the mystery.. Definitely going to continue this series
mbondlamberty's review
4.0
Page turner but not great. Interesting glimpse into Tokugawa Japan, but the characters don't ring entirely true. That said kept on reading books in this series.
sshine's review
5.0
Gets more interesting with each page turn. Lots of characters. Each easily remembered and integrated into story.
lkmreads's review against another edition
3.0
3.5: Good, but a little on the long side in parts where I felt it unnecessary to drag along.
greyforest's review
2.0
Lately I have been on a bit of a samurai craze. Starting with finally giving Kurosawa a chance and falling in love with the ideas and stories that can be told with samurai. I've watched so many black and white samurai movies this last year, and played many a good game like Ghost of Tsushima, that I decided to try and track down some books set in historical Japan that involve samurai. It was harder to find some then I thought, and if anyone reading this review has recommendations, feel free to message them to me! This and Taiko are my first two purchases in my quest for Samurai books. And sadly I have to say this is a deeply flawed book.
The first half of this book in my honest opinion is quite bad, the culture and world presented while interesting is overly explained. The detective work is so badly done and the investigation felt like something out of a cliched straight to DVD movie or a side quest in a video game. Having obvious clues that are outright handed to the main character, right down to the main villain literally having a moment where they go, "Oh yes you'll never find x, they're at y now! Muhahahaha!" And then the main character goes to y... And finds x. Every clue he finds is a cliché that you would find in a children's story. Likewise the amount of times the main character has inner monologue about what he is doing and if it's right and if he shouldn't do it is staggering. Genuinely it feels like every chapter we have a recap of the story and if he wants to keep doing what he's doing. Not to mention him having sex thrown at him by a grieving woman and then having her character completely change because of it. Just... Yes I have a lot of problems with this book.
The second half actually speeds up, the author is good at describing action, so when we get past the horribly done detective work and get into action it's quite good, mindless at some times with even more deus ex machina but at the very least, enjoyable. I wanted a good detective story and was prepared to have no action for the book, but found what I got was a horrible detective story that had good action. Admittedly the mystery gets more intriguing in the second half and he's spoon fed less clues.
This wasn't my thing. I'm a person who loves mystery and detectives and noir and the setting. But the actual mystery was so poorly handled it was a slog to get through and laughable at times. The culture and setting is described very well with an obvious amount of research put into it. And the second half does get engaging. But all in all it has too many flaws for me to say that I really enjoyed it or would recommend it. It was ok.
If you want a popcorn movie found on Netflix at 2 am that has a 5/10 on IMDB in book form, then give it a go.
The first half of this book in my honest opinion is quite bad, the culture and world presented while interesting is overly explained. The detective work is so badly done and the investigation felt like something out of a cliched straight to DVD movie or a side quest in a video game. Having obvious clues that are outright handed to the main character, right down to the main villain literally having a moment where they go, "Oh yes you'll never find x, they're at y now! Muhahahaha!" And then the main character goes to y... And finds x. Every clue he finds is a cliché that you would find in a children's story. Likewise the amount of times the main character has inner monologue about what he is doing and if it's right and if he shouldn't do it is staggering. Genuinely it feels like every chapter we have a recap of the story and if he wants to keep doing what he's doing. Not to mention him having sex thrown at him by a grieving woman and then having her character completely change because of it. Just... Yes I have a lot of problems with this book.
The second half actually speeds up, the author is good at describing action, so when we get past the horribly done detective work and get into action it's quite good, mindless at some times with even more deus ex machina but at the very least, enjoyable. I wanted a good detective story and was prepared to have no action for the book, but found what I got was a horrible detective story that had good action. Admittedly the mystery gets more intriguing in the second half and he's spoon fed less clues.
This wasn't my thing. I'm a person who loves mystery and detectives and noir and the setting. But the actual mystery was so poorly handled it was a slog to get through and laughable at times. The culture and setting is described very well with an obvious amount of research put into it. And the second half does get engaging. But all in all it has too many flaws for me to say that I really enjoyed it or would recommend it. It was ok.
If you want a popcorn movie found on Netflix at 2 am that has a 5/10 on IMDB in book form, then give it a go.
emmaprew's review against another edition
5.0
I forgot just how much I love a book set in Japan and this book exceeded all my expectations with its many twists and turns. I stayed up til 2am to finish it – I really enjoyed it that much.
worldsnoop's review
4.0
Yay! Another new series. Japanophile historical fiction - right up my alley.
mrartime's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5