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mastersal's review against another edition
4.0
Brief review follows - full review to follow later
And enjoyable volume but expectations sunk it a little so I ended up between 3.5 and 4 stars for this one.
I was anticipating this to be one of the most moving volumes since it covered a major scandal in history. Perhaps because I was expecting tragedy the Ejima scandal was sad but didn’t engage me as much as I expect.
The volume showed Yoshimine’s political acumen and iron grit but the scandal itself wasn’t as shocking. I blame expectations for this. I didn’t fret even once in this volume which is pretty unusual for me and the series. It could have been because Ejima seemed to accept his date with equanimity.
Still a strong volume - just more political for me than emotionally.
And enjoyable volume but expectations sunk it a little so I ended up between 3.5 and 4 stars for this one.
I was anticipating this to be one of the most moving volumes since it covered a major scandal in history. Perhaps because I was expecting tragedy the Ejima scandal was sad but didn’t engage me as much as I expect.
The volume showed Yoshimine’s political acumen and iron grit but the scandal itself wasn’t as shocking. I blame expectations for this. I didn’t fret even once in this volume which is pretty unusual for me and the series. It could have been because Ejima seemed to accept his date with equanimity.
Still a strong volume - just more political for me than emotionally.
laurbits's review against another edition
5.0
Oh god, Sir Ejima's little scene bundled up in his blanket was so moving. What happens right after was soul-crushing, to say the least. But man, Yoshinaga knows how to tell a story.
kamreadsandrecs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emeraldreverie's review against another edition
4.0
Loving it. The way this series weaves time is interesting and we end up back in the "present." Art remains great, clean thin lines, expressive miens. I am excited to read on!
misssusan's review against another edition
4.0
ejima is an incredible cutie, i'm so sad about how his story played out
also yoshinaga is unrelentless with her realism, dang
woman just refuses to give heroes and villains
i've cared about every set of shogun and retainers she's presented even as the course of the plot means they are unreconcilably opposed to each other
like i love yoshimune and i'm all abut her reign but also ouch, i did not enjoy seeing what happened to sakyo, manabe, ejima, and shingoro to get her there
4 stars
also yoshinaga is unrelentless with her realism, dang
woman just refuses to give heroes and villains
i've cared about every set of shogun and retainers she's presented even as the course of the plot means they are unreconcilably opposed to each other
like i love yoshimune and i'm all abut her reign but also ouch, i did not enjoy seeing what happened to sakyo, manabe, ejima, and shingoro to get her there
4 stars
kalanadi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
halcyon_nights's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this volume a lot more than I did the last couple. We're actually back to where the story started, but this time with the knowledge of all that has happened to bring us to this point. It was definitely an interesting framing device, to see the characters from the first volume with new eyes after understanding the context of certain things. And I don't know if I'm just imagining things, but I feel like the author is spending more of an effort at making the characters distinct from each other. They're still similar-looking but an improvement's an improvement.
nonesensed's review against another edition
5.0
What can I say? This series is still terribly interesting! I really need to buy the whole series, because the huge cast and time skips are throwing me off at this point. There is so much intrigue and so many characters that I almost forget who is doing what and why - it's possible to figure it out, but right now there are callbacks to stuff that happened in volume 1 and 2, sooo...
Yeah, still reccing this, still very good, I'm just old and forgetful. Need to buy this series, 100% (currently borrowing them from a library out of town, so that's why I can't read them more rapidly or go back to reread earlier volumes).
Yeah, still reccing this, still very good, I'm just old and forgetful. Need to buy this series, 100% (currently borrowing them from a library out of town, so that's why I can't read them more rapidly or go back to reread earlier volumes).