Rare to get to the end of a 1210 page book and wish there were 400-odd more pages to it. Contrary to some of the other reviews I really didn't mind the transliteration as I thought it gave perspective on how people talked, which was an important part of how characters interact in the novel. The intrigues were delightful to follow through to their conclusions. I can see why people might dislike the ending but it fits the book completely for me even if it didn't perform any wish fulfilment for the reader.
Where I do agree with previous posts is the pacing. The first few chapters are not friendly to engage with but once the main character gets more agency a few chapters in then the story opens up.
It's fine, can see the appeal, but for me there's no magic hook that makes me want to keep reading. The orientalism is fun and over the top but it wasn't enough.
I gave up at page 566, which is outrageously late to be making that decision. That's on me.
After that many pages I'm definitely still counting it as having read it.
Great story, but one star off for the exhausting Japanese "transliteration". Even as an audiobook it was extremely tedious. Otherwise an excellent adventure with intrigue, feints, trickery, subplots, and poisons.
It had moments, but felt like a book in need of a ruthless editor. “Of it’s time” in respects, and doubtful it’d hold up to a historical analysis. Kinda filled a need for a big book I could loose myself in, but far too meandering without enough payoff, ultimately lost interest.
I enjoyed this book, but it comes dangerously close to overstaying its welcome.
I have to give credit to Clavell for putting together such a far-reaching epic story in a stand alone work. He does such a good job giving you well-researched details about feudal Japan and how their society hung together in contrast to feudal Europe, highlighting the many ways in which feudal Japan reads as more modern to the 20th / 21st century standard while also acknowledging their sort of collective, efficient brutality. The plot that emerges is twisty in a delightful way that court intrigue seems uniquely capable of delivering regardless of which culture it takes place in. Clavell does an especially great job making each of the many characters feel unique, with their own agendas, secrets, and desires. Not one of them felt like a caricature, or a mindless antagonist.
The one flaw with Shogun is …
I enjoyed this book, but it comes dangerously close to overstaying its welcome.
I have to give credit to Clavell for putting together such a far-reaching epic story in a stand alone work. He does such a good job giving you well-researched details about feudal Japan and how their society hung together in contrast to feudal Europe, highlighting the many ways in which feudal Japan reads as more modern to the 20th / 21st century standard while also acknowledging their sort of collective, efficient brutality. The plot that emerges is twisty in a delightful way that court intrigue seems uniquely capable of delivering regardless of which culture it takes place in. Clavell does an especially great job making each of the many characters feel unique, with their own agendas, secrets, and desires. Not one of them felt like a caricature, or a mindless antagonist.
The one flaw with Shogun is the pacing. You spend the first half of the story getting a very thorough introduction to feudal Japan, then the plot gets moving and it becomes more character driven, but once you're closing in on the end you realize there's no way Clavell is going to give a fully satisfying ending in the remaining pages. The story ends too quickly from a plot perspective, and it makes some of the 1200 pages of exhaustive details seem needless in retrospect. Ultimately, I would have traded a couple hundred pages of early world-building and administrative minutiae (as edifying as I found that at the time) for a couple hundred pages on the end to full settle the plot and explore the short term consequences.
Ending a little abruptly keeps this book from being a true masterpiece, but it's still a damn good read, an interesting glimpse into feudal Japan and its complicated politics, and a very entertaining story of adventure, romance, loyalty and betrayal. I'd recommend it for anyone that isn't scared off by the page count.
Like the musket regiment details when we never get to see them used, or the Blackthorne/Rodrigues dynamic when he never assaults the Black Ship. A lot of discussion and maneuvering went in to setting up a battles that just never happen "on screen".
