An excellent historical novel of the Sengoku period of Japanese history. The book centers around the life story of Hideyoshi (aka Taiko), the second of the three great unifiers of Japan, the first being Oda Nobunaga and the third Ieyasu Tokugawa.

The story begins with Hideyoshi as a young child, and ends with him at the age of 50 as he has overcome the last great obstacle between him and his rule of Japan. Interestingly, it does not cover the dozen years of his rule that followed, except to summarize it in a brief paragraph or two in the epilogue.

One of the advantages of seeing the Sengoku period through the life of Hideyoshi is that he begins life near the very bottom of the social structure of feudal Japan. Born the son of a former soldier turned farmer, we get a glimpse at the different layers of the social structure as Hideyoshi climbs through them. We get at least brief glimpses of the life of a farmer, merchant, servant, and peddler before Hideoshi joins even the lowest ranks of the samurai serving Oda Nobunaga.

We then follow Hideoshi's rise through those ranks as he rises to become one of Nobunaga's most trusted retainers. Along the way we get to see lots of Nobunaga, Tokugawa and other important figures of the period.

I came away with a much greater understanding of the period than I had going into the novel, and a desire to learn even more.