by Laura Joh Rowland
People say that playing video games is a complete waste of tell. Well, let me tell you, I found an instance where playing video games wasn't a waste of time. Instead of struggling to figure out how to pronounce Japanese names while reading this book, I was able to breeze through names like they we...
Wow.... What a marvelous book! Talk about culture shock! Talk about world-building! Talk about complex, multi-faceted plotting! I'm not even sure I can describe this book! It's set in Japan during the Edo period, so everything is very rigid. Filial duty, honor, and service to one's master a...
What makes this novel worth reading sure isn't style or plot but the cultural and historical picture of Japan under the Shogunate. While it dips at times through others' points of view, this tale is mostly seen through the eyes of Sano Ichiru, a samurai currently employed as a Yoriki, supervising po...
I'm currently re-reading this series since I recently acquired a few I was missing. I enjoy this series quite a bit.
"Shinju" is a type of ritual suicide that star-crossed lovers practiced in Shogun-era Japan. Appropriately, this novel starts with a double-murder disguised as shinju: a noblewoman and a commoner artist are found in the river, bound together, with a suicide pact letter on the artist's person. Yor...
In Japan of the 1670's, Sano Ichiro's elderly, ailing father has pulled some strings to get him appointed yoriki (which seems to be much like a police sergeant). However, from the very start, Sano finds himself in conflict at his job - his superior orders him to quietly bury the embarrassing discove...
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