There were too many characters in the beginning so I struggled to keep up with who was who. The names were also foreign so that made it more difficult. The first half of the book was OK but then as I started to get more attached to the characters, I started hoping that they would get through their struggles. I was tensed when they reached troubles, and happy when it was resolved. Overall, it felt almost like a retelling of a Bible story, but set in Japan instead. Although the author mentions that some characters were real and the some of the events were real, I feel that the entire story had only few real facts. The rest were completely fictional and felt almost entirely made up. I did enjoy the story though but I'm not sure that I would recommend it to anyone.