This book was interesting in many respects. It focuses on the persecution of Christians in Feudal Japan during the 1600's, and area of history I know little about but seemed fascinating. It wasn't quite the novel I was expecting, there's not a huge amount of fight 'scenes' and it's not really the martial story the cover could lead you to expect.
The story focuses on a Christian Priest and his acoyltes who are secretly living in a village of Japanese Christians in defiance of the Shogun.
The story flows through life in the village and the increasing problems and persecution and builds into a intriguing tale inspired by real history that brings to life some of the horrendous events, from increasing poor conditions to discovery,torture and resistance, in a semi-engaging way.
I really enjoyed the premise and lots of the book was good, but unfortunately my major criticism is that I felt a lot of the characters were flat, I couldn't really picture them as I was reading the story outside of the main protagonist.
I also felt that the 'bad guys' all seemed to blend into the same views and character traits and didn't give me a sense of who each one was individually, just High ranking Japanese men with slightly different names and roles,
Some of the scene setting was sparse, not knowing much about Japan as a reader a bit more historical context and description added in could have helped I think.
That being said the actual plot points and some of the events and dialogue were great and I think I'd like to read whatever the sequel may be in the hopes that the good points continue and Shaun Currey's writing improves further, as I think he's doing a good job with the historical research.
3 stars seems a little harsh as I did enjoy bits and the general premise, but I can't say it was quite good enough to merit a higher rating
The story focuses on a Christian Priest and his acoyltes who are secretly living in a village of Japanese Christians in defiance of the Shogun.
The story flows through life in the village and the increasing problems and persecution and builds into a intriguing tale inspired by real history that brings to life some of the horrendous events, from increasing poor conditions to discovery,torture and resistance, in a semi-engaging way.
I really enjoyed the premise and lots of the book was good, but unfortunately my major criticism is that I felt a lot of the characters were flat, I couldn't really picture them as I was reading the story outside of the main protagonist.
I also felt that the 'bad guys' all seemed to blend into the same views and character traits and didn't give me a sense of who each one was individually, just High ranking Japanese men with slightly different names and roles,
Some of the scene setting was sparse, not knowing much about Japan as a reader a bit more historical context and description added in could have helped I think.
That being said the actual plot points and some of the events and dialogue were great and I think I'd like to read whatever the sequel may be in the hopes that the good points continue and Shaun Currey's writing improves further, as I think he's doing a good job with the historical research.
3 stars seems a little harsh as I did enjoy bits and the general premise, but I can't say it was quite good enough to merit a higher rating