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2012 Book Review #80: The Way of the Traitor
Title: The Way of the Traitor
Author: Laura Joh Rowland
Genre: Historical mystery (16th C Japan)
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: A samurai detective tries to solve the murder of a Dutchman in Nagasaki, when pretty much everyone, from the Dutch to his own corrupt superiors, wants him dead.
Thoughts: It's fun to read historical fiction set in places you only know a little about, and the author does seem to have done her research. However, the mystery is I suppose competent enough, but more workmanlike than anything else, and the characters are acceptable but uninspired.
The setting here is engrossing. Tokugawa Japan balanced on a knife's edge, trying to protect itself from European guns and ideas by being rabidly isolationist. This balancing act is the core of the book, as Sano tries to solve a mystery when the Dutch are convinced that the Japanese are responsible and the Japanese very much want a foreigner to be responsible.
Unfortunately, while the characterization and pacing are there, and aren't terrible, they're also kind of clumsy. We have awkward flashbacks that reveal various possible motives. We have two or three scenes where a key character's identity is kept from us artificially. We have a pretty much unneeded prologue. And we have a protagonist and a supporting character who repeat their paper-thin motivations to us again and again and again. It doesn't make the motivations any less boneheaded. Sano's insistence on refusing his second-in-command's help comes across as just stubbornness instead of nobility--he's being an idiot, especially within the Bushido code. He has a big epiphany and they totally kiss and make up, with less kissing. Maybe there should have been kissing.
Look, the book works ok. It's not terribly flawed. It's fine, it's just kinda lackluster. I wouldn't warn people away, but I probably also will skip the rest of the series.
Author: Laura Joh Rowland
Genre: Historical mystery (16th C Japan)
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: A samurai detective tries to solve the murder of a Dutchman in Nagasaki, when pretty much everyone, from the Dutch to his own corrupt superiors, wants him dead.
Thoughts: It's fun to read historical fiction set in places you only know a little about, and the author does seem to have done her research. However, the mystery is I suppose competent enough, but more workmanlike than anything else, and the characters are acceptable but uninspired.
The setting here is engrossing. Tokugawa Japan balanced on a knife's edge, trying to protect itself from European guns and ideas by being rabidly isolationist. This balancing act is the core of the book, as Sano tries to solve a mystery when the Dutch are convinced that the Japanese are responsible and the Japanese very much want a foreigner to be responsible.
Unfortunately, while the characterization and pacing are there, and aren't terrible, they're also kind of clumsy. We have awkward flashbacks that reveal various possible motives. We have two or three scenes where a key character's identity is kept from us artificially. We have a pretty much unneeded prologue. And we have a protagonist and a supporting character who repeat their paper-thin motivations to us again and again and again. It doesn't make the motivations any less boneheaded. Sano's insistence on refusing his second-in-command's help comes across as just stubbornness instead of nobility--he's being an idiot, especially within the Bushido code. He has a big epiphany and they totally kiss and make up, with less kissing. Maybe there should have been kissing.
Look, the book works ok. It's not terribly flawed. It's fine, it's just kinda lackluster. I wouldn't warn people away, but I probably also will skip the rest of the series.