David Kirk (9)

Just couldn't quite bring myself to give this 5 stars.

David has taken the tales of Miyamoto Musashi and created his own story from these, so some of this is loosely based in what is told of the real man and some of this is based entirely from David's imagination.

All told, it works really well, but there just seems a step too far here and there, which, for me at least, was distracting a little. While it has been compared to Shogun by some, for me, it just doesn't have that same level of believability to it.

But then, if i want the real tales of Musashi then i could, of course, go and read them.

It certainly keeps you reading. It's pretty much non stop without the annoying pregnant pauses of most stories and David really does portray the period very well.

All in all, i got this book and the next in the series for 99p each on Kindle - which is an absolute bargain for this kind of story telling - and i'll be diving back into Musashi's world in the second book later today after finishing a little short story i picked up - i'm looking forward to it very much.… (mais)

I loved this book. Far better than the first - which i gave 4 stars.

Looking back over the 2 books it felt to me like David gained in confidence writing tales about Musashi and also that he has come to know him better - like he's beginning to get inside his head more.

But then i suppose the first book was more about Musashi the youth, just beginning to find himself, and this book is more of Musashi as a young man puzzling over what he's found and finding more - and this reflects well in the writing of both books.

Once again, David's writing is superbly descriptive without overdoing it. The story just keeps on moving and i just didn't want to put it down - like the first book, no pregnant pauses await within, it's just full gas all the way.

I do hope #3 won't be too long, i'm hooked!… (mais)

Musashi Miyamoto, the young protagonist of this absorbing, far-ranging novel (and a real seventeenth-century figure), walks away after the battle of Sekigahara, determined to live. For this revolutionary decision, which the samurai code calls the height of dishonor, Musashi becomes an outlaw.

Three transgressions make the young man’s life forfeit. First, he fought for a lord on the losing side, for which Musashi should have committed seppuku, ritual suicide. However, he’s long detested that custom and goes into hiding instead. Second, he’s accused of having insulted a warrior from a powerful clan whom he slew in single combat, a charge he denies, to no avail. Thirdly, and most significantly, he announces to all and sundry that seppuku is criminal nonsense; that the samurai code, known to initiates as “the Way,” is morally false; and that any man who kills for a cause other than his own—as when a lord commands him to—is a coward.

Not content with that, Musashi takes these views on the road, trying to prevent seppuku when he happens across it, and fending off the samurai despatched to kill him.

In other hands, perhaps, this arresting premise would merely provide excuses for grisly combat, of which there’s no shortage here, or an adventure story that makes the pages turn rapidly, as these do. But Kirk has much bigger psychological, political, and moral game in mind, and his epic sweep, focus on justice, and using a specific case to portray an entire society remind me of Kurosawa films like Rashomon or Seven Samurai. Throughout the novel, characters constantly challenge themselves and others to define what the purpose of violence is, and what an individual person is to make of that.

Musashi sees no other choice—indeed he seeks no other—than to prove by the sword that the Way is bankrupt. The contradiction is obvious, but not to Musashi, who believes he’s honest because he fights only for himself and his ideals. He assumes that each martial victory will convince other samurai to abandon the Way, and he’s astounded when they respond by trying to attack him.

But there’s more. The samurai sent to kill him, Akiyama, is himself an outcast, and Kirk exploits that, leading Akiyama to question why he’s been sent on this mission, and what, precisely, is the moral threat that his quarry represents. Along the way, Musashi lands with a blind woman and a young girl who challenge his assumptions, and among whom he becomes a different person from the raging swordsman who enjoys the combat at which he’s preternaturally gifted.

Is there yet more? Yes, there is. Musashi’s quest brings him to Kyoto, where an uneasy peace simmers with conflict. The Tokugawa Shogunate, the victors of Sekigahara, have moved the capital to Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and left behind a military governor. Many people in Kyoto resent the Tokugawa for that, perhaps none more than the Yoshioka, a famous samurai school. It’s their champion whom Musashi allegedly insulted at the battle, and they’re a political power in the city. Staying out of trouble is therefore a full-time job for Musashi, and he’s no good at it.

Sword of Honor follows Child of Vengeance. Each stands on its own, though the precursor shows how Musashi has always had a dual nature, with healing impulses as well as violent ones. Sword of Honor is a deeper, more proficient novel, though, and I’m glad to see that Kirk has taken to showing his characters’ emotions more often than telling them, a flaw that marred the previous book at times. I could have done with fewer, less grisly battle scenes, but none seemed gratuitous, and there’s no denying that the samurai world, as with any knightly class, was based on violence.… (mais)

ARE YOU SAMURAI? A lot of this book made me say WOW. Lots of other parts made me ask HUH?

This is a book on the fictionalized author of "The Book of Five Rings" (which is a five star book). Not a lot is known about Miyamoto Musashi and the facts can be more stories than fact. There's lots of conflicting information. Also there is more than enough riches to sculpt a story of a legendary samurai.

Some of the book was brilliant giving a window into the world of the samurai, a world of uncompromising honor and death. Deaths were painful to read (in a good storytelling way). Some of the book was compromising. I was willing to overlook the fact the characters cursed in modern prose. The bigger problem I feel like scenes/chapters were omitted.

For a while this book toyed with a 5 star rating. In the end, the ending was too dull or maybe over my head. Overall the pluses outweighed the minuses.






… (mais)