The Way of the Traitor

Rating:
Summary: A Pretty Good Shogun-esq Mystery Series
Review: These series of novels are all pretty good. I have read three of the books all on the airplane. The mystery is usually pretty good and the time period and characters are great. If you like Feudal Japanese history, these books are for you. Again, not the greatest but certainly enjoyable

Rating:
Summary: A Pretty Good Shogun-esq Mystery Series
Review: These series of novels are all pretty good. I have read three of the books all on the airplane. The mystery is usually pretty good and the time period and characters are great. If you like Feudal Japanese history, these books are for you. Again, not the greatest but certainly enjoyable

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read!
Review: This is the latest book in the continuing series of Sano the samurai detective, and in my opinion the best. Each of Rowland's books continue to outdo the previous ones, and Way of the Traitor is no exception. The plot is full of twists and turns and is brilliantly written. I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: East Meets West...Unwillingly
Review: This novel picks up where Rowland's last Sano Ichiro novel left off: once again, Sano is the victor in the battle against crime, but loser of the war that rages within the Shogun's household. And, once again, his enemy is the Shogun's favorite, Yanagisawa. Sano finds himself essentially exiled to Nagasaki, the only port in which Japan allows foreigners -- closely watched, of course. A Dutch trader is murdered, and Sano offers to unearth the murderer, a seemingly impossible, and politically suicidal, task. Will Sano persevere? Since this is a series of novels, it's pretty obvious he will solve the case. However, I don't think I can take much more of Sano and his associates constantly beaten, wounded, and almost assassinated! The most interesting part of the book, in my opinion, is the picture of foreigners Rowland paints in the book: they are, to Sano and other Japanese, dirty, smelly, and almost completely uncivilized. The fact that Sano needs one of the Dutch delegation's help challenges his detective and physical senses to the extreme. Rowland is historically accurate in her depiction of the xenophobia present in Japan, and the fears that foreigners will somehow pollute the purity of Japanese culture, something that James Clavell did so well in 'Shogun'.

Rating:
Summary: East Meets West...Unwillingly
Review: This novel picks up where Rowland's last Sano Ichiro novel left off: once again, Sano is the victor in the battle against crime, but loser of the war that rages within the Shogun's household. And, once again, his enemy is the Shogun's favorite, Yanagisawa. Sano finds himself essentially exiled to Nagasaki, the only port in which Japan allows foreigners -- closely watched, of course. A Dutch trader is murdered, and Sano offers to unearth the murderer, a seemingly impossible, and politically suicidal, task. Will Sano persevere? Since this is a series of novels, it's pretty obvious he will solve the case. However, I don't think I can take much more of Sano and his associates constantly beaten, wounded, and almost assassinated! The most interesting part of the book, in my opinion, is the picture of foreigners Rowland paints in the book: they are, to Sano and other Japanese, dirty, smelly, and almost completely uncivilized. The fact that Sano needs one of the Dutch delegation's help challenges his detective and physical senses to the extreme. Rowland is historically accurate in her depiction of the xenophobia present in Japan, and the fears that foreigners will somehow pollute the purity of Japanese culture, something that James Clavell did so well in 'Shogun'.

Rating:
Summary: Sheer melodrama, lacks power of others in series
Review: This was a letdown after the entertaining Bundori. The meeting of east and west, however, was an intriguing glimpse of how foreigners were treated and thought to be like. I also found the ending rather dull. If you want to buy a copy, get it in paperback. I bought the hardcover and really regretted it.

Rating:
Summary: Needs more oomph.
Review: This was a letdown after the entertaining Bundori. The meeting of east and west, however, was an intriguing glimpse of how foreigners were treated and thought to be like. I also found the ending rather dull. If you want to buy a copy, get it in paperback. I bought the hardcover and really regretted it.