Shogun - The First Novel of the Asian saga (Paperback, New Ed)

In Clavell's last whopper, Tai-pan, the hero became tai-pan (supreme ruler) of Hong Kong following England's victory in the first Opium War. Clavell's new hero, John Blackthorne, a giant Englishman, arrives in 17th century Japan in search of riches and becomes the right arm of the warlord Toranaga who is even more powerful than the Emperor. Superhumanly self-confident (and so sexually overendowed that the ladies who bathe him can die content at having seen the world's most sublime member), Blackthorne attempts to break Portugal's hold on Japan and encourage trade with Elizabeth I's merchants. He is a barbarian not only to the Japanese but also to Portuguese Catholics, who want him dispatched to a non-papist hell. The novel begins on a note of maelstrom-and-tempest ("'Piss on you, storm!' Blackthorne raged. 'Get your dung-eating hands off my ship!'") and teems for about 900 pages of relentless lopped heads, severed torsos, assassins, intrigue, war, tragic love, over-refined sex, excrement, torture, high honor, ritual suicide, hot baths and breathless haikus. As in Tai-pan, the carefully researched material on feudal Oriental money matters seems to he Clavell's real interest, along with the megalomania of personal and political power. After Blackthorne has saved Toranaga's life three times, he is elevated to samurai status, given a fief and made a chief defender of the empire. Meanwhile, his highborn Japanese love (a Catholic convert and adulteress) teaches him "inner harmony" as he grows ever more Eastern. With Toranaga as shogun (military dictator), the book ends with the open possibility of a forthcoming sequel. Engrossing, predictable and surely sellable. (Kirkus Reviews)

'Clavell never puts a foot wrong . . . Get it, read it, you'll enjoy it mightily' Daily Mirror This is James Clavell's tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, SHOGUN is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world. Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne's rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the hights of trusted advisor and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country. 'I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one. It's irresistable, maybe unforgettable. Clavell creates a world so enveloping you forget who and where you are' - New York Times

General

Imprint:	Hodder Paperback
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	The Asian Saga
Release date:	May 2006
Authors:	James Clavell
Dimensions:	196 x 128 x 48mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	1125
Edition:	New Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-340-76616-3
Categories:	Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Historical fiction
LSN:	0-340-76616-6
Barcode:	9780340766163

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