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Summary: Shinju
Review: A Great Book. Enough said. I cannot believe it's out of stock. Buy it if you can find it.
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Summary: Interesting Setting, Less Compelling Mystery
Review: A highly detailed series debut set in Tokyo (Edo) circa 1690. The detective is a newly appointed samurai police officer who quickly manages to piss off his boss and underlings by sticking his naively inquisitive nose into various matters, most notably, a ritual lovers' suicide he is ordered not to investigate. Of course our hero has an inner conflict which rages between duty and justice which battles most of the book, as he gets himself deeper and deeper in hot water. The mystery itself is nothing special, and relies on a villain who is more than slightly crazed. The fun in the book is in all the little details about urban Japanese life and customs of the era, as well as the political background. This is presented very fluidly and is well-woven into the plot.
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Summary: Well worth the read!
Review: A murder mystery set in medieval Japan, Shinju was a fascinating look at the customs and mores of the time. The well written story and believable charactors, transport the reader to another time and place - I really enjoyed this book!
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Summary: The best book ever
Review: After reading shinju, there is only one thing I must say: It is the best book ever. Now, i have read a lot of books, and I can say without a doubt that none come even close to the great characterization, intruige, incredible plot, and graphicly descriptive wording. Sano Ichiro ( or Ichiro Sano, as it would be in America) has to be one of the best and most compeling characters ever in a book. The book just makes you whant to read more and more, thats how good it is. only one precautione; this book is not exactly for the weak of heart. Sure, it's not some blood-spatered, kill-happy, testostrone splashed book , but it does have some groutesque imagery and a sex scene and some scenes of nudity. However, if you do not get naucies at the thought of blood and are at least 13, I whole-heartdly recomend Shinju to you. I gotta get the sequels.
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Summary: A wonderful taste of samurai justice
Review: As a longtime lover of mysteries and of things Japanese, I was thrilled when I came across the Sano Ichiro series. This book lived up to my initial excitement. This is a cross between a hardboiled thriller and a straight-up historical novel full of both detail and texture. One of the charms here is the hero, Sano. He is a ronin--a masterless samurai--who has managed to get an appointment on the Edo (aka Tokyo) detective corps. Rowland's achievement in creating this character is that he is both a living embodiment of Bushido--the Warrior Way--and a very anachronistic mix of self-reliance and love of justice as aideal above all others. In the arcane, byzantine (if I can use that word) world of Tokugawa Japan, he is the classic outsider seeking to do the right thing even if it destroys him and his down-on-its-luck clan. The mystery is interesting here, though in typical thriller fashion the story shifts from whodunit to get-him-before-he-gets-you about three-quarters of the way in. This is a terrific start to a fine series.
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Summary: A great story with characters to care about
Review: Having finished all of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael mysteries, I've been searching around for another mystery (hopefully a series) set in the past. What a joy when my sister-in-law shared Shinju with me. I was captured right from the beginning and held all the way. Some of the critical comments in the other reviews are probably justified but I guess I appreciated a great story and characters I found myself caring about...even the "villians". I'm about to start Bundori and look forward to my next Japanese journey. Thank you, Ms. Rowland!
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Summary: Cliched protagonist "rebel bucks the system"
Review: I am a bit tired of reading mysteries and action books where the hero is one who "goes against all his superiors and hurts people along the way in his/her quest for truth and justice". It's getting old. Always the rebel with a cause, Sano knows better than everyone. But I very much enjoyed the descriptive narrative of Japan and the insight into behavior. A most excellent turn of events with regard to the "mystery" part of the story, I was very impressed.
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Summary: An OK read, but I wish it were better
Review: I came across this book because it was mentioned on the web along with the R.H.Van Gulik Judge Dee Chinese mystery novels, which I adore (and all of which are still in print). Shinju is a good quick read, but I did skim bits, like the repeated ruminations about duty and so on. The book focuses too much on Sano: there really are no other characters of any depth. This is also more a thriller than a mystery, since the villain is never seriously in doubt. I was also disappointed that the book was not weirder than it is, and had no intriguing side-plots. For an example of truly weird Japanese fiction, with many elements of a mystery novel, read Haruki Murakami's books. Perhaps Rowland gets more imaginative in her subsequent books, which I will probably still read, if I happen upon them.
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Summary: A DESCRIPTIVE, AND A PAGE TURNER!
Review: I did not like how the book started off a bit slowly, but the rest of the book made up for that. I thought that the characters were very well done and, by the end of the book, that it was the readers loss because they lost Sano. It had a interesting twist, and several parts of the book held some extreme, and very realistic descriptions. I recommend this book for anyone who loves mysteries, japan, both, or just loves to read: YOU'LL NEVER REGRET IT!:)
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Summary: Best in the Series
Review: I enjoyed this book for the historical references and bits of history to feudal Japan along with the plot twists and turns. It may be a standard concept where the hero overcomes all oppositions in seeking justice but the story held my interest regardless. For a good captivating read on a winter evening I would recommend this one. I've read all the others and I must admit, the same story line runs through them all but with enough difference to keep me reading. In this series I was just looking for something to entertain me and Sano Ichiro's adventures did just that. It held my interest to the end.
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