Author: Laura Joh Rowland
Genre: historical fiction, myster
Series: Sano Ichiro #17
Pages: 336
Published: September 17 2013
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
Rating: 3/5
Japan, 1704. In an elegant mansion a young woman named Tsuruhime lies on her deathbed, attended by her nurse. Smallpox pustules cover her face. Incense burns, to banish the evil spirits of disease. After Tsuruhime takes her last breath, the old woman watching from the doorway says, “Who’s going to tell the Shogun his daughter is dead?”
The death of the Shogun's daughter has immediate consequences on his regime. There will be no grandchild to leave the kingdom. Faced with his own mortality and beset by troubles caused by the recent earthquake, he names as his heir Yoshisato, the seventeen-year-old son he only recently discovered was his. Until five months ago, Yoshisato was raised as the illegitimate son of Yanagisawa, the shogun's favorite advisor. Yanagisawa is also the longtime enemy of Sano Ichiro.
Sano doubts that Yoshisato is really the Shogun's son, believing it's more likely a power-play by Yanagisawa. When Sano learns that Tsuruhime's death may have been a murder, he sets off on a dangerous investigation that leads to more death and destruction as he struggles to keep his pregnant wife, Reiko, and his son safe. Instead, he and his family become the accused. And this time, they may not survive the day.
Feudal Japan meets a murder mystery in Rowland's latest novel. For a newcomer to this seventeen volume series, The Shogun's Daughter functions moderately well as a standalone and introduction to Rowland's oeuvre. The book starts with the eponymous death of the daughter of the Shogun, and the demise of Tokugawa Tsuruhime begins a cycle of betrayal, violence, and malice that will have immediate repercussions for all the characters of the story. It's hard to start a series without reading or summarizing the first book, but The Shogun's Daughter still proved to be an engaging and creative historical mystery.
The main character, Chamberlain to the Shogun, Sano Ichiro, is the focus of the bulk of the novel's third person narration. The series of books is built around him as the main character, and thus has already firmly established his character and voice, so there is rather little development on that front. Coupling with his duties to the Shogun, Sano investigates Tsuruhime's death for several reasons - to protect his family, and to bring down his unscrupulous and malicious enemy Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu. The characters are presumably familiar to long-running readers, but their multiple motives, actions, and opinions can be harder to navigate for newer readers.
The mystery of who was behind Tsuruhime's untimely death propels most of the plot for The Shogun's Daughter. There is a side plot involving (I assume) a more major player in another series - Hirata. His storyline is markedly weaker as it has little bearing for the plot surrounding Sano Ichiro. There was rather more telling than I would have liked. The author has a habit of spelling out what certain developments mean to different characters ("Their remarks imlpied that the young man had had an affair. Masahiro was excited because it might have bearing on her murder." - p. 75) and it can bog down the pace and narrative. I'm always a fan of showing rather than outright dictation and struggled with that aspect of the writing.
Fans of the series will find a well-crafted mystery to be found here. There are red herrings to keep the mystery alive, and plenty of murders and betrayals to keep the tension high. The final portion of the novel definitely ramps it up a notch - the stakes become higher and much more personal for Sano and his family. With a simple style that makes for a fast read, The Shogun's Daughter is an entertaining historical diversion.
Okay wow, this looks like a great series.
ReplyDeleteThe one I read was definitely interesting! I say give it a try, but maybe start with book one :D
DeleteFEUDAL JAPAN MEETS MURDER MYSTERY? Wowza. SEVENTEEN VOLUMES???
ReplyDelete" It's hard to start a series without reading or summarizing the first book, but The Shogun's Daughter still proved to be an engaging and creative historical mystery." <-- I am confused by what you mean by this - I thought you said it was a seventeen volume series. Are you talking about its function as a standalone? That in acting as one, it needs to go over stuff that's already happened in previous novels?
Hmm, it's a little sad when a series goes on and on but there's little change for the MC's character and voice. I mean, I'm sure the voice is what attracted many readers, but after 17 books, you probably also run into the problem of little freshness, if that makes sense. But I guess it also makes sense that after 17 books, it would be assumed that people knew the characters and wouldn't pick up the 17th book as an introduction.
That's a little sad --> The author has a habit of spelling out what certain developments mean to different characters ("Their remarks imlpied that the young man had had an affair. Masahiro was excited because it might have bearing on her murder." - p. 75). I have seen that kind of technique used but usually after the author has showed someone's feelings in a paragraph - and just a small summary that just pushes the plot forward. But that's also in YA; I wonder whether that sort of thing gets encouraged in adult novels.
Glad to see you had fun with the book and the mystery was a great diversion!