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CompleteMartialArts.com - Shinju

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Manufacturer: HarperTorch

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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061009501
ISBN: 0061009504
Label: HarperTorch
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: 1996-03-01
Publisher: HarperTorch
Release Date: 1996-01-01
Studio: HarperTorch

Related Items
Bundori The Way of the Traitor The Concubine's Tattoo (Sano Ichiro Novels) The Samurai's Wife: A Novel (Sano Ichiro Novels) Black Lotus

Editorial Reviews:

When beautiful, wealthy Yukiko and low-born artist Noriyoshi are found drowned together in a shinju, or ritual double suicide, everyone believes the culprit was forbidden love. Everyone but newly appointed yoriki Sano Ichiro.

Despite the official verdict and warnings from his superiors, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People suspects the deaths weren't just a tragedy -- they were murder. Risking his family's good name and his own life, Sano will search for a killer across every level of society -- determined to find answers to a mystery no one wants solved. No one but Sano...

As subtle and beautiful as the culture it evokes, Shinju vividly re-creates a world of ornate tearooms and guady pleasure-palaces, cloistered mountaintop convents and dealthy prisons.

Part love story, part myster, Shinju is a tour that will dazzle and entertain all who enter its world.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Enter the world of pleasure and plots...
Comment: It seems to be a simple double suicide, a shinju, between two mismatched lovers. But to Sano Ichiro not everything seems to fit. Clues point out that there was something else is going on. But where to start? Which family should he investigate? And why are people in the upper ranks so fast to dismiss his idea of murder? As the layers are peeled back we found plots within plots within plots, with fast action, gritty characters, and plot twists that force us to see everything in a new light. Just the kind of mystery I enjoy. Get it new or used.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Mixed feelings
Comment: What to say about this one? Exotic setting (17th century Japan), interesting main character (Sano Ichiro, a samurai lawman dedicated to finding out the truth), a solid plot (will the valiant detective be able to solve two murders in a corrupt society that just wants to cover them up). I really was sold on it when I first heard of this book.

Unfortunately, this is another first novel with some big stylistic problems. What was good about it was good enough that I will probably try the next book in the series, but the writing style--passive action scenes and a superabundance of description--so weighed down my enjoyment that I had to put the book down at a certain point and read other things for awhile before I could return to it and finish.

But what was good about it...her characters are fully fleshed people. Even minor characters resonate. The plot was complicated and intriguing, but not at all hard to follow, and some of those passages of description were quite beautiful.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great Service
Comment: I received my book Shinju,it was in excellent condition. It arrived in the time as stated. I would purchase more books based on this service. Thank you.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Shinju
Comment: For those readers who enjoy books on historical Japan, as well as mystery lovers, Laura Joh Rowland has everything that will make the time you spend reading enjoyable. Shinju, as well as her other books, are literally "page turners." During the climax of Shinju, I could barely get through the pages fast enough. The story moves quickly. The emotions that she expresses in the character, Sano, you feel with him: frustration, elation, happiness, etc. Please pick up this first book in this series to give her books a try. You will NOT be sorry!!!!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Pretty good beginning to a great series.
Comment: Sinju is the first, but definitely not the best of the Sano Ichiro series.
While this is a good book, it is not a great book. That being said, it is pretty much necessary character development if you want to get some of the dynamics of interaction in the rest of the stories. If I had read this first, I may not have been so enthusiastic about the rest of the series, but because I read "Bundori" first I was hooked years ago. I kind of look at Sinju as an interesting prequel. It is a pretty good detective story, a pretty good historical novel, and a pretty good look at the "Boshido Way" in the end of the Samuri era.

So my advice is, if you are interested in any of these themes, this is a good read. However, you will probably like the next story much better (I know I did), so get "Bundori" also and read through if you have the patience, otherwise, start with Bundori and get hooked on the series first and then go back and read "Sinju" for a better understanding of the primary characters.

As for the rest of the series, Ms. Roland's writing gets better all the time .

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