CompleteMartialArts.com - The Dragon Scroll
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List Price: $13.00
Our Price: $7.66
Your Save: $ 5.34 ( 41% )
Availability: N/A
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: 2005-06-28
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Editorial Reviews:
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In an adventure filled with highway bandits, unscrupulous politicians, and renegade monks, The Dragon Scroll introduces readers to the lively world of eleventh-century Japan and an irrepressible hero—Sugawara Akitada. On his first official assignment, Akitada—an impoverished nobleman and earnest young government clerk in the Ministry of Justice—is sent from the capital city on a nearly impossible mission to the distant province of Kazusa to discover why tax convoys are disappearing. In the politically murky world of the Japanese court, he has been set up to fail. Against the odds, the ever-resourceful Akitada, his elderly servant Seimei, and his impudent bodyguard Tora are determined to fulfill their mission and discover the truth in a town of dangerous secrets.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Anachronisms Galore
Comment: Judging from the number of anachronisms and misinformation contained in this one book - IJ Parker has got no idea of Japanese culture, nor Buddhism, nor history in general let alone Japanese history. The writing is naive The plot is simple. So simple that the only surprise is that there is no surprise. How can this author have won any award?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent mystery set in medieval Japan, first-rate beginning for a first-rate series.
Comment: Historical mysteries are like comedy -- either they work or they don't, and there is no middle ground. This mystery, the first of what I hope will be a long series, works wonderfully well. It is thoroughly grounded in the world of early medieval Japan, and it carries its immense learning and scholarship so lightly that only if you've read Japanese history for this period will you realize just how sound its view of Sugawara Akitada and his world is. The writing is always clear, amusing when it wants to be, and deeply moving at the right times. The plotting is sure and sensible, and the mystery unfolds at just the right pace. I read this one and immediately sought out the next. Highest recommendation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable read
Comment: I have read few mystery books/novels over the years but I do enjoy material concerning Japan and China (I was stationed in Japan for two years), and when I saw this at the store I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. I enjoyed it throughout. It was difficult for me to put down once I picked it up. Besides the ancient Japanese setting, I also enjoyed the humor that the author found time to put in. I look forward to reading the other novels in this series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awkward and stilted
Comment: I agree with the previous reviewer who said "It is the perfect book to read at the beach or on a plane. The writing is not very deep, vivid or profound." It's OK, but nothing more. The mystery is very obvious and I found the writing very stilted and awkward-as if it were a translation by someone who was not very comfortable with English. Nor did I learn very much about the customs of the time. I am very thankful I borrowed it from the library.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable mystery
Comment: This is the third book by I. J. Parker though timewise, the action takes place before the other two. It is an interesting look into the ways of ancient Japan with the plus of being an excellent mystery to boot. I find the characters believable - I wouldn't have read all three books if I hadn't. The premise of the book is that the main character is sent to a province to investigate the disappearance of taxes being sent to the capital. To say more would give away the whole plot.
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