December 17, 2012
Kirk proves himself a worthy samurai novelist with this brutal account of real-life 17th-century swordsman Musashi Miyamoto, who grew from a pockmarked village outcast to Japan’s best warrior, due to his legendary samurai treatise, The Book of the Five Rings. The novel opens as lonely 13-year-old Bennosuke polishes the armor of his revered father, the samurai Munisai, who has spent the previous eight years in exile following the death of Bennosuke’s mother. Bennosuke’s uncle, the monk Dorinbo, has been raising the boy, encouraging him to seek a quiet life in the temple, while Bennosuke wants nothing more than to start samurai training. Munisai finally returns home, wounded and discouraged, but willing to share his mastery of the warrior’s way with Bennosuke, leading to the revelation of the family’s darkest secret. After learning all he can from Munisai, Bennosuke sets out on his own, ending up at the Battle of Sekigahara, where, still a teenager, he escapes from the defeated army well versed in bloodshed, treachery, and chaos, having taken the name he will soon make famous. Kirk, who lives in Japan, positively seethes with energy when depicting bloody violence—from great battlefields to intimate ritual suicide—showing feudal Japan as a complex culture in which cunning and poetry are indispensable, and death and vengeance unavoidable.
January 1, 2013
Kirk presents 17th-century Japan as a world imbued with stately rituals, unshakable principles and a rigid moral code. Munisai Shinmen has faced an implacable enemy and has emerged with both body and honor intact, so his training as a samurai has served him well. Shortly after the first battle Kirk depicts, we get a sense of how the culture of honor operates when Lord Kanno, the defeated enemy, plaintively asks how to commit seppuku, for he doesn't know how it's done and he wishes to die an honorable death--he's 9 years old. Violence is not confined to the battlefield, however, for an enraged Munisai has also killed his wife and her lover. Munisai eventually goes back to reclaim his young son, Bennosuke, whom he left eight years before in the care of Munisai's brother Dorinbo, a Shinto monk. Though injured, Munisai takes over his son's training, and the youngster (he's only 13) begins to realize his promise as a future samurai when he defeats Kihei Arima (aka "Lightning Hand"), who's already killed six men in single combat and is eager to add a seventh. Issues of honor re-emerge when Munisai presents himself to his lord, Hideie Ukita, to commit seppuku for one of Bennosuke's transgressions. Kirk instills the ritual with great dignity as Munisai commits the ultimate act to "expunge all shame." Bennosuke then continues to confirm his stance as a celebrated samurai by participating in the battle of Sekigahara and claiming a "new" identity as Musashi Miyamoto, one of the most renowned swordsmen in samurai history. While not having the epic scope of Shogun, Kirk's novel is sure to be compared to Clavell's work in its superb depiction of samurai culture.
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October 1, 2012
Kirk fell in love with Japan when his father gave him a copy of James Clavell's Shogun, so it's no surprise that his first novel is inspired by renowned samurai Musashi Miyamoto, author of the military/philosophical classic The Book of Five Rings. In late 1500s Japan, a well-born youth named Bennosuke nearly enters a monastery but comes to understand his role in society and embraces the warrior's life, soon taking the name Musashi Miyamoto. First in a series; for fans of epic fiction.
Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2013
This coming-of-age biographical novel features the famous seventeenth-century samurai warrior-poet Musashi Miyamoto, who created the double sword fighting method kenjutsu. Readers unfamiliar with Japanese history initially may feel lost in this detailed and measured account of the samurai's life and the strict traditions surrounding family and personal honor. Kirk does, however, provide backstory in the form of vivid explanatory dramaa child committing seppuku (hara-kiri), a temple burning, and several brutal acts of vengeance. Young Bennosuke declares his samurai name, Miyamoto, at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), which is described in tense and gruesome detail. The characters, even the young Bennosuke, aren't particularly likable in conventional terms, but Kirk's spare portrayal of the way of life of the samurai, whose duty it is to protect, defend, and avenge and for whom dying is nothing and winning is all, proves remarkably compelling. Those who enjoyed James Clavell's Shogun (1975) or who read the Sano Ichiro mysteries by Laura Joh Rowlands will find much to ponder in this starkly realistic and bleak portrait of Bushido, the way of the samurai warrior.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)
Starred review from February 1, 2013
Based on the life of samurai legend Musashi Miyamoto (who penned the classic The Book of Five Rings), this historical debut rips along at the speed of a deftly wielded, flashing katana sword. It takes place as 16th-century Japan is in turmoil and the rigid codes of honor, social status, and clan dominance are slowly being challenged. Musashi (known as Bennosuke throughout most of the book) must deal with the loss of family, loss of privilege, coming of age, and the relentless violence and terror intrinsic to the samurai class. Well anchored in the history, beliefs, and traditions of feudal Japan, this novel is a personal psychological trip as well as a commentary on the blindly accepted practices of an era. VERDICT Kirk, who teaches English in Japan, has penned an educational, engrossing, and just plain fun-to-read book. It is well written and well researched, and should appeal to a wide variety of readers, especially those who loved James Clavell's Shogun. [See Prepub Alert, 9/10/12.]--Russell Miller, Prescott P.L., AZ
Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.