Reviewed by nannah on
Set in 17th century feudal Japan, Sano Ichiro is a yoriki (higher-ranking samurai police). His first case is a shinjū, a double suicide, and though he's not supposed to think anything of it, he doesn't think they committed shinjū. Investigating in secret, he finds himself in a much bigger plot than a simple shinjū.
I loved the setting and the characters! They were easily the strongest part of the novel, fully fleshed and well realized. But the entire mystery would have been much more engaging if Laura Joh Rowland never showed PoVs of the characters when they were spoiling the book's plot. I would have much rather found out the mysteries as Sano Ichiro discovered them, not when the author felt like showing them to us. I didn't like knowing them before the main character.
And while I appreciated the inclusion of characters with disabilities (Lord Niu with his withered leg & the sumo wrestler with a rageful "demon" - personality disorder ?), I didn't like that they were both portrayed problematically - both were killed and one was the villain. Not so good for representation . . .
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 26 June, 2015: Finished reading
- 26 June, 2015: Reviewed