Cloud of Sparrows - Softcover

Matsuoka, Takashi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440240859 ISBN 13: 9780440240853

Publisher: Dell Pub Co, 2003

Synopsis

"Exotic, entertaining . . . [an] exceptional first novel."--San Francisco Chronicle

The year is 1861. After two centuries of isolation, Japan has opened its doors to the West. And as foreign ships threaten to rain destruction on the Shogun's castle in Edo, a small group of American missionaries has arrived to spread the word of their God. They have yet to realize that their future in Japan has already been foreseen. For a young nobleman has dreamt that his life will be saved by an outsider in the New Year. . . and it is said that Lord Genji has the gift of prophecy. What happens next--when the handsome lord meets an appa rently reformed gunslinger and a woman in flight from her own destructive beauty--sets the stage for a remarkable adventure. For as this unlikely band embarks on a journey through a landscape bristling with danger, East and West, flesh and spirit, past and future, collide in ways no one--least of all Genji--could have imagined.

Praise for Cloud of Sparrows

"The book seizes you from start to finish."--The Washington Post

"Adventure-filled."--Entertainment Weekly

"Rich . . . with an ambitious, unexpected ending that cuts deeper than a samurai sword."--San Francisco Chronicle

About this title

Review:

Cloud of Sparrows slings an impressive amount of full-blooded plot material at us along with an intelligent weighing out of historical fact. Young Lord Genji is a samurai whose blood feuds with the Shogun go back centuries--his family have predictive powers that have shown him that his future lies in forming alliances with the incoming Americans. Emily is a young missionary who considers Japan to be a place where her looks will be considered hideous and she will be free of male attention; Heiko is the most beautiful geisha of her generation, and also a ninja assassin who has fallen in love with her prospective victim, Genji. And Stark is a gunslinger posing as missionary who has come to Japan to find a man he has sworn to kill.

The strength of all this lies, in part, in the fact that both sets of characters are as exotic to us as they are to each other--Takashi Matsuoka is wittily smart about how much things change in a century and a half. He also writes brilliantly and excitingly when describing a scene of battle, a gun or sword duel. This is a startlingly good debut. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"Exotic, entertaining . . . [an] exceptional first novel."--San Francisco Chronicle

"The book seizes you from start to finish."--The Washington Post

"Adventure-filled."--Entertainment Weekly

"Rich . . . with an ambitious, unexpected ending that cuts deeper than a samurai sword."--San Francisco Chronicle

About this edition

• Publisher: Dell Pub Co
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0440240859
• ISBN 13: 9780440240853
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 560