The Shogun's Daughter
A Novel of Feudal Japan

Seventeen books in and I'm still hooked on this series. Over the past few books, the series has taken a turn that has left me feeling let down even though I've still enjoyed each one. The stories are still there. Rowland's richly detailed world is still intact. The change? The characters. One of my f......more

I was captivated by this book from the first paragraph! I have always enjoyed fiction set in the Orient, and author Laura Joh Rowland does a magnificent job of transporting her reading right into the heart of feudal Japan of the 1700's with this novel. Her descriptive style of writing plus the fasci......more

Even though this novel and this series of detective novels is set in 18th century Japan, the dialogue is fairly modern and the characters are so well drawn that we can easily relate to them. The plot is complex and though this story is fictional, the historical background and the detailed descriptio......more

I've been trying to broaden my reading selections a bit this year, stepping out of the realms of American and European historical fiction to check out some books that I might not have normally picked up off a shelf. I was really intrigued by the description of The Shogun's Daughter and decided to gi......more

After having read two incredibly textured novels (Hild and How the Light Gets In) filled with layers of sensations, it was kind of like moving from a 3D world into a 2 dimensional world. Short sentences, little description beyond what is necessary to propel the plot, THE SAMURAI 's DAUGHTER read lik......more