Book Review
Apr. 16th, 2011 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Way of the Traitor
by Laura Joh Rowland
This is the third book in Rowland's historical mystery series featuring Sano Ichiro, a former police chief in late 17th century Japan who is now working as a detective for the Tokugawa regime. The Way of the Traitor centered around the murder of a Dutch trader in the harbor city of Nagasaki. There, the European traders are confined to the island of Deshima and allowed extremely limited contact with the Japanese. Sano's investigation leads him into great danger due to the complex politics and intrigue going on in Nagasaki.
While this book had its interesting points, I didn't like it as much as the previous two novels in the series. I like the way the setting and circumstances of the murder allow Rowland to take a look at 17th century Japan's isolationist policies regarding the western world. Rowland is fairly critical of them, pointing out how the isolationism put the nation at a technological disadvantage and how the political situation resulting from the isolationism bred corruption, deceit, and suspicion. On the other hand, I thought the way Rowland set up the story was a little heavy-handed and contrived. I also thought the way the plot played out focused a bit too much on the perils Sano faced and not enough on the investigation of the murder. There was perhaps too much action at the expense of dete4ctive work and mystery solving. I still liked reading about the characters and the historical setting, though.
by Laura Joh Rowland
This is the third book in Rowland's historical mystery series featuring Sano Ichiro, a former police chief in late 17th century Japan who is now working as a detective for the Tokugawa regime. The Way of the Traitor centered around the murder of a Dutch trader in the harbor city of Nagasaki. There, the European traders are confined to the island of Deshima and allowed extremely limited contact with the Japanese. Sano's investigation leads him into great danger due to the complex politics and intrigue going on in Nagasaki.
While this book had its interesting points, I didn't like it as much as the previous two novels in the series. I like the way the setting and circumstances of the murder allow Rowland to take a look at 17th century Japan's isolationist policies regarding the western world. Rowland is fairly critical of them, pointing out how the isolationism put the nation at a technological disadvantage and how the political situation resulting from the isolationism bred corruption, deceit, and suspicion. On the other hand, I thought the way Rowland set up the story was a little heavy-handed and contrived. I also thought the way the plot played out focused a bit too much on the perils Sano faced and not enough on the investigation of the murder. There was perhaps too much action at the expense of dete4ctive work and mystery solving. I still liked reading about the characters and the historical setting, though.
