Stephanie R SorensenReseñas

I really enjoyed this alternative history/steampunkish look at 1850s Japan. It was interesting reading and makes me want to learn more about the actual time period. The story really rolled along well and I can't wait to read the next books in the series. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Cleaning up my shelf. This was a decent read. Looking forward to more from Sorensen.

In Toru: Wayfarer Returns, we as readers are once again exposed to way too much exposition and a nearly suffocating amount of passive voice. Normally, use of passive voice doesn’t really bother me. In most books, I am unable to identify said voice because it doesn’t disrupt the flow. Unfortunately the passive voice saturates this book so thoroughly that I am unable to make it past 15%. In fact, I can barely remember which parts of what I read were relevant to the current action of the book.

I gave this book several attempts, but each page felt like the written equivalent of trying to force-feed myself Miracle Whip. For that, I must unfortunately drop this novel. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewed at Online Book Club. I received a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.

Sometimes it’s a synopsis that catches your eye. Sometimes it’s the cover. Sometimes it’s the author’s name, or the genre. For me, it was the setting the setting and cover design. Toru: Wayfarer by Stephanie R. Sorensen is a book that’s been on my radar since it was first released back in February of 2016. When I finally got my hands on a copy, I was quite the excited bookworm.

Unfortunately, the excitement didn’t last.

Toru: Wayfarer is an alternate history novel set in Japan during in the 1850s. The main character, Toru, was picked up by an American ship after being found adrift some ways off the coast of Japan. After spending two years in America he returns to his homeland, bringing with him books, blueprints for military goods, and more. But in returning he’s broken Japanese law, and is condemned to death upon his return, despite his warning that America is sending ships to forcibly open Japanese ports to trading, much as they’d done with China. Two shogunate lords first take pity on Toru, then take his warnings to heart, and aid him in protecting Japan from the American forces and a Shogun who refuses to break tradition, even if it is for a greater good, and believe Toru’s word.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, if I hadn’t gotten this novel from the publisher I may have put it down after the opening chapters. But after sticking with it, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the concluding chapters.

The prose itself is very good, and feels perfect for the location and time period portrayed in the novel. The story is told in the third person, largely from Toru’s point of view. When appropriate, the point of view does switch to some of the other characters. It does so very naturally; at no point did I feel that it jumped too much or grew confused.
There were several issued I had with the opening chapters, the main ones being unrealistic occurrences and extremely slow pacing. The story is by no means fast paced, and the first several chapters in particular felt as if they were dragging. A lot is explained to the viewer, all pertinent to be sure. But it did give certain sections an almost passive tone which I found less engaging. While there are some more fast paced, action-y sequences, these don’t occur until past the halfway point. These scenes were quite well done, and honestly, did make me want to continue reading.

The characters are all very interesting, and it is them that really carry the story. I liked Toru, despite him being just a little too good at just about everything. The cast is rather diverse, at least in the sense of social cast, something which does play a part within the narrative. The characters feel very real, and are, overall, extremely relatable. Their fears are understandable, whether or not they are on the same side as Toru and whether or not the reader agrees with their actions.

Something interesting to note is that some of these characters are real, historical individuals. The most easily spotted is probably Commodore Perry, appearing later in the novel. Other historical figures are sprinkled throughout the tale. The majority of the main characters, however, are all original characters.

I did like the ending of the novel. It was much faster paced than the vast majority of the book. Loose plot threads were wrapped up very nicely, leaving very little unanswered. Despite being the first book in a series, this can absolutely be read as a standalone novel. This is something I really appreciate. There’s real payoff at the end of the novel. It feels like a conclusion to a narrative while leaving room for the characters and world to grow.

Despite liking the characters and overarching plot, there is something that ripped me out of the novel time and time again.

Toru and his companions begin working on building things like factories, trains, and dirigibles at a furious pace. Too furious, really. Within three weeks there were sixteen factories built. Sixteen! That’s completely astounding for any place or time. But considering the time period, location, and the fact that all of this is financed by only minor Lords (as opposed to the very rich, powerful ones met later in the novel), along with lack of transportation, raw materials, and manpower its more than a little jarring. I found myself ripped out of the novel time and again, my suspension of disbelief completely shattered. On a similar note, Toru is good at everything. Sure, part of this is his upbringing. But I did find myself not quite believing just how good he was at things. Fighting, math, languages. There was no subject he seemed unskilled at.

The concentration of these things does seem to be within the first few chapters. This did make getting through the first half of the book particularly difficult. Do similar things appear later in the novel? Yes, but by no means at the same quantity. There were a few time I paused and considered the implausibility at things, but overall the novel took a bit of a more realistic tone.

Also, I found a new pet peeve. The author has a habit of using Japanese words and phrases within the text. I have no issue with this in itself. However, quite often the English translation is included directly afterwards. It may sound funny, but this really grate on me. I do know a bit of common Japanese words and phrases due to nothing but the sheer amount of exposure through anime and manga. Having the English translation directly afterwards made me say ‘yes, yes, I know,’ quite often. Also, I found that this, too, ripped me out of the story. Why would characters who are presumably speaking Japanese to one another repeat words and phrases in conversation? For that matter, why add the Japanese at all? Aren’t they already supposed to be speaking Japanese?

Maybe I’m just overthinking things. Still, if this is a pet peeve of yours as well, take this as your warning.

Now, as for genre, this is most definitely an alternate history. Though it has some steampunk elements, I myself hesitate in calling it steampunk. However, the author does point this fact out in a note at the end of the text. As Sorensen says, this is a world only first building its more modern technology. It’s very easy to see how this could become a very steampunk-like world. There are already dirigibles, seen mostly in later chapters, and steam engines abounding.

Is it steampunk, really? You know what? I don’t really think so, but I see very easily how it could be. I think it’s a fascinating approach, and something I want to see more of in this series.

Despite issues and pet peeves I had with Toru: Wayfarer, it ended on a high note and made me interested to learn what happens next to Toru and his companions. I would honestly enjoy reading the next book in the series. The prose, characters, and plot are all intriguing. If you enjoy alternate history, stories involving Japan, or steampunk this is a book you should definitely check out. If you like more realism in your fiction or don’t enjoy alternate history this book may not be one for you.

Pros: interesting characters, good ending

Cons: advances are made ridiculously fast, some continuity errors, gets boring at times

After spending two years in America, Toru returns to Japan, defying the Shogun’s law of isolation and the death penalty his return will earn him. He knows American ships will come, forcing the country to open its borders on their terms, unless Japan can innovate and show its strength in time.

Toru is a great protagonist, deeply in love with his homeland but also an admirer of the technology and people he met in America. He straddles a difficult line as a commoner advising a Lord, trying to foster quick changes in a society that honours tradition.

I really liked Masuyo, Lord Aya’s feisty daughter. Her flaunting of custom on her father’s land was well contrasted by her embarrassment in front of other noble women, where she tried to fit society’s ideals. This accurately portrays the juxtapositions common in Japan today.

There were a lot of supporting characters, ranging from peasantry to Lords, many of whom had well defined personalities. While she’s negatively portrayed, I thought Lady Tomatsu was well done, snobbish and overly proud of her family name while married to a less powerful Lord. I liked that she had impeccable taste in food and clothing. I also thought she showed astute political sense, given her circumstances, though she makes a decision towards the end of the book that could have used more clarification as it seemed to go against her earlier personality.

The plot consists of Toru convincing people to build trains, telegraph machines, Babbage Difference Engines, airships, and more in order to face the American threat. While I can believe that some of what they accomplish is possible within a year, the sheer scope of their operations and how much they achieve - necessarily kept hidden from the Shogun and requiring parts to be ordered from overseas - is hard to believe. Masuyo, an admittedly intelligent and well-educated woman, somehow translates enough English (which she’s never seen before) and engineering data (for things she’s never heard of before) in less than a week to put together a list in one night of all thing parts the Japanese can manufacture themselves and others they’ll need to order so that they can start building trains, etc. right away. Despite the failure of engineers with more experience in France to build working airships, the Japanese manage to make one using dictionaries to translate the French and then improving on the designs, again, despite never having seen such schematics before or (I would guess) knowing the science behind them.

I also wondered how the smaller Lords Toru influences have enough money to finance the large - and expensive - projects. Added to this is how they believed they could keep what they were doing hidden from the Shogun. Given the sheer number of people involved and the obvious damage to the land, it seems unreasonable to believe the Shogun wasn’t aware of things from a very early point.

For anyone looking for steampunk elements, there are airships towards the end of the book, and mention of submersibles, but not much else.

The inclusion of Japanese words and phrases for things helped keep the oriental flavour of the setting. In a few places the immediate translation felt awkward (as someone who knows a fair bit of Japanese), like ofuro bath (which basically mean the same thing). A handful of times the Japanese was left untranslated, which might trip up readers unfamiliar with the language. I personally had trouble figuring out the meaning behind the name of the first dirigible, which was commented on, but not translated (as far as I could determine).

There were some long sentences with awkward phrasing that I had to reread a few times in order to understand properly. I also noticed some continuity errors with regards to timing. One section began by saying it was the next morning and a character was preparing for a meeting, despite the fact that the meeting was to be in 3 days. Other times characters suddenly travelled weeks worth of distance in a few days (two characters were said to be at their homes but managed to be at least a 4 week journey away from their homes the next day).

While I founds parts of the story a bit tedious, it’s basically set-up for future books where the divergence from history becomes more stark. There’s an author note at the end of the book explaining how this book compares to history (while the tech advance is all added, the meeting with Commodore Perry at the end and the difficulties between the Shogun and his Lords was cribbed from history). Following books are meant to diverge more, showing Japan in a position of power as its borders open.

While it’s not a perfect book, it was an interesting look at an interesting time (imagined as parts of it were) of Japanese history. The author’s familiarity with the language and customs (and gestures) shows through.

Japan isolated themselves from most of the world under the policy of sakoku, limiting its contact with foreign nations to preserve the Japanese way of life – until Americans forced the opening of Japanese ports with “gunboat diplomacy”

But the Japan of Toru the Wayfarer is different – this is a Japan where Toru, a traveller, returned to Japan from the west with a warning – and guides to technology that may save Japan and keep her independent: able to say no to the inevitable arrival of foreigners

While this book was advertised as a steam punk, I think it is much better termed an alternate history since, beyond a few dirigibles and dubious submarines, there’s little steampunk element

This book looks at what would have happened if Japan had managed to industrialise and arm itself with modern weaponry before Commodore Perry forced the opening of Japan to trade and the end of the Sakoku isolationist policy that Japan

The book contains a lot of historical references and research drawing on actual events of the time as well as actual daimyos who were present and involved in Japan at the time. It includes a lot of history of Sakoku and policies around it.

We follow the story of how Toru, returning to Japan after visiting America – back when it was illegal to do so and returning from abroad carries the death penalty under the isolationist policy. He brings with him lots of information from the west including a whole lot of guidance on technology and weapons – and the warning that the Americans are coming. There is a lot of references to the Unequal Treaties and stark warnings using China as an example of how a mighty, ancient and great nation in the world can be utterly abused by predatory treaties forced on them by gunboat diplomacy.

While Toru is certainly bringing in western technology and knowledge to help “save” Japan, there is a definite emphasis on the Japanese working together, working to keep themselves independent and free from brutal unequal treaties. This is not a white saviour narrative, every character in this book – except the late arriving western threat – are all Japanese and there’s even an attempt to at least make the names of the technology they’re adopting to fit Japanese pronunciation and word structure. There’s also a major point that the technology would be adapted to Japanese ways – for example, introducing sewing machines doesn’t mean that they’re going to produce western clothing – they will make yukata and hakama. To quote:

“Technology serves a culture but need not define it.”

In addition to Toru we have his two very good friends who do a lot to help him: Jiro, a peasant Blacksmith who had to overcome classism to be able to meaningful be involved and truly help and contribute to the movement. His skills were utterly essential to the overall success. The same applies to Lord Aya’s daughter Masuyo whose skills are just as essential to the movement succeeding who faces the full stifling pressure of the rigid gender roles expected of her. It’s good to see both of these representing different oppressions to overcome to add their essential skills to the movement

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