Just couldn't quite bring myself to give this 5 stars.

David has taken the tales of Miyamoto Musashi and created his own story from these, so some of this is loosely based in what is told of the real man and some of this is based entirely from David's imagination.

All told, it works really well, but there just seems a step too far here and there, which, for me at least, was distracting a little. While it has been compared to Shogun by some, for me, it just doesn't have that same level of believability to it.

But then, if i want the real tales of Musashi then i could, of course, go and read them.

It certainly keeps you reading. It's pretty much non stop without the annoying pregnant pauses of most stories and David really does portray the period very well.

All in all, i got this book and the next in the series for 99p each on Kindle - which is an absolute bargain for this kind of story telling - and i'll be diving back into Musashi's world in the second book later today after finishing a little short story i picked up - i'm looking forward to it very much. ( )

ARE YOU SAMURAI? A lot of this book made me say WOW. Lots of other parts made me ask HUH?

This is a book on the fictionalized author of "The Book of Five Rings" (which is a five star book). Not a lot is known about Miyamoto Musashi and the facts can be more stories than fact. There's lots of conflicting information. Also there is more than enough riches to sculpt a story of a legendary samurai.

Some of the book was brilliant giving a window into the world of the samurai, a world of uncompromising honor and death. Deaths were painful to read (in a good storytelling way). Some of the book was compromising. I was willing to overlook the fact the characters cursed in modern prose. The bigger problem I feel like scenes/chapters were omitted.

For a while this book toyed with a 5 star rating. In the end, the ending was too dull or maybe over my head. Overall the pluses outweighed the minuses.






( )

This is an entertaining enjoyable read, descriptive well researched and written, with engaging characters and a real sense of the time and place, where Samurai rule and our young hero learns from his estranged father the way of the warrior.
Recommended ( )

Bennosuke ist ein Kind von 13 Jahren und ein Samurai. Erlebt bei seinem Onkel Dorinbo, weil seine Mutter tot und sein Vater ihn einfach zurückgelassen hatte, als er das Dorf verlies. Der Onkel möchte, dass Bennosuke Mönch wird, der aber will ein großer Samurai werden wie sein Vater.
Nach einer Schlacht kommt der Vater, Munisai, zurück in sein Dorf, weil er verletzt ist. Bennosuke fürchtet seinen Vater, und Munisai verachtet seinen Sohn, weil ihn die Vergangenheit verfolgt.
Als ein Feind Munisais im Dorf auftaucht, kämpft Bennosuke anstelle seines Vaters, dessen Verletzung nicht heilt, und siegt. Nachdem ihn sein Vater weggeschickt hat, um Racheakte zu verhindern, wird Bennosuke angegriffen und verteidigt sich. Aus Ehrengründen soll er Seppuku begehen, aber sein Vater opfert sich. Trotzdem muss Bennosuke fliehen. Er gibt sich einen neuen Namen: Musashi Miyamoto. Sein einziges Ziel ist, seinen Vater zur rächen. Der Weg dahin ist grausam und voller Gefahren.
Die Geschichte beruht teilweise auf historischen Tatsachen, teilweise ist sie erfunden. Viele der Personen haben wirklich gelebt.
Das Buch gibt einen guten Überblick über eine Welt, die uns sehr fremd ist. „Das Gesicht nicht zu verlieren“ und Ehre sind überaus wichtig. Begeht man Seppuku ohne ein Leidenszeichen, wird auch vom Feind ehrenvoll über einen geredet.
Ein ganz tolles und spannendes Buch. Der Schreibstil ist flüssig und gut zu lesen, wenn man sich erst einmal an die vielen Personen mit den fremden Namen gewöhnt hat. Die sehr brutalen und blutigen Szenen sind eindrucksvoll beschrieben.
Auch die Gestaltung des Buches hat mir gut gefallen, sei es das Cover oder die japanischen Zeichen zu Kapitelbeginn.
Ein Buch, das ich nur empfehlen kann. ( )

Child of Vengeance is about Bennosuke, the son of the great samurai Munisai, and his coming of age.

I've never read a samurai story before or anything on Japanese history. However I have always liked stories about WW1 and WW2 so I thought I would give this novel a try.
The main characters were well developed and it was easy to connect with them.
Bennosuke being shy and withdrawn having lived alone with his uncle the priest and thinking that the villagers shunned him because of his rash.
Dorinbo the uncle,wanting Bennosuke to follow in his footsteps but knowing one day Munisai may one day return and take Bennosuke away.
Munasai,the great samurai, praised by all but living with the demons of his past actions.
With Munisai we saw beneath the tough unemotional exterior of a samurai to see his true feelings and thoughts.His love for his son and brother and, realised too late, the love for his wife.
Bennosuke was kept in solitude with only his uncle to bring him up. His father taught him how to fight like a samurai. However, Bennosuke ended up fighting like a samurai but thinking like a monk.
Whenever he was in a battle it was like run,fight,run,fight. Bennosuke always seemed to be in conflict with what he thought a samurai would do and what he actually wanted to do.
The amount of lethal scrapes he managed to get out of amazed me. Amaterasu must have surely been looking out for him.
I don't know anything about the history of Japan or the Samurai,so this was simply a great fictional read for me. ( )