Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Shogun

Shogun
Shogun
Author: James Clavell
Shipwrecked English adventurer, John Blackthorn, finds himself a key figure in a vast power struggle that is to plunge medieval Japan into civil war. Set in the exotic world of Oriental intrigue, passions, discipline, courage, and rigid moral and martial codes.
ISBN-13: 9780440178002
ISBN-10: 0440178002
Publication Date: 6/1/1976
Pages: 1,152
Rating:
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 193

4.2 stars, based on 193 ratings
Publisher: Dell
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 6
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

stocktonmalonefan avatar reviewed Shogun on + 58 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
One of the best books I've ever read! I love this story and found its characters unforgettable. This is a rare story that makes you see the world through different eyes. I felt I learned a great deal about ancient Japanese culture during the time of the Samurai. I even learned a little bit of the language. After reading this--I had to see the movie with Richard Chamberlain which is very good as well. Highly recommend this book!
reviewed Shogun on + 224 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This is one of the best books I have ever read, I could hardly put it down. If you have never read Shogun, I would highly recomend it.
wgw avatar reviewed Shogun on + 136 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I hurried home at lunch while on a business trip to read more of this great novel. Absolutely the best by James Clavell!!
reviewed Shogun on + 36 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Some books are hard to part with. I wouldn't trade Shogun for, well....all the tea in China. However, knowing that you'll appreciate it, and walk away a better person for having read this masterpiece, makes it worth it to me. This book will embarass the writers of "Geisha" and "The Last Samuri". ENJOY!!
reviewed Shogun on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
The first in Clavell's "Asian Saga" a very good read, though quite long at 1000+ pages. Very moving, even until the last pages.
Read All 28 Book Reviews of "Shogun"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

daredevilgirl013 avatar reviewed Shogun on + 746 more book reviews
I could not get into this book at all. Too many characters, too many details, jumping back and forth between main characters narrating without any notice. Then when they spoke Japanese, there was no translation so you were just lost as to what they were saying. I lasted 100 pages and even then it took me a month to read those 100.
reviewed Shogun on + 29 more book reviews
Enjoyed it.
reviewed Shogun on + 7 more book reviews
A good read.
reviewed Shogun on + 6 more book reviews
excllent book, first in the Clavell Asia series. good read
reviewed Shogun on + 3 more book reviews
This is a re-read for me. The book was well done. A good story. Really a page-turner. I have been a fan of James Clavell's writing for many years. His research seems to have been impeccable. I do not recommend this book if you want a quick read. If you read to absorb the story and the history of those early days in Japan, this is a great book!
SutterTom avatar reviewed Shogun on + 191 more book reviews
A terrific historical novel of Japan at the beginning of the 17th century told through the interactions & struggles of a bold English adventurer & a ruthless Japanese warlord. An insightful look at both the Japanese & the English cultures of the time and how they inform both those cultures today.
Piper avatar reviewed Shogun on
A bold English adventuer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in a mighty saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust and the struggle for power.
reviewed Shogun on + 22 more book reviews
Most exciting read. I could not put it down. Long ago the mini-series did not do this book justice. This is the beginning in the series of Clavell books regarding history of Asia.


Genres: