Product Description

Into a realm of samurai and geishas, ninjas and Zen masters comes a man and a woman from the West, and the destiny of a nation that has been closed to the outside world for 250 years is about to change forever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51814 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Cloud of Sparrows slings an impressive amount of full-blooded plot material at us along with an intelligent weighing out of historical fact. Young Lord Genji is a samurai whose blood feuds with the Shogun go back centuries--his family have predictive powers that have shown him that his future lies in forming alliances with the incoming Americans. Emily is a young missionary who considers Japan to be a place where her looks will be considered hideous and she will be free of male attention; Heiko is the most beautiful geisha of her generation, and also a ninja assassin who has fallen in love with her prospective victim, Genji. And Stark is a gunslinger posing as missionary who has come to Japan to find a man he has sworn to kill.

The strength of all this lies, in part, in the fact that both sets of characters are as exotic to us as they are to each other--Takashi Matsuoka is wittily smart about how much things change in a century and a half. He also writes brilliantly and excitingly when describing a scene of battle, a gun or sword duel. This is a startlingly good debut. --Roz Kaveney

From the Publisher
'A marvellous read' Publishing News

About the Author
Takashi Matsuoka was born in Japan and raised in the United States. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was employed at a Zen Buddhist temple before becoming a full-time writer. Cloud of Sparrows is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

An incredible insight.
First of all, I picked this book up by chance and I have never been more glad to have done so. I usually read works by authors such as Tolkien, Eddings, Tad Williams, Wilbur Smith and Robert Jordan. But this book (Cloud of Sparrows) is after only 100 pages in the top five of my favourites.

I cannot describe this book in anyway that it deserves. It is Takashi Matsuoka's first book, and is a tale of when East meets West. Filled with glorious honour of the Samurai, the devious Ninja as well as the gunslingers and quick draws of the west.

The fights and battles are told in a way that will make you feel alive within the book, though the best aspect of it has to be...you are not bogged down by continous prose. Every second is filled with battle, intrigue or sensuality.

A real insight to the culture of Japan and America in the 19th century and how different they can be.

But be warned, if you start this book you will finish it in one day. It is that good that you will never want to put it down, the only reason I gave the book 4 stars...it is too short. All I can do is wait until Matsuoka brings out another book of such proportions that will change my view of the world forever.

Lewis

The begining of an epic - I hope!
It's very difficult not to draw comparison with Shogun and Cloud of Sparrows. Both contain the same elements and both sweep you into a past world you both long to, and are glad not to, be a part of.

I enjoy the complexity of the interaction of the 4 central characters. It is predominantly written from a Samurai Lord's point of view; however the central characters grab your interest from the get go. The ruling Lord cursed / gifted with the sight, his famously beautiful Geisha, lover or traitor? Then there are the 2 outsider missionaries Mathew Stark, an old west Ranger and perhaps fated to save the Samurai Lord or could it be Emily, the beauty only comfortable being considered hideous by Japanese standards. This should not detract from the well superbly written cast of support characters but are too many to mention here.

This is the type of book that when it is finished you have to drag yourself out of its pages and feel sorrow at the end of its telling. My only hope is that this story grows like the Wheel of Time series so that I can enjoy many years pleasure from it.

I started reading this book a few hours ago and I have only put it down to write this review to let you know how great it is.

Buy it, read it, love it!

brilliant books
What can I say? Read both cloud of sparrows and autumn bridge in less than 3days. If you enjoyed Shogun - get them, if you enjoyed Last Samurai - get them (they're better!). If you've come here by mistake -still get them!
An excellent riveting pair of books. Explores the human psyche, love, honour, betrayal, friendship. Epsisodes of high suspence and tension. Plus samurai, ninja, gunslingers, mongol hordes, zen priests all whilst spanning Japan's history from 1281 to 1953. I can only hope there will be more to come from this exemplary author!