Sam's Reviews > Musashi

I read this novel about four years ago. At the time, the teacher for whom I was doing a book report on this novel, thought I was insane for picking such a long and complex novel. I vaguely remember someone else in my class reading The Bourne Supremacy.

I would have this tied with I, Claudius for the best historical fiction I've yet to read. Telling the tale of Miyamoto Musashi, the sword-saint of Japan, it begins with his rural boyhood and ends with a final showdown between the great warrior and his rival.

For such a revered man, the author depicts him as a clear anti-hero, especially during his early years before he officially rose from the peasant class to that of the Samurai. This novel really is a momentous epic, giving the feeling of actually living in Tokugawa-era Japan - something that comes across in a remarkably accessible way to this westerner.