OK, who read this entire book? I just finished it yesterday.

Interesting read, I specially liked the historical information, but...well, I wouldn´t say it is badly written, it is not, but Yoshikawa does something I really, really hate - he suddendly starts to explain a character´s motivations and personality quirks, WITHOUT GIVING ANY PREVIOUS CLUE ABOUT THAT CHARACTER´S MOTIVATIONS, just to justify an action that character is going to execute.

I consider that very, very lame.

Other than that, the story and the scenes are interesting enough, and the fight scenes are done well, at least in my opinion. I was never a great fan of overly detailed descriptions of fight scenes, Yoshikawa just describes the emotional state of the fighters, gives a reasonably detailed description of the scenario, and then describes the results of the blows. I really hate those descriptions of fights which look more like lessons on anatomy than a description of a fluid, dangerous encounter. He only rarely resorts to describing specific moves, and he does that only in important occasions - when Musashi fights a random bandit, the bandit dies with a broken skull or is decapitated, and that´s that.

Not a bad book, not at all, but I heard it was originally published in small sequels in a japanese newspaper, and it shows.

Your opinions?

I have the book, Lisa got it for me last Christmas and I haven't had a chance to start it, basically because when I start it, I won't put it down till I am done, but I don't have the time right now...

Still, from what I gather from others that have read it and are into kenjutsu and musashi lore, it is well written, though not that historically correct, alot of fiction is put into it ( which is fine since it is a novel based on a true character rather than a biography).

Technique wise, if you are familiar with kenjutsu and the Niten-ryu in particular, you can "guess: as to what technique Musashi used, but I can see it being frustrating to a person with no knowledge of swordsmanship.

I take it there is the infamous "bathhouse" story, yes?

Bathhouse? Ah yes, there is an ambush inside a bathhouse, that´s still by the beginning of the book. And I didn´t find it frustrating kenjutsu-wise, even thought I don´t know one end of a sword from the other: Yoshikawa described the fights and the techniques in a very general way, enough so, I think, that kendoka won´t sweat bullets trying to imagine where his thumb is placed in relation to his saya, and that laymen like me will just nod and say "cool, that sounds like it could work".

Then what's your problem bitch ???

The way Yoshikawa suddendly describes and develops a character´s personality just to justify an action that character will execute, without giving any previous thought about such character, that´s my problem with the book. It´s all too obvious, see - there are not many clues as to people´s motivations and personality, not even to their development.

He even does that to Musashi.

Also, when he does try to explain someone´s personality and thoughts, he does that in an obvious way, not giving the reader any chance to think for himself, to imagine for himself how that character thinks. You will understand when you read the book: it is an interesting read, but it was obviously made for a newspaper.

So the characters, including Musashi, are very one dimensional?

Yes, unfortunately they are two dimensional, most of the time.

You can usually get an idea of their personalities by their actions, but most of the time Yoshikawa very obviously TELLS you how that person is feeling or what he is thinking at the moment, and the end result is that they remain two dimensional. As the book proggresses, you can see some of their personalities developing, but even that process still seems quite artificial, because it is constantly explained by the writer, and this, personally, I think is a pain in the ass.

Quite frankly, I skipped some pages of the book in order to get to the fight scenes.

But the historical descriptions are very interesting, even if they are not terribly accurate. But it is indeed strange when some random bandit starts to explain the to someone the details of a battle which happened at that very plain decades ago, and the political problems which led to such a battle...

much like here on Bullshido...

Read the book, it is an interesting read. But I don´t thnk you will read it non stop, I took a two years break between chapters.

Actually, I am kind of anally retentive about reading, when I pick something up, IF I like it, I won't read anything else till I am done.

So am I, but that book is looong and sometimes it gets really boring. But that´s my opinion, it may be that you find it to be the best thing ever created since sliced bread, who knows.