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A review by sambora
Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
2.0
I have spent the last 9 months listening, on and off, to the audiobook of Musashi and I can safely say that I am glad that I didn't try a print version, for I am certain that it would have been a DNF for me.
At it's core, Musashi is the story of a young man from Japan who grows up to be a renowned master of the way of the sword. Over the course of the 50+ hour long story, he encounters new sword fighting techniques and learns the skills and attributes that are required and expected of an honourable Ronin.
He studies philosophy, is taught humility, modesty, trust and how to train and teach others by a variety of other characters that he meets whilst on his journey for self-improvement and self-mastery.
This premise is what sold me on the book. I wanted a slow-burn Samurai adventure story. And, in a way, I got too much of what I was looking for - as well as some things that I definitely could have done with less of.
To start off with the obvious; 53 hours is too long. I feel as though this story could have been cut down into 20 hours and it would have still had all of it's major beats and all the more exciting and important events still in there.
There is so much repetition and going in circles, as well as huge chunks of the book in which it feels as though no forward progress is made.
The characters were also entirely two-dimensional. And don't even get me started on the sickeningly weak romance that is played out throughout the entire 1000 pages!
Otsu, a childhood friend of Mushashi (who is then known as Takezo), follows him across the country, trying to find him, win him over and convince him to show her love.
He declines and turns her away multiple times, not because he doesn't love her in return, rather simply because he doesn't wish for their relationship to get between him and his personal goal of mastering the sword.
But yes... she continues to trail him, with fate, destiny, coincidence and dumb luck bringing them together over and over again. It got so terribly boring and predictable.
Musashi also has two separate pupils at different times in the story, Jotaro and "Jotaro.2" - I label the character as such because I have completely forgotten the second character's actual name and he is ostensibly the same person as the original Jotaro.
There are dozens and dozens of characters and none of them felt like real people at all.
Plus the female characters are all either just pawns in the men's games, simple and shallow love interests or they are manipulative and bitter old crones - scheming against our honourable and virtuous male characters.
As for the setting and the themes, they are definitely the strongest part of the story. Those that are interested in period Japanese culture or want to see the morals and ethics of Sun Tzu's 'The Art Of War' exemplified in a fictional epic - you will certainly find more in this book than I did. But be aware, as stated above, that there is a LOT of fluff and filler surrounding that which you are looking for.
For those of you here for the action, similarly, there is certainly good quality swordplay and dueling, as well as moments of covert and military strategy, but these scenes are always relatively short lived and buried within the wider scope of book in general.
As I have already mentioned, the story's unspoken reliance on extraordinary coincidences is probably my biggest problem with Musashi as a whole. With an entire country to explore, the way our protagonist bumps into the same 4 or 5 characters dozens of times throughout the story just led to such a stale overarching sense of progress and development.
I know that I am in the minority regarding these opinions, but this book just wasn't for me. The fact that it took me 9 months to listen to it says enough, it wasn't what I wanted it to be and I know that's on me.
I am sure many people will enjoy (or have enjoyed) such an epic, and I am happy for them, but I cannot say that I enjoyed my time with this audiobook.
___________________________
Thank you for reading my review.
Musashi has been in my 'currently reading' for so long and I am relived to have finally finished it and to be able to start a new audiobook to listen to alongside all my physical reads.
Up next for review will either be [b:The Tower of Fools|48717387|The Tower of Fools (Hussite Trilogy, #1)|Andrzej Sapkowski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585632089l/48717387._SY75_.jpg|7038935] by Andrzej Sapkowski or Book 4 in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King; [b:Wizard and Glass|13083063|Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4)|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327411941l/13083063._SY75_.jpg|750558], depending on which one I finish first.
I hope that anyone reading this is doing well and that you are enjoying whatever book you are reading at the moment!
At it's core, Musashi is the story of a young man from Japan who grows up to be a renowned master of the way of the sword. Over the course of the 50+ hour long story, he encounters new sword fighting techniques and learns the skills and attributes that are required and expected of an honourable Ronin.
He studies philosophy, is taught humility, modesty, trust and how to train and teach others by a variety of other characters that he meets whilst on his journey for self-improvement and self-mastery.
This premise is what sold me on the book. I wanted a slow-burn Samurai adventure story. And, in a way, I got too much of what I was looking for - as well as some things that I definitely could have done with less of.
To start off with the obvious; 53 hours is too long. I feel as though this story could have been cut down into 20 hours and it would have still had all of it's major beats and all the more exciting and important events still in there.
There is so much repetition and going in circles, as well as huge chunks of the book in which it feels as though no forward progress is made.
The characters were also entirely two-dimensional. And don't even get me started on the sickeningly weak romance that is played out throughout the entire 1000 pages!
Otsu, a childhood friend of Mushashi (who is then known as Takezo), follows him across the country, trying to find him, win him over and convince him to show her love.
He declines and turns her away multiple times, not because he doesn't love her in return, rather simply because he doesn't wish for their relationship to get between him and his personal goal of mastering the sword.
But yes... she continues to trail him, with fate, destiny, coincidence and dumb luck bringing them together over and over again. It got so terribly boring and predictable.
Musashi also has two separate pupils at different times in the story, Jotaro and "Jotaro.2" - I label the character as such because I have completely forgotten the second character's actual name and he is ostensibly the same person as the original Jotaro.
There are dozens and dozens of characters and none of them felt like real people at all.
Plus the female characters are all either just pawns in the men's games, simple and shallow love interests or they are manipulative and bitter old crones - scheming against our honourable and virtuous male characters.
As for the setting and the themes, they are definitely the strongest part of the story. Those that are interested in period Japanese culture or want to see the morals and ethics of Sun Tzu's 'The Art Of War' exemplified in a fictional epic - you will certainly find more in this book than I did. But be aware, as stated above, that there is a LOT of fluff and filler surrounding that which you are looking for.
For those of you here for the action, similarly, there is certainly good quality swordplay and dueling, as well as moments of covert and military strategy, but these scenes are always relatively short lived and buried within the wider scope of book in general.
As I have already mentioned, the story's unspoken reliance on extraordinary coincidences is probably my biggest problem with Musashi as a whole. With an entire country to explore, the way our protagonist bumps into the same 4 or 5 characters dozens of times throughout the story just led to such a stale overarching sense of progress and development.
I know that I am in the minority regarding these opinions, but this book just wasn't for me. The fact that it took me 9 months to listen to it says enough, it wasn't what I wanted it to be and I know that's on me.
I am sure many people will enjoy (or have enjoyed) such an epic, and I am happy for them, but I cannot say that I enjoyed my time with this audiobook.
___________________________
Thank you for reading my review.
Musashi has been in my 'currently reading' for so long and I am relived to have finally finished it and to be able to start a new audiobook to listen to alongside all my physical reads.
Up next for review will either be [b:The Tower of Fools|48717387|The Tower of Fools (Hussite Trilogy, #1)|Andrzej Sapkowski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585632089l/48717387._SY75_.jpg|7038935] by Andrzej Sapkowski or Book 4 in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King; [b:Wizard and Glass|13083063|Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4)|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327411941l/13083063._SY75_.jpg|750558], depending on which one I finish first.
I hope that anyone reading this is doing well and that you are enjoying whatever book you are reading at the moment!