The history is fascinating, the themes interesting, and some of the dialogue is very good, but there's a lack of immediacy to things; despite all the action, there's precious little intrigue. Our protagonist has lived a life in which he has been kidnapped, sold and given away, but still feels like he's observing a lot of that fascinating history for much of the book's length. I'd love a revisionist James Clavell, but sadly I'm not sure this is it.

As much of Yasuke’s life is shrouded in mystery, he’s an excellent subject for fiction as there’s a lot of scope to be inventive. Shreve takes that opportunity when Yasuke remembers his childhood, how he was enslaved, his time with in India. However, for his time in Japan (around 18 months at the end of Oda Nobunaga’s “reign”), Shreve sticks very closely to the best English non-fiction biography of Yasuke (Lockley & Girard, 2020), even down to recounting Yasuke seeing the diving ladies in the Seto Sea. This is surely a missed opportunity to expand beyond the constraints of writing history (e.g. back up every point with a source/footnote) in the way that Hilary Mantel did with her “biography” of Thomas Cromwell (the Wolf Hall trilogy). This novel is also very male heavy, including the Japan sections (which is a key weakness of Lockley & Girard’s biography) - did none of the Japanese ladies appeal to Yasuke, even once he’d been made a samurai? Did none of the samurai around Nobunaga have a wife or spend time in female company?

If you’d like to read Yasuke’s story as fiction, this is a decent attempt to do so; if you’d like to read it as non-fiction then read Lockley & Girard. What this novel shows is that there’s great scope for historical fiction in English set in Japan and we need more writers like Shreve to attempt it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is a wonder. It brings alive the brutality — and brutalisation — of slavery. It provides credible depictions of an African village, and the Jesuits in 16th-century Asia. Above all, it revives the world of Oda Nobunaga. I admire that especially, having lived in Japan and knowing some of its history and culture. Craig Shreve shows a deep understanding of this, as well as the likely experience of a startlingly different foreigner in that country. (Was this informed in part by his own time there, I wonder?) I was so pleased that there was none of the tiresome 'Japan is inscrutable' nonsense.

The novel explores the morality of mindless and mindful violence. But at its heart, it is a study of the personalities of Nobunaga and the African warrior Yasuke, and the latter's search for an identity that had been stripped from him as a boy. He finds it in Japan:
“So many reminders of home, in this place so far away from what should have been my home. The traditions of painted faces and carved masks, and song and dance. The beliefs that we can be guided by the spirits of our ancestors. Even the legends, of holy mountains and gods that fought over the land. All these things made me wonder if maybe men everywhere were the same.”

Shocking book! As in the fact that we know nothing of this man and his life prior to reading this wonderful book, reading the synopsis I thought this was going to be similar to Last Samurai, wrong! Thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it

This book was fantastic. The title and book cover caught my eye immediately. I was thinking of the combination of Samurai culture with a African main character to be the best idea ever. Reading the synopsis made it clear that this book is based on a true story which is amazing. I did not know about Yasuke story in Japan until seeing this book. This book expands the normalisation of African presence across the globe. This is what makes this book special and unique. I loved that this focused on the empire outside of Britain which I find many books focus on instead of Portuguese and Spanish empires intervention across the globe.

This book follows a child taken from an unspecified African tribe to be a slave for the Portuguese in India. Following the diminishment of his power and voice as he is made into a slave, a solider, a guard and a Christian. As a harsh reminder he is traded to the Japanese as a 'gift'. Unexpectantly he finds himself leaning into Japanese culture, people and customs. This is a story of choosing to identify with a culture when your home has been stripped away.

I learnt alot about this man - his journey, experiences and thoughts. The author did a fantastic job in making Yasuke a complex character that was difficult not to root for. Reading about his internal thoughts about his family, culture, experiences as a slave and forming his own identity out of these experiences was crafted so well by the author. Making this iconic historical figure realistic and human.

This is posted on my goodreads linked below:

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63057794-the-african-samurai" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The African Samurai" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1688576297l/63057794._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63057794-the-african-samurai">The African Samurai</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8912797.Craig_Shreve">Craig Shreve</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5706714908">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This book was fantastic. The title and book cover caught my eye immediately. I was thinking of the combination of Samurai culture with a African main character to be the best idea ever. Reading the synopsis made it clear that this book is based on a true story which is amazing. I did not know about Yasuke story in Japan until seeing this book. This book expands the normalisation of African presence across the globe. This is what makes this book special and unique. I loved that this focused on the empire outside of Britain which I find many books focus on instead of Portuguese and Spanish empires intervention across the globe. <br /><br />This book follows a child taken from an unspecified African tribe to be a slave for the Portuguese in India. Following the diminishment of his power and voice as he is made into a slave, a solider, a guard and a Christian. As a harsh reminder he is traded to the Japanese as a 'gift'. Unexpectantly he finds himself leaning into Japanese culture, people and customs. This is a story of choosing to identify with a culture when your home has been stripped away. <br /><br /> I learnt alot about this man - his journey, experiences and thoughts. The author did a fantastic job in making Yasuke a complex character that was difficult not to root for. Reading about his internal thoughts about his family, culture, experiences as a slave and forming his own identity out of these experiences was crafted so well by the author. Making this iconic historical figure realistic and human.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/168010891-asharnai">View all my reviews</a>

Amazing book and Shreve has a very distinct authorial voice. Such a fantastic story about a man who seems to be quite forgotten by society. I'm so glad Shreve wrote this book.