This entry to the Asian Saga isn't nearly as good as its two predecessors. Although it has the same gripping prose that can suck you in, it's much too long and has too little substance. Hardly anything of importance happens in the first 500 pages! The second half is much better, with increasing stakes in all story lines, and the satisfying conclusion wants to trick you into thinking the whole journey was satisfying. I haven't yet forgotten the 100 descriptions of the same character's tits or occasionally wanting to piff the book across the room, bored out of my brain. The good bits are still good, but there are way too many mediocre or bad bits to balance out.

History rich, a deeper look into the Western presence in Japan, 1862. Dangerous, lots of blood, samurais, spies, prostitutes - another well crafted masterpiece. The building tension between the Japanese and the foreigners ... couldn't put it down the last half.

Not as good as shogun but I still enjoyed it. It was definitely too long though with too many unnecessary twists and details at the very end.

Unfortunately Goodreads doesn’t heave a “Not finished” shelf.

Let’s talk about why this book is awful and I couldn’t finish it!

First off, I have two other James Clavell books. Shogun and Tai-Pan are fantastic epics that really a reader can emerge themselves in. I loved them so much I bought all of his other books.

I started this one and was able to get about 200 pages and had to put it down. There wasn’t a central character of interest. There were many, but none that the reader could get behind and explore the world Clavell created. It was like he was showing us all the pieces of the puzzle too early and not a single center piece.

Now, I’m all for an epic with 100 characters. If a book has over 800 pages, I’m instantly intrigued. This book didn’t allow me to get to know the world or the characters. It was too much back and forth.

Lastly, and SPOILER if you plan on reading it, the main female character storyline revolves around sexual violence... within the first 70 pages. I’m DONE with men writing plot for female characters that revolve around this. I couldn’t let it go. I did a little digging to see if there was something to it, like if it served the overall plot and it seems it happens to her AGAIN. COME. ON. Enough with this narrative! Give me more.

I know in previous experiences that Clavell really shines at the three hundred page mark, but I couldn’t bring myself to finish. This is probably the first time I’ve stopped reading with no intention of picking it back up.

I liked it. Not as much as Shogun or Tai-Pan but it was a good read and I would recommend it to fans of Clavell's other work.

DNF- I really wanted to like this book, but it has aged horribly. The playing fast and loose with history and the gross sexism, particularly when speaking of Angelique made it a big no from me.
Also knowing the history it was based on was also jarring and made me go and no. Just not one of his best.

Alas, I don't think I'll ever finish this book. I picked it up because Clavell's "Shogun" was amazing, but "Gai-Jin" failed to live up to my expectations. I made the effort to slog through 400 pages, but, having done, I'm still searching for a main plot to follow. Unsure who to sympathize with, confused with where this is going and uninvolved emotionally with the characters, I can't see taking the time to read yet another 600 pages. Clavell failed to develop his characters and a multitude of story lines left me feeling confused and uninterested in anyone's final fate.

Although Gai-Jin was the last of James Clavell's "Asian Saga" to be published, it falls in the middle of the timeline of that series of books.

In it, Clavell returns to the Far East after the disappointing Whirlwind, set during Iran's 1979 revolution, and more specifically returns to Japan for the first time since Shōgun. It was the last book he would write, passing away a little more than a year after it was released in 1993.

By 1862, some ten years after U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan into opening trade with Western nations, several have established business headquarters there as they try to move into Japanese markets. Among them are Struan's, the Noble House established in Tai-Pan, and their bitter rivals, Brock's. The presence of the foreign trade delegations and diplomats is a source of tension in isolationist Japan, which is undergoing political upheaval in the twilight years of the Toronaga shōgunate. Neither Europeans nor Japanese understand the other's culture, and the knowledge gap leads to an attack on four Europeans out riding one afternoon. One is killed, and two are wounded, one seriously. A woman riding with them escapes. The seriously wounded man is Malcolm Struan, grandson of Struan's late founder Dirk Struan, and the woman Angelique Richaud. During Malcolm's slow recovery, he and Angelique develop a relationship, which does not particularly please Malcolm's mother Tess, the tai-pan or director of Hong Kong-based Struan's in all but name since her husband is unable to lead the company.

In the meantime, Lord Toranaga Yoshi, the guardian of the boy Shōgun until he attains his majority, must deal with rebels who seek to overthrow the shōgunate and restore the emperor to real power. He also must handle his fellow council members who believe he, like his namesake ancestor, covets the shōgunate itself.

As always, Clavell weaves a story that knows when to canter, when to trot and when to gallop headlong down the road. He is much more in his element in the Far East than he was in the Middle East and that gives Gai-Jin a sense of confidence Whirlwind didn't have. The connection with history -- the roadside attack and other incidents in Gai-Jin are based on actual events -- grounds the book more solidly than Noble House, which didn't have real-world analogs to root in.

Although it's his best book since Shōgun, Gai-Jin lacks the former's punch and focus. Part of the problem are the historical tie-ins. The arc of Shōgun bent towards Clavell's fictionalized version of the Battle of Sekigahara that put Tokugawa Ieyasu in power as the Shōgun, or absolute dictator, of Japan. Both the story of the English sea pilot John Blackthorne and Toronaga, Clavell's stand-in for Tokugawa, were aimed at a climactic resolution.

The historical arc of Gai-Jin bends towards the waning years of the shōgunate, leading up to Japan's industrialization and the Meiji Restoration of imperial power, which can hardly match a battle for impact. The Japanese storyline of Gai-Jin lacks the focus of the Europeans' side of things, and may have been Clavell setting the stage for later books in the series. It would be hard to imagine him not being able to find a story in the middle of the events that themselves set the stage for Japan's role in World War II.

Either way, Gai-Jin is a long read that keeps the journey worthwhile through most of its thousand-plus pages. Clavell's ear for dialogue helps the story bear down and his understanding that the story must always move forward, especially when the book is a thousand-plus pages, makes Gai-Jin a good way to spend a couple weeks worth of afternoons in its company.

Original available here.