I'm not much one for historical biographies, although I do enjoy historical fiction from time to time. Yasuke, frustratingly, is often both and neither of these things.

I bought the book on hearing the news that a film is being planned about Yasuke's life. I hadn't heard of Yasuke before and am partial to a samurai story, so off I went.

Overall, I think it's a good book. Yasuke's story is interesting, there's a lot of court intrigue (anyone who has read Shogun will find themselves at home here) and it is thrilling to know that this person once existed and lived such a varied life.

The issue that I had with this is that the writer doesn't seem able to pick a party line and stick to it. Hence we have sequences where Yasuke mops his brow standing at a ship rail, interspersed with author conjecture because sources are unclear as to what happened next. I doubt it's written down anywhere that Yasuke was particularly sweaty on a ship one day... I personally would decide whether or not you're writing a biography or a piece of fiction.