Shōgun, Part One

The Asian Saga, Book 1.1

By: James Clavell

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

By the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James Clavell’s Shogun is soon to be a major FX/Hulu TV series!

Shogun, the classic epic novel of feudal Japan that captured the heart of a culture and the imagination of the world, is now available for the first time in serial format. Part One contains the first half of the complete novel.

After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen—Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne’s loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss, and he is torn between two worlds that will each be forever changed.

Powerful and engrossing, capturing both the rich pageantry and stark realities of life in feudal Japan, Shogun is a critically acclaimed powerhouse of a book. Heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat action melds seamlessly with intricate historical detail and raw human emotion. Endlessly compelling, this sweeping saga captivated the world to become not only one of the best-selling novels of all time but one of the highest-rated television miniseries, as well as inspiring a nationwide surge of interest in the culture of Japan. Shakespearean in both scope and depth, Shogun is, as the New York Times put it, ‘'not only something you read—you live it.’‘

Also available: Shogun: Part Two

©1975 James Clavell (P)2015 Blackstone Publishing

Weird audio editing

The narrator is good but the editing is so distracting that I’m finding it hard to look past and fully immerse myself in the story. There is this weird fade out at the end of many sentences that just makes the words sound cut in half to the point of not knowing what the guy is saying.

Wonderful story, issues w/Whispersync & fade out

Amazing story. Lister has a great voice and delivery.

Two cons, perhaps more specific to my tastes:

First, I love the Whispersync feature between Kindle and Audible. As far as I can tell, this audiobook version of Shogun is not connected to my kindle version. So my drives/workouts become challenging to sync manually when I read at night. Maybe this was disclosed on the audible purchase, but it wasn't obvious when I bought this Part 1 version of Shogun.

Second, throughout the reading the narrator's voice will trail/fade out into the last few words, to the point where you can't hear the words sometimes. Think of a cross fade option on Spotify between tracks. Its annoying and happens with regularity.

Great Political Thriller

Really great first half. While I thought the descriptions of certain events could have been done with less pages, the book is well done. It’s wonderfully read as well by the narrator. Really adds to the experience.

The writing is fantastic

The narrator is awful. He drops his voice to an inaudible level so often I have to rewind and crank the volume just to hear the words. His characterizations are laughable and distracting.

the difference in accents used to portray certain characters helped a lot.

I was trying to hear it alongside the show but I think they rearranged some chapters or didn't follow everything in the book.