#15 in Classics
Shōgun
- 1,121
- Pages
- about 21 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Shōgun” is a vast novel of power and manoeuvre in feudal Japan, seen through an Englishman stranded among customs he cannot read. Its strength is patience: more than eleven hundred pages give the alliances, betrayals and love affairs room to develop, and politics matters as much as swordplay. The length is the obvious commitment. It is a book for readers who enjoy court intrigue and long immersion in another culture.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The classic epic novel of feudal Japan that captured the heart of a culture and the imagination of the world, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James Clavell 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, Shōgun 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 also one of the highest-rated television miniseries, as well as inspiring a nationwide surge of interest in the culture of Japan.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 563 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 79% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Classics average of 7.7. That is how 8.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 24 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 8.6 | 539 | 96% |
Frequently asked
How long is Shōgun?
It has 1,121 pages — longer than 99% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 7.8 and 8.1, closest to this book.
