In this book, Reiko plays a central role and draws heavily on the martial arts training her father provided her. If you don't care for this aspect of the series, you may not like this novel. If you enjoy the spotlight on the Reiko character, you'll love this book.


An Entertaining Departure from Formula, But With A Trade-Off   May 18, 2005
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Dragon King's Palace marks something of a break from formula in Rowland's Sano Ichiro novels, in that it's a faster-paced kidnapping drama rather than the typical Ichiro murder mystery. As such it's a more cinematic story - along the lines of an action-adventure film - and a more vigorous page-turner. This makes for an entertaining read, but with something of a downside: It lacks the complexity of some of Rowland's previous Ichiro books, particularly the immediately preceding volume, "Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria" which represents perhaps Rowland's most in-depth plotting. You're essentially trading some depth and richness in storytelling for a more compelling pace.

Three particular details stand out in this volume, one positive and two negative: Dragon King marks the first time that Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi takes some decisive (albeit minor,) independent action. It's such a departure that it's out of character, but any sign of rationality from that character is a definite plus.

His otherwise senile indecisiveness and malleability, however, borders on lunacy - and that element, also developing in a more malevolent way here in the character of Lady Yanagasawa, is the literary equivalent of a short-circuit. Anyone who's suffered through any given French art film - where at least one protagonist must either already be or become insane as a matter of course - knows the groan-inducing betrayal created by the "insane character" cop-out. It's too convenient for the writer and too arbitrary for the intellect of the reader, therefore must be used carefully or not at all. It doesn't get too bad in Dragon King, but the emergence of the phenomenon in the Lady Yanagasawa character and to a degree within the Shogun's mother Keisho-in, is worrisome for those who plan on reading future Ichiro novels.

Another criticism lies in a missed opportunity. At one point Ichiro is faced with a genuine moral choice, that rarity of rarities that was once the backbone of great romantic fiction. We've all heard the phrase "show, don't tell" in context of character development. A moral dilemma is the only means by which the true underlying character of a protagonist (or antagonist) can be demonstrated in a lasting way - a point of spectacular confusion in writer Orson Scott Card's recent (May 03, 2005) unintentionally-comedic editorial diatribe against the Star Trek series. (Despite its cheap television production values, Star Trek turned the classic morality play into a weekly art form, and its writers did it by demonstrating timeless issues - like honesty, integrity, volition, reason, liberty and human rights, in the actions of the principle characters.)

Sano is called to honor a pre-existing promise to enemies with whom he has a tenuous truce - but rather than demonstrating his integrity without hesitation, thereby enriching the strength of the character and presenting an opportunity for a dramatic new direction in the series, Sano instead dithers in moral indecision, balks, then only begrudgingly agrees to stick to his word. The opportunity is blown, the scene falls flat, and Sano is left as a pedestrian everyman clouded in an ethical fog. Aaargh.

If you can overlook those negatives, Dragon King is a rousing adventure story with castle strongholds, damsels in distress, races against time, backstabbing treachery, and admirable strength in its convincing exposition of the villain's motives. What it lacks in richness of atmosphere and plot detail that was so effective in the previous "Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria," is compensated for by its addictive foray into thriller territory