Shōgun, Part One cover art

Shōgun, Part One

The Asian Saga

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Shōgun, Part One

By: James Clavell
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
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About this listen

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, thrilling 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
Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Heartfelt

What listeners say about Shōgun, Part One

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Great book!

The story is compelling, gives details the show couldn’t, and can only recommend very strongly. The performance is very good, but sometimes I would forget which character was being voiced. Still a very good performance though.

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Great adventure

I enjoyed the level of detail about customs of Japan during feudal time period. I didn’t realise it was actually two parts. So initially was like what this is the end? Horrible leaving me hanging without closure! Lolol!! I Am onto part 2.

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Translations are well versed

The performance of each translated conversations are well enacted such that they were easy to follow

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1 person found this helpful

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How did I manage to read the paperback edition!

I enjoyed listening to the first part of Shogun, It's such a BIG story in so many ways. I don't know how I ever managed to read the paperback edition in my 20s (back in the early 1980s)!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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This is not the whole book

what happened to the rest of the story its nowhere near complete I don't think its fair to pay for this book

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A great listen

Great story line and we'll narrated. You can picture the story situation. Good use of different character voices

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Enjoyed but wanted more…

I really enjoyed Shogun. It was what I expected, but I wanted more. I didn’t realise it was one book in a series and I’ll continue on with the series, but I feel like as a stand alone offering, this could have been more exciting.

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Brilliant Novel, excellently read.

The TV show was great, the book is even better. Definitely worth a try if you have just watched the show.

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Shogun: By chapter 5 I’d had more than enough

Ponderous, dreary and tedious. I only stuck it out so long because of the cost of the book.

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a bit slow for me

a bit slow for me. I do listen while I work and at times it's was a bit hard to follow.

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