Oliver, Gloria
IN SERVICE OF SAMURAI
Gloria Oliver
Zumaya Publications 2002
Pb 310, pages
ISBN#
1-894869-67-2
This is a charming young-adult novel set in
feudal Japan. The main character--fifteen-year-old Toshi--is a
peasant apprentice to a mapmaker, who has been taught to read and
use 'gaijin' instruments of navigation. So it is when Lord Asaka
comes for a map and Toshi's master is absent, the samurai lays down
a bag of coins to buy Toshi and takes the boy away before he can
squeal a complaint. Away to sea. Away with an entire crew of
undead. [One is easily reminded of the movie Pirates of the
Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.]
Toshi doesn't at first get along well with this
dead ship and crew. The cold hand of death creeps upon him when he
sleeps, making him ill. But there is a mystery to be solved: Why
can't the honorable Lord Asaka, his sweet geisha, and hard-working
crew find peace in death? Why are they wandering the seas,
restless? Why do they continue needing Toshi's help even after his
skills of navigation bring them to the far shore they seek?
Why do ninja seek to kill Toshi?
Toshi finds himself on a quest for an odd
object that appears valueless, yet as the price for this object
grows into lives of men, Toshi must grow as well, into a man of
strength and perseverance. He thought at first that he wanted to go
home. Now life and honor hold more meaning to this peasant caught
in a mystery of undead.
Though the world-building in this book was a
tad narrow, what was done was done quite well. It is a very nice
first novel of fantasy culture and mystery. This reader rates it a
ten out of ten on the enjoyment scale.
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