Review: “Sword of Honor” by David Kirk A vivid telling of the journey of one of medieval Japan's most renowned warrior-philosophers

I don’t typically fall into historical fiction, but in this case I was willing to make an exception. I am very glad that I did.

Miyamoto Musashi lived, and was one of the most renowned swordsmen of the time, a true ronin, and living legend who added to his legend with the continued dissemination of his life’s work, The Book of the Five Rings, a volume that is still considered required reading today, after 500 years.

David Kirk’s writing in this series is captivating and mesmerizing. The descriptions of not only the landscapes but the people and their mannerisms are deft enough to pull you completely into the story; I felt almost as if I were watching a well-made historical documentary on television.

Sword of Honor picks up right after the battle of Sekigahara, where Musashi begins to plan his open defiance of the samurai code, because of what he sees as it’s callous disregard for life in favor of a rigid code of honor.

The pacing of the story slows a bit after Miyamoto duels and defeats Akiyama, an assassin from the Yoshioka school, taking time for them to talk while the defeated samurai heals and they both begin their journey to Kyoto, where Miyamoto wants to confront the Yoshioka school and find out why they’ve put a price on his head, since at the time he has no idea what his exact offense to them was.

While the information is important to delving deeper into Miyamoto’s quest and how it begins to affect people he meets and becomes friends with, I felt the section where Akiyama is recovering from his injuries while they are traveling together to Kyoto slowed everything down much to fast and too far compared with the previous book and the rest of the story before and after that particular duel. The concluding conflict with the Yoshioka almost seems rushed by comparison, when it isn’t… the pacing there simply returned to its previous normal.

As a continuation from Child of Vengeance, the book is a delight. I tore through both books quickly, and while I enjoyed the first more, possibly because of the more consistent pacing, both are well worth reading. They also had me wishing I could have immediately started reading the third book, but that will have to wait a little while.

Website: http://davidkirkfiction.com/books

Having survived the cataclysmic battle of Sekigahara, which established the mighty Tokugawa Shogunate, young Musashi Miyamoto travels through Japan determined to proclaim his revolutionary epiphany that the “way of the sword,” the ancient code that binds samurai to their masters, needs to be abolished.

But during the battle Musashi insulted an adept of the powerful Yoshioka School, and a price has been put on his head. Musashi travels to Kyoto, domain of the Yoshioka, for a reckoning. He has taken up with Ameku, a beautiful blind woman branded as a witch; his burgeoning love for her will make him vulnerable.

Mushashi intends to deal a crushing blow to the traditional samurai dogma by destroying the Yoshioka warriors, but Musashi will learn that his spectacular gifts with the sword are no match for the cunning of powerful lords. The wily Tokugawa governor, still struggling to establish dominance in Kyoto, sees in Musashi just the weapon he needs to overcome the rebellious Yoshioka.

Sword of Honor by David Kirk
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (November 3, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385536658
ISBN-13: 978-0385536653