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    Sword of Honor: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Sword of Honor: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Sword of Honor: A Novel
    Audiobook16 hours

    Sword of Honor: A Novel

    Written by David Kirk

    Narrated by Erik Singer

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    IN THE EPIC HISTORICAL NOVEL SWORD OF HONOR, DAVID KIRK CONTINUES THE SAGA OF MUSASHI MIYAMOTO, THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN IN JAPANESE HISTORY, AS HE JOURNEYS TO THE ANCIENT CITY OF KYOTO TO FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE AND HIS IDEALS.

    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 samurai," the ancient code that binds warriors 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 is drawn to Kyoto, domain of the Yoshioka, driven by anger and certain that he will deal a crushing blow to the traditional samurai dogma by destroying the school. Musashi will learn, however, that the capital of the nation is rife with intrigue and potential rebellion against the newly established government, a struggle into which he unwittingly enters.

    Among other outcasts, Musashi will find the worth of his spectacular skill with the sword weighed against the deep cunning of manipulative Lords, and must make his reckoning with the Yoshioka, the way of the samurai, and ultimately his own nature. Only then will he be able to take one step closer to becoming the wise old sage who wrote The Book of Five Rings.

    Sword of Honor seamlessly blends meticulous research, mesmerizing action sequences, and a driving narrative to bring this extraordinary figure to life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 3, 2015
    ISBN9780385362191
    Unavailable
    Sword of Honor: A Novel
    Author

    David Kirk

    David J. Kirk, a U.S. Navy veteran, earned his master's degree in personality psychology from Rhode Island College. He worked as a counselor and human resources manager. David then became an instructor at Rasmussen College in Fargo, North Dakota where he taught psychology for four years. An avid writer since sixteen years old, he has published three novels and one book of short fiction. He lives with his wife in Logansport, Indiana.

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    Reviews for Sword of Honor

    3.5/5

    8 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Book: fantastic! Recording quality: it got so quiet at times I couldn't hear what was being said. Whisper loudly of you need the affect. Made parts of the book terrible.
    • 3/5
      It was ok. I liked the author’s descriptions and attention to detail. But the story and musings of many of the characters seemed too America and took me out of it.
    • 4/5
      I will be the first to admit that my knowledge of this period in Japanese history is non existent. I’ve read a few books from this era and I do enjoy venturing afield from Tudor England where I spend a fair amount of my historical reading. When I was offered this novel about a rogue samurai I was very intrigued. I didn’t realize at first that it was based on a real person. That always makes a book more interesting for me.Musashi Miyamoto was on the losing side of the definitive battle at Sekigahara leaving him on the run and with an assassin after him. He insulted a member of the vaunted Yoshioka samurai school and for that he must die. But Musashi has come out of the battle with a new outlook on life. A radical new way of thinking that goes against everything he has ever been taught – he feels that the Way of the samurai is all wrong and he is going to go to the heart of the Yoshioka in Kyoto and show them. Or die trying.This is a complicated and well written book. Deeply researched and rich in the lore of the samurai. Mr. Kirk’s way with words at times is just magical. There is a scene near the beginning of the book where a new sword is being created and I found myself lost in the beauty of the scene he was setting with flow of his sentences. I went back and read it again. There are many places when this happens because the placement of one word next to another next to another for a series of sentences creates that special alchemy that causes the reader to pause and marvel at the beauty of what they just read.Unfortunately the whole book did not maintain that magical quality and at times I wanted to shake Musashi because he would start acting like a child out of nowhere. There was a bit of disconnect here and there but not enough to ruin my overall enjoyment of the book. I also found myself confused at times and having to go back and reread to figure out what I had missed. Factors that would really cause me to rate a book far lower than I have this one but the passages of magic so make up for the flaws. I am looking forward to the next volume in this series following the life of the man who would change the Way.
    • 4/5
      I will be the first to admit that my knowledge of this period in Japanese history is non existent. I’ve read a few books from this era and I do enjoy venturing afield from Tudor England where I spend a fair amount of my historical reading. When I was offered this novel about a rogue samurai I was very intrigued. I didn’t realize at first that it was based on a real person. That always makes a book more interesting for me.Musashi Miyamoto was on the losing side of the definitive battle at Sekigahara leaving him on the run and with an assassin after him. He insulted a member of the vaunted Yoshioka samurai school and for that he must die. But Musashi has come out of the battle with a new outlook on life. A radical new way of thinking that goes against everything he has ever been taught – he feels that the Way of the samurai is all wrong and he is going to go to the heart of the Yoshioka in Kyoto and show them. Or die trying.This is a complicated and well written book. Deeply researched and rich in the lore of the samurai. Mr. Kirk’s way with words at times is just magical. There is a scene near the beginning of the book where a new sword is being created and I found myself lost in the beauty of the scene he was setting with flow of his sentences. I went back and read it again. There are many places when this happens because the placement of one word next to another next to another for a series of sentences creates that special alchemy that causes the reader to pause and marvel at the beauty of what they just read.Unfortunately the whole book did not maintain that magical quality and at times I wanted to shake Musashi because he would start acting like a child out of nowhere. There was a bit of disconnect here and there but not enough to ruin my overall enjoyment of the book. I also found myself confused at times and having to go back and reread to figure out what I had missed. Factors that would really cause me to rate a book far lower than I have this one but the passages of magic so make up for the flaws. I am looking forward to the next volume in this series following the life of the man who would change the Way.