Anticipation. Unlike other remakes, I doubt I will see black actors inserted into roles where they don't historically belong. The novel is so long that the 1980s miniseries left out a lot. I will be interested, especially, to see how the perspective of the Japanese is treated. 40 years later, we know much more about Japan now than we did then. Shogun through the lens of Clavell through the lens of the 21st century. Should be interesting. I last read it in 2015 and last watched the miniseries even before that. So the details are fuzzy enough for me to forgive a decent amount.

I found my review of it from Amazon, when I was still writing reviews

Customer Review
Greg Polansky
5.0 out of 5 stars Thou
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2015
Verified Purchase
Thou. There is a term of endearment said between two characters. It somehow encapsulates the entirety of their emotions for each other. Thou also is how I would address the book Shogun. My absolute love for this sublime historical novel of Feudal Japan. Set in the year 1600, one of our protagonists, John Blackthorne, an English Pilot serving aboard a Dutch ship, shipwrecks onto the coast of Japan. And through him we discover Feudal Japan, a land of samurai and ritual, a land where the Emperor is said to be a scion of the gods but holds only ceremonial power, a land of beauty and ceremony. And oh so different from Elizabethan England. And yet the Pilot from Elizabeth England must somehow navigate the culture of this land.

But really Blackthorne, is not at the center of the book. Both he and his love story are important, But both he and Mariko, a Japanese Christian who speaks Portuguese, Latin, and Japanese and acts as Blackthorne's interpreter for much of the novel, are pawns in a much larger chess game. At the center of the book is Japan and its people. Japan in 1600 is unstable because the former leader - the Taikō - died early and left a too young heir. Now there is a Council of Regents to lead Japan during the youth of the heir, but that Council is divided by men who all claim they do not wish to lead alone. But maybe one does want to lead and not give up power to the Taiko's son? Maybe one wants to be the Commander in Chief of Japan - the Shogun!

Throughout the book, Clavell brings Japan to life. Its people, their customs, the land itself. Clavell allows the people of Japan to speak. Women. Men. Lords. Ladies. Courtesans. And there are a smattering of outsiders such as Portuguese priests who fear the arrival of Blackthorne and what it means for their religious and economic monopoly in Japan. And they fear Spain and its representatives in Japan too for the land of Portugal itself was swallowed up by Spain only 20 years ago and the monopoly the Portuguese hold on Japanese trade is now threatened by Spain and by Blackthorne.

Beginning Shogun is beginning a long journey to Japan. Ending Shogun is like losing a very good friend; there is great sadness in finishing the book. It will move you. It will make you want to learn everything you can about Japan and its people. Clavell truly wrote a masterpiece that will speak across the years.