I.J. Parker's Sugiwara Akitada mystery series has intrigued me since I added them to my website. I finally got around to reading one - The Convict's Sword (see review) - and thoroughly enjoyed it.
These are set in 11th-century Japan, which is wonderfully exotic, but also in many ways seems a lot more modern than Europe of the same time period. For one thing, the government was mired in bureaucracy.
Parker has a nice way of bringing in background information and setting detail without ever slowing the pace of the story. I found the novel suspenseful all the way through, partly from the dangers threatening the characters and partly because of their relationships with each other. I like getting a bit of literary depth woven into a suspenseful story.
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I.J. Parker
-
Margaret
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 2440
- Joined: August 2008
- Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
- Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
- Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
- Location: Catskill, New York, USA
- Contact:
I.J. Parker
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info
