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Title: Disappointing
Review: Written competently enough, and the historical detail is impressive, but Clavell's unfortunate focus on melodrama produces characters impossible to credit. In this book, he particularly kills off characters just as their relationships are developing some momentum, preventing any depth of emotion, personality, or drama. I agree with the earlier reviewer who said that the first half was better than the second. This was not an enjoyable book, overall, far too long to produce so little resolution to its multiple plot lines. I can only think Clavell was straining to set up the sequel, and due to his death, we are only left with a disappointing failure as his epitaph.
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