There are many books with the title Way of the Warrior, so if you want to read this book, make sure it’s the book by Andrew Matthews.
I picked up this book because it was a short read. After a big epic-type book like Leviathan, I wanted a book that I could speed through. Also, despite their popularity, there are not many stories about samurai in the YA market (or at least ones that promise a little bit of realism). I started it wondering how authentic the book would be to 16th century Japanese lifestyle.
The Way of the Warrior by Andrew Matthews is the story of Jimmu, a 10 year-old boy whose father dies in the first chapter of the book. Jimmu is then taken in by Nichiren, his father’s bodyguard. The set-up for the quest is that they will search for Lord Ankan, the person responsible for destroying Jimmu’s family.
The book reads like a good samurai movie, such as Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai or Hiroshi Inagaki’s Musashi Miyamoto. Because the book is so short, the action sequences move very quickly. It’s not these long, drawn-out Hollywood scenes. One or two sword slashes determine the end of a duel. Something that I did not expect was who would live and who would die by the end of the book. I figured, “Hey. This character has a name, we know his background; he must be…” and then the character was dead on the ground. That kept me guessing and really added to my enjoyment of the story.
Characters that I was pretty certain would make it were the rulers from that time period. I knew that Tokugawa Ieyasu would make it since he eventually helped unite most of Japan. I’ll be honest with you, though. Most of my knowledge of 16th century Japan comes from playing Kessen on the PS2, so I had to check my facts with a little research.
For being such a short story, the characters do develop a little. It’s not all swordfights; there are traces of dialogue (although the conversation sometimes ended in swords being drawn).
Final verdict: I think it’s an enjoyable read, much better than most books that length.
