A historical novel set in 1200s Japan facing an invasion by the Mongol army - they’ve already survived one attempt due to a divine wind driving the Mongols away but can they survive the next? This is an excellent historical adventure story in the third person narrative covering events leading up to and including this second invasion attempt by the Mongols.

Instead of a straight novelisation of this historical event, Takashima invents an English crusader who ends up on a boat sailing east down the Red Sea, out past India and shipwrecks in Japan. Once you’ve swallowed this (and said Crusader’s ability to pick up Japanese very quickly), the rest of the story follows in a highly believable fashion.

Our intrepid Englishman, Sir Edward, lands somewhere in Kyushu before being taken to Hakata and Daizafu before ending up in the capital Kamakura. Takashima dramatises the mutual curiousity between the cultures, differences between battle strategies (European vs Mongol vs Japanese) and some of the philosophical/theological discussions between Hojo Tokimune (the real life historical regent and Buddhist), Sir Edward (Christian) and another crew member Zafir (Muslim). Occasionally, the story strays into ‘historical information dump’ territory but these could easily be edited out and they disappear as the story ramps up to the final confrontation between the Japanese and Mongol armies.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.