村上海賊の娘

村上海賊の娘 [Murakami Kaizoku no Musume] (Novel) #1

by 和田竜

あいつは見るのだ、本物の戦を。

信長vs本願寺、睨み合いが続く難波海に敢然と向かう海賊王の娘。壮絶な陸海の戦いが幕を開ける。累計300万部。本屋大賞受賞の大ベストセラー。

時は戦国。乱世にその名を轟かせた海賊衆がいた。村上海賊――。瀬戸内海の島々に根を張り、強勢を誇る当主の村上武吉。彼の剛勇と荒々しさを引き継いだのは、娘の景だった。海賊働きに明け暮れ、地元では嫁の貰い手のない悍婦で醜女。この姫が合戦前夜の難波へ向かう時、物語の幕が開く――。本屋大賞、吉川英治文学新人賞ダブル受賞! 木津川合戦の史実に基づく壮大な歴史巨編。

343 pages

First published July 1, 2016

About the author

Ryo Wada

Reviews

[Vivi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never was I more deceived by a cover than this. The summary and cover promised an exciting historical fiction, but instead, the pages read like endless Wikipedia articles or did you know fact pages about every object, name, or person that made an entrance within the story. The protagonist Kyou doesn't appear until page 94 and that's a bit under 1/3 of the book. She's also naive to a fault, hotheaded, rambunctious - really I'd compare her to your generic shounen male protagonist. The only difference from such a male protagonist is that the author finds it necessary to emphasize that Kyou was considered ugly by Japanese standards at the time by the constant label of 醜女 (plain-looking/ugly girl) and 悍婦 (bad-tempered girl). And the big move to the battlegrounds (where the Nobunaga army and the battle monks are kinda long term battling it out [see: Ishiyama Hongan-ji War]) is prompted by persuasion from a religious follower who tells her that pirates in the southwest who were used to foreigners found people who looked like her beautiful. Yes. That's why she snatches a ship and goes yolo off to Osaka Hongan-ji, commits a rash act, and then proceeds to make another rash and impulsive decision at the end of the novel. Curious, impulsive, hotheaded, good at fighting, likes to abuse her younger brother etc etc....her character just lacks layers. I learned from other reviews that she stays ignorant and immature like this until book 3 for pete's sake. I won't be staying for that.

The characters & dialogue are underwhelming and manga-like while the exposition is overwhelming and disengaging. Nope for me.