James Clavell first published his novel Shōgun nearly 50 years ago, in 1975. It is a fictional story about characters trying to secure power in feudal Japan, set in the year 1600. FX has turned the book, which runs about 1,200 paperback pages, into a limited series. New epidoes of Shōgun drop weekly and appear on Hulu a day after they run on FX. The series is off to a great start, earning an incredible Rotten Tomatoes score of 99%.
Clavell eventually wrote a total of six books that all take place in Asia. While each offers an entertaining peek into historical settings, he often exaggerates cultural details for effect, and he does not strictly adhere to the historical facts of the time. Still, he can weave a good yarn.
Shōgun was actually made into a mini-series in 1980 starring Richard Chamberlain. While it stuck to the basic storyline of the book and wasn't horrible for its time, the current series is much closer in tone to the best-selling book.
If you like Shōgun, either the book or TV show, here are five other books by James Clavell in his Asian Saga that might interest you.
Five books by James Clavell you might like if you enjoy Shōgun
Tai-Pan (1966), set in 1841, approximately 700 pages
Tai-pan is the most swashbuckling of Clavell's tales. It takes place during the founding of Hong Kong and tells the story of how it became a British colony for 150 years.
This book also lays the foundation for books that take place later on the historical timeline. In Tai-Pan, we are introduced to fictional characters and events which are background for those later stories.
This story follows the adventures of Dirk Struan, a trader who is more corsair than merchant. He battles rivals, the Chinese government, local gangs, and British officials as the taipan, or the leader of a powerful trading company in Asia. Tai-Pan a rousing and entertaining adventure that makes for a fun reading experience, but as with many of his other books, Clavell seldom portrays Chinese culture as it is.
This book was made into a movie of the same title in 1986, but that effort did a poor job of translating the book into film. This tale, if updated so it was more culturally accurate, would also make a fine limited series TV, or even an extended show that departs from the book somewhat and expands the scope.
Either way, this is the most entertaining of the six books by Clavell, from cover to cover.
Gai-Jin (1993), set in 1862, approximately 1,200 pages
Clavell returns to Japan for the third book in this loosely connected series. It takes place at a time where for the first time in two and a half centuries, Japan is allowing some European contact and trade. The outsiders, or gaijin, are restricted to a small colony without access to the interior of Japan.
Descendants of Tai-pan's Dirk Struan and his chief rival, the Brocks, continue their quest for trading supremacy in Asia. Japan is on the brink of modernization, but has yet to come to a decision about what will be best for the country.
Personal and political intrigue are again front and center in this book, bit it lacks a bit of the panache present in most of Clavell's other books. It isn't quite the page turner that Tai-Pan is.
Gai-jin hasn't ever been adapted to the screen, bit or small, but if Shōgun whets the appetites of audiences, there is always a chance.
King Rat (1962), set in 1945, approximately 300 pages
Clavell spent time in a Japanese prison camp in World War II. That experience provides the background for this completely standalone book. It takes place late in WWII in the notorious Changi prison camp in Singapore.
The book describes life inside the prison camp. Based on Clavell's personal history, it is most likely the most historically accurate of his books, though nearly 80 years after the fact, it is hard to know for certain.
While it's the fourth book in Clavell's series chronologically, it's the first one he wrote. King Rat was published in 1962, four years before Tai-pan. It was made into an excellent movie in 1965 starring George Segal.
King Rat really doesn't have any connecting threads to the rest of the Asian Saga, but is included because of its locale. It has a somewhat darker tone that some of the other books, but that doesn't mean it's a hard read. It's by far the shortest book in the series, and it is an easy, quick, and entertaining read.
Noble House (1981), set in 1963, approximately 1,400 pages
This is the largest book of the bunch and one of the most ambitious literary projects ever attempted. You might think that is hyperbole, but the number of characters and intermingling plotlines is staggering.
Despite the heft of the tome, Noble House takes place over the course of a single week in 1963 and continues the story first introduced in Tai-pan. The Struans and the Brocks are still rivals and plotting to maintain, or get, the upper hand as the top European trading company in Asia. Like Tai-Pan, Noble House takes place in Hong Kong, but the timeline places it firmly in the height of the Cold War and when Hong Kong was working to establish itself as an international financial and trade center.
This story encompasses just about everything, including Communist spy rings, bank runs, horse racing, financial intrigue and natural disasters. If multiple points of view aren't your thing, or if you have trouble keeping dozens of characters straight in your head, or if 20 or so convoluted, intertwined plot lines aren't your cup of tea, then this isn't the book for you.
Those things, however, are what make this book a masterpiece in detailed storytelling. It's probably the best book in the series. Few books can capture the scope of a place at such a narrow point of time. It's brilliant.
This book was also made into a mini-series in 1988 starring Pierce Brosnan, but could be in line for an updated version like Shōgun.
Whirlwind (1986), set in 1979, approximately 1,300 pages
Clavell shifts directions in this final book in his Asian Series, which is set not in the Far East but the Middle East. Whirlwind takes place in the tumultuous setting of Iran in 1979, when the Shah is disposed and the new Iranian government moved to nationalize many industries, including the oil industry.
While there are some tenuous ties to the House of Struan, Whirlwind is, for all practical purposes, a standalone book. It also differs in tone from other books in the saga, as it covers historical events that were fairly recent when the book was written (1986).
This is an intense, fast-paced novel that again employs numerous characters, plotlines, and points of view, though not to the extent of Noble House. It has one main, overwhelming plot — the revolution in Iran — and everything else stems from that.
Considering the history of events in Iran over the past four decades or so, this book also is the most relevant to today's world, and although it is very different from the other entries it the series, it is well worth the time to read for those interested.
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