Shogun

OK, wow. That was a mouthful.

The good:
- It's extremely well-researched. I'm pretty sure I now know everything that James Clavell knew about 16th/17th century Japan. From what I can find out, it seems to even be mostly correct - tinged with a fair bit of orientalism, sure (though see below), perhaps exaggerated for drama, but not necessarily wrong. Messenger pigeons notwithstanding, but that's a necessary literary shortcut.
- Unlike the 1980 series, which is my previous contact with this story, I like how many narrators this gets to have. Yes, the Europeans consider the Japanese to be savages, but the Japanese consider the Europeans savages too, and neither is completely wrong. That's just humanity, I guess. Or at least enough of it to not make Blackthorne a completely annoying Mary Sue, huge dick aside.
- The characters all get room to move, which is impressive for a story this obsessed with plot and Historical Significance. From the lowliest servant to the mightiest lord, they all get to speak their piece. Everyone gets to have their agenda. Everyone gets to play the game.

The not-so-good:
- It's extremely well-researched. I'm pretty sure I now know everything that James Clavell knew about 16th/17th century Japan. He leaves nothing on the cutting-room floor, even when perhaps he should. If he wants to do a 20-page aside on the materials used in sandals or the history of Shinto or Japanese sex toys, he'll do it without blinking, whether the plot needs it or not. As impressive and as educating as that may be, it's not always good storytelling.
- Yes, all characters get their due, but can you maybe leave a little something up to the reader? Does every single character have to soliloquize for hours, do we need flashbacks within flashbacks of long dialogues explaining exactly why character A knew character B would seek out character C to discuss character D? Especially when half of any given dialogue is just people throwing honorifics and gomen nasais at each other? How about just once you trust the reader to remember something you told us five times already? How about just once you just write "Toranaga smiled wryly"? 16th century admin is still admin.
- If the plot depends on a lot of clever characters playing 4D chess for 1100 pages, maybe don't go quite so much into detail on all the bits that make them seem very naive? Yes, it's funny to have Blackthorne and Mariko congratulate each other on how secret they're keeping their affair only to cut immediately to everyone knowing... once. The tenth time, it just makes them look like idiots.

Now I really want some sushi.