Running away from a painful break full, Isla ends up in Japan seeking her great-great-great-grandfather. As he was involved in the Satsuma Rebellion, she heads down to the very south of the island of Kyushu and wanders around Kagoshima, taking in the museums and seeing if she can find any trace of him. Then, during rain, she takes shelter in an old rickety shrine and stumbles through a mysterious torii gate into said Satsuma Rebellion. After falling into a pit, she’s rescued by Maeda Keiichiro. The pair of them very gradually fall for each other over the course of the utterly doomed rebellion.

Part 1 of the novel is about Isla’s arrival into 1877 Kagoshima and the hard life that they eked out. The staple food being sweet potatoes rather than rice was a nice touch to emphasise that Japan isn’t a homogenous country as were the uses of some Satsuma dialect (which looks to an outsider like a completely different language from “Tokyo/Edo” Japanese). After being provoked, Part 2 of the novel is about the Rebellion itself and the fact that it’s an unmitigated disaster. The troops never make it further than half way up Kyushu, let alone onto the main island of Honshu. The samurai are also destroyed by their own hubris: guns don’t care about samurai spirit, they’ll kill anyone they can spew a bullet into. Part 3 concludes the rebellion and life back in 2005 Japan.

Having recently read a couple of works on the Japanese and WW2, this novel again brought out the harshness of Tokugawan samurai philosophy: make a mistake and you must die to make atonement (and thus preserve your family) - there’s no possibility of forgiveness or second chances. It doesn’t permit you to convert to another worldview as that would be shameful. The tragedy of the Satsuma Rebellion is that so, so, so many died when they didn’t need to. Kuroki brings out that there’s no glory here for anyone in these battles and that death is not glorious. Outclassed, outgunned, outnumbered and starving, the samurai couldn’t win yet still chose to carry on because they were so utterly trapped in their system. Surrender or suing for peace just weren’t options available to them in their worldview (despite being the most sensible options from a contemporary western perspective). One of the tragedies of WW2 is that this philosophy was imposed on the entire Japanese military so thousands of Japanese soldiers died utterly pointlessly.

One small thing I found confusing: character names vary depending on who’s narrating. Sometimes its Saigo Takamori and other times its Takamori Saigo. For future books in the series, I’d pick one way round and stick to it. If Isla’s done 2 years of a Japanese BA, she’ll already know about Japanese names being surname first name.

Recommended and we need more Japanese historical fiction! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I had really high hopes for this, and whilst I did enjoy the premise and the characters, it fell a bit short for me. The blurb really drew me in. I love romance and I love Japan. And this just didn't quite reach my expectation. Parts felt rushed, parts felt dragged out and the ending frustrated me.

3.5 stars. This was an interesting read and I liked experiencing a new culture through the eyes of our main character.

This is a classic timeslip - Isla goes from 2005 to the late 19th Century Kagoshima, in the days before the last days of the Samurai. There she meets Keiichiro - a Samurai warrior. Initially, Isla is preoccupied with surviving (when the people in the village think she's a spy) and finding her ancestor, but she's soon distracted by her growing feelings for Keiichiro.

Despite the billing as 'fun and romantic' this book has some fairly graphic and gory battle scenes. This is not a criticism - war is horrible and should be depicted as such - but if you're looking for a low angst fun romance, just be warned that there are dark scenes.

I enjoyed this book a lot and I learned a lot about life in rural Japan as well as the Satsuma Revolution and the last days of the Samurai. The setting was vividly described and I could feel the cold and hunger of the characters. I genuinely felt transported to 19th Century Japan. When I finished reading the book, it felt like I'd been on holiday.
Highly recommended.

I received an ARC from Netgalley. Thank you.