黑牢城

by Honobu Yonezawa, 米澤穗信, 黃詩婷 (Translator)

「官兵衛，這是只有你才能解決的詭異事件。」
在近乎滴水不漏的的閉鎖城池裡，意外的犯罪就這麼接連發生了……

背叛織田信長的謀將‧荒木村重
被幽禁在地牢內的智將‧黑田官兵衛
在被戰事包圍、陷入四面楚歌困境的有岡城裡，
另一場迎擊奇案的「推理」與「心理」攻防戰，就此展開。

當謎團被解開的同時，歷史的變動與嶄新的世界面貌
也即將在眾人的眼前揭曉。

對神祕的事件採取抽絲剝繭般的拆解
對彼此的內心進行試探與剖析
對局勢的走向展開你來我往的較勁

一個難以揣測其心思的謀反城主
一個受困囹圄的戰國安樂椅偵探
兩個人的推理，讓歷史的巨輪開始轉動了。

Genres: Historical Fiction, Japanese Literature, Japan, Fiction, Mystery, Novels, Audiobook

416 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2021

About the author

Honobu Yonezawa (米澤穂信), Yonezawa Honobu, born 1978) loved making up stories even as a child and began writing fiction at the age of 14. By the time he got to university he was posting stories on his own website. After graduation he continued writing while working in a bookstore, and first got into print in 2001 when Hyoka (Ice Cream), a YA mystery novel he submitted for the Kadokawa School Novel Prize competition, earned an honorable mention. Sayonara yosei (Farewell, Sprite), a critically acclaimed story of the relationship between Japanese high-school boys and a girl from war-torn Yugoslavia, helped cement his reputation when it was published in 2004. Since then he has been a regular presence on lists of the year's best mysteries. Oreta ryukotsu (Broken Keel) won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Novels in 2011. Though known especially for his distinctive and fresh blending of the tale of youth with the whodunit, Yonezawa has also made forays into science fiction, as with 2006’s Botorunekku (Bottleneck) and 2007’s Inshitemiru (Try Indulging), a sinister "murder game" story. In 2013 he published the novel Rikashiburu (Recursible). He is a leading figure among Japan's younger generation of mystery writers.

source：http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/...

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a heavy book, in part intentionally and in part due to its use of language. The story covers a year towards the end of Oda Nobunaga's warmongering during the Siege of Itami. It blends the historic (Araki Murashige's rebellion and imprisonment of Kuroda Kambe) with a series of four seasonal mysteries, each of which have Murashige going down to the dungeon to consult Kambe. It...kind of works, but overall feels like Yonezawa couldn't quite bring himself to leave mystery behind as a genre even though he wanted to write a work of historical fiction that also examined the conflict between Pure Land Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and Christianity. It isn't bad, but it's also not what you'd expect from the author of Hyouka, and I definitely wouldn't suggest picking it up just based on that coincidence. On the other hand, if weighty historical fiction is your thing, this is a must read, deliberately difficult old fashioned language aside.

[Vi Adhikary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hobobu Yonezawa did a good enough job with this book, there are some issues that stopped it from being a great as I wished it was, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Either that or I wasn't the target audience for this book or I just didn't understand what Yonezawa was actually trying to achieve with it, which is completely fine if that is the case, I won't hold my misunderstanding against it. Also to those who like anime and manga, if the name of the author sounds familiar to you it is because he is the same person who made Hyouka.

The main premise of The Samurai and the Prisoner is that Araki Murashige, ruler of Arioka castle, betrays Oda Nobunaga and fights against him. Before he fully does so, Nobunaga sends a messenger, Kuroda Kanbei, to try and convince Murashige against betraying him. It is to no avail, and as it is normal for messengers to be killed and have their dead bodies sent back to the other side, Kanbei was entirely ready for this to happen, but Murashige doesn't do that, instead taking Kanbei as prisoner. That is the main inciting event of the story and it goes on from there.

The book is structured in a way where there is a prologue, 4 chapters which have "chapters" within them to allow for some short time jumps in the story, and an epilogue. The prologue sets the main portion of the story up and is a huge historical info dump. The 4 chapters go through each of the four seasons and tackle the mystery in each season, the political sphere of Japan in the late 1500s, and military tactics samurai generals have and how they plan while in war. The epilogue wraps the story up and is also another big history info dump, with a "here is the fate all the characters met and the state of Japan as of the end of this book."

For it being a historical fiction book with mystery elements which tries as well to flesh out characters and make you care for them, it does a good enough job all of those. The best aspect of it was definitely the historical fiction aspect. As I am someone who for the last 3 years exclusively watched anime and read manga, this was a nice change of pace from the samurai that I was used to seeing and felt a lot more real in that regard. Not only that, but the book heavily covered relations of Zen Buddhism, Christianity, and Pure-Land Buddhism, which was a really well developed aspect of the story which kept me mostly engaged all the way through. It was also nice that the end of the book had two pages of sources which made me appreciate the attention to detail even more having gone through some of those sources.

As for the mystery elements, they are fine. It pains me to say that as mystery is a top 3 genre for me, but at least for the first two chapters the mystery wasn't interesting until the very last few pages when a very repetitive plot element occurs and become very easy to pick up on afterwards. The book in this regard genuinely had me falling asleep, but I kept going on because I felt as though it would amount to something, and I can say that I am glad I did. The last two chapters and the epilogue have such huge payoffs for the story that I can't get into for spoiler reasons, but it makes the first two chapters worth trudging through in order to see where Yonezawa decided to take the story.

As for fleshing out the characters, this was probably both the strongest and weakest element of the book for me. Some of the characters, Kanbei, Chiyoho (Murashige's concubine? I forgot the official title given to her), Koori Juuemon, and Murashige are genuine treats to have on screen (on page?) because they are just enjoyable to read about, and in that regard this is the strongest element of the book. Where it is the weakest element in this case is trying to make you care for the characters. Outside of Chiyoho and Kanbei, none of the others characters were ones I could genuinely say I cared for, as it seemed haphazardly put in the fourth chapter as well as the epilogue with little to no care or attention given to this beforehand. Since there are so many characters, a lot of them mainly get a physical description, a background summary, and maybe a few lines here and there and that's it, it's hard for you to get attached to them. Maybe I had missed something but I couldn't care all to much for a lot of the characters here which really made me detached from the story at times.

Overall, I think this book was trying to be a manga without the added benefit a manga gives with it having images to move many aspects of the story along. Call it anime brain rot, but I found myself imagining a lot of the scenes in this book as black and white manga panels and I felt like it genuinely would have made it a better experience in that regard. The visual storytelling would be a greatly added benefit, as the book, though it is historical fiction, goes on and on for pages about how Japan used to operate back in the late 1500s, which can really take you out of the main story aspects and character development Yonezawa seemed to want to focus on. Overall, it is a good book and I would recommend it to those who are really into samurai, Japanese history, or just love reading about war generals. If you enjoy mystery and are fine with REALLY slow starts, give this book a shot as well, as you might find some interesting aspects throughout it which you would really enjoy. As I prefer to give ratings out of 10, this book would be a 6/1o. It's good, but it focused too much on the wrong things for what I saw that it was trying to achieve.

[Keisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love a good unreliable narrator, but how are u going to be morally grey AND stupid?😭 but in all seriousness this was reallyyy good. i usually don’t care for murder mysteries but there was something about this idk. the way the author made such SIMPLE explanations for the crimes, yet murashige and everyone in araki completely blew things out of proportion every time. omg and noto getting struck by lighting was so good. should’ve kept that sword sheathed😭

lots of familiar names, loved that🙏

[Byungman Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

올만에 읽는 좋은 작품, 일본 추리소설의 전형으로 기억될 만한 소설이라고나 할까, 꽤 괜찮은 구성에 꽤 괜찮은 문장으로 어느 정도의 독자의 지적 만족도를 채워줄 수 있으면서 아주 수준 높은 트릭은 아니지만, 수수께끼 풀기로도 괜찮은 소설. 오래간만에 맘 놓고 읽을 수 있는 소설을 만난 것 같다. 일본 추리소설 중에서 말이다. 재수없이 잘난체 하는 호노부에서 충분히 그럴만한 재능과 실력을 갖춘 호노부로의 재평가..

[Clau MZ]

I tried to get into this one for 11 days, each day. Maybe it's the translation or the writing style, I will never know. It was hard to focus on the story and the many characters. If there will be a German translation I might check it out.

[S.Q. Eries · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Summary
A detective-style novel set in a samurai castle town! Those unfamiliar with the Warring States Era will likely get tripped up by the numerous historical figures and events mentioned in the book as the author assumes readers have knowledge about that background. However, if you’re a Japanese history buff or willing to read up on the subject, The Samurai and the Prisoner is an engaging, if sometimes long-winded, mix of mystery and historical fiction.

The Review
When warlord Araki Murashige imprisons the gifted strategist Kuroda Kanbei, he has no intent of interacting with him again. However, a month later, a seemingly impossible killing takes place in Murashige’s castle. The resulting rumors threaten to undermine his authority, and desperate to find the culprit, Murashige takes the mystery to the cleverest person in his castle – the prisoner in his dungeon.

The Samurai and the Prisoner is a wonderfully written novel that is both a historical and a mystery. Set in the Warring States Era, it features contemporaries of the notable Oda Nobunaga, although Oda himself never appears in person. The book includes a reference list of historical texts, and the descriptions of settings, battles, cultural practices, and religious, military, and political powers reflect the author’s thorough attention to detail. As a mystery, the conundrums that beset Murashige are presented like a series of four detective cases that invite the reader to guess at the solution themselves. The stakes involved in each mystery are also high, adding to the tension of the story. However, the pace does get bogged down in parts because the explanations of the circumstances of each incident and their political, religious, and military ramifications can get long-winded.

But as well-researched and cleverly crafted as this novel is, it has a major handicap when it comes to Western audiences. The author assumes that the reader is familiar with Japanese history, specifically the Warring States Era. I was able to get by because I’d watched a few anime and J-dramas about Oda Nobunaga, but if you don’t know what he accomplished and what type of reputation he had, understanding the motivations and circumstances of the characters will be difficult. However, if you’re knowledgeable about that era (or are willing to look up references to learn about it), Yonezawa’s portrayal of Murashige, a lesser figure of that period, is fascinating.

The story is written in the third person, but the vast majority of the book follows Murashige and his thoughts. He wasn’t born into a position of authority, but because of his skills as a warrior and his intellect, Oda grants Murashige the governance of Settsu. However, Murashige turns traitor on Oda to align with the Mouri Clan, and the book opens with the messenger Kanbei attempting to persuade Murashige to return to Oda and getting tossed into Murashige’s dungeon as a result. At first, Murashige seems to have the upper hand against his former master, but a series of betrayals and military movements instigated by Oda leaves Murashige and his samurai commanders bereft of the protection of the Mouri Clan.

Thus, Murashige’s forces are besieged in the castle town of Araki and cut off from allied forces when the series of mysterious incidents occur. On top of being serious crimes to be solved, they are also threats to Murashige’s authority; with each new mystery that arises, he becomes more convinced a traitor’s scheming to bring his downfall. And at the end of the book, Yonezawa delivers not one but two satisfying twists.

A note regarding the translation. Japanese is a language with several levels of formality. For the most formal scenes, the translator uses terms like “ye,” “prithee,” and “hark.” The archaic words take some getting used to, but this is a story set in the 1500s so they are actually suited for the time.

For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!

[Genma496 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually a fan of historical fiction, and that goes doubly so for historically accurate historical fiction. There are many reasons for it, but one of the main ones is that I find it hard to empathize with characters in these kinds of settings. I don't think characters need to be relatable in order to be interesting; if you're an evocative enough writer, you can make a reader understand any kind of person, from a saint to a serial killer. However, people from far enough in the past are tough to handle, because they operated on a sense of morality totally alien from us in the present. And because most of our ways of expressing ourselves and our emotions are tied to present cultural forms, it's really tough to make a character whose emotions are understandable and written in a gripping way, while also limiting yourself to means of expression that are accurate to the era you're writing about. I mention all that because The Samurai and the Prisoner is one of those books that clearly strives for historical accuracy (it has like two pages of citations at the end), while also delivering the kind of story and characters I could get really invested in, which I think is really cool.

Before reading this, I only knew Honobu Yonezawa for Hyouka / the Kotenbu series, which I consider quite incredible (especially the anime). While I still prefer that story because it's closer to my tastes, The Samurai and the Prisoner doesn't disappoint at all. Yonezawa still retains his subtlety and depth when it comes to the character writing, mainly for the protagonist, Araki Murashige. It really manages to humanize this historical figure who I typically would have just overlooked as one name of many random names who feel about as real to me as Zeus or Santa Claus. And through him, as well as the other various retainers and commanders at Arioka Castle, it really paints a picture of just how shit that era was, and how much most samurai kind of sucked, while not forgetting the fact that history is ultimately all made of people.

The book is structured into 4 semi-self contained cases, and it feels a little slow at first, as most of the early chapters, while enjoyable to read, don't feel all that impactful. But it's all tied together in a great way that makes everything worth it. As far as the mysteries go, there aren't any tricks that are particularly mind-blowing or anything, but they work, and they really serve the story. All in all, it was a great experience, and I'm really looking forward to checking out more stuff by Yonezawa. Hopefully some more of it makes it way officially in English at some point too.

(P.S. Having googled what Araki Murashige looked like, wow, he was nothing like what I imagined while reading. My anime brainrotted ass pictured him looking like Jin from Xenoblade 2.)

[Dannica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved Murashige but also especially Kanbei. He's not on page very often but always haunting you in the background. I'd call him a specter of Murashige's guilt, but Murashige feels no real guilt towards him, only a level of wariness and respect, and otherwise almost disregard.

Really interesting book on a level of politics and delving into the mindset of samurai. I wish I knew more about the history of this era. The mysteries are each unique and present very different victims and motivations for the killers. Maybe my favorite was the mystery of who killed Otsu Denjuro during a raid--it's not that Murashige or anyone else condemns this action, in fact they consider it glorious, but the question of who should get the credit creates a huge amount of tension in his camp. The political underpinnings of each case drive the necessity of solving them; it's not that anyone in this book really sees killing as essentially wrong. As puzzles, I think the mysteries are not all that twisty, but the story behind them really keeps your interest.

Absolutely furious that this is the only book translated into English by this author so far. I will be keeping an eye out for his work in the future.

[Derek Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to get into. An interesting portrait of feudal Japan, presenting a fictionalization of the relationship between real historical figures. But none of them are especially compelling here as characters in a novel. Murashige is the worst; although we see a lot of his internal reactions to things happening during the war, it rarely makes sense. He is often suppressing an impulse to yell at someone simply for telling him the truth. This is a particularly odd choice given that the genre of the book is largely murder mystery and Murashige is supposed to be the "detective." As for the other characters (except Kanbei), they are just names that float in and out of the page.

The most emotionally resonant scene in the entire book is Kanbei's ending, which again is strange considering that he is presented as essentially villainous and scheming throughout. Kanbei likely would have made a better protagonist than Murashige, but that would require focusing on a period of his life when he was not locked in a dungeon, I guess.

[Alan M · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Thus did Kanbei become a prisoner of Settsu's Arioka castle.
And thus did the wheel of karma begin to turn.'

Billed as a historical detective story, this tale of 16th century Japan and its warring clans is an interesting and intriguing book. Araki Murashige has holed himself and his supporters up in his castle, as raids and war threatens outside. In his prison is Kodera Kanbei, vassal of a rival clan, but whose knowledge and wisdom is such that, as people start to die in mysterious circumstances, Murashige is compelled to visit the depths of darkness in the dungeon to seek Kanbei's advice.

Based on real people, the premise is intriguing, but just somehow doesn't fit together. It's fascinating from a historical perspective, but the mystery side isn't actually that mysterious. It may not be everyone's choice, but I found this diverting enough to entertain me, but not a stand-out book of the year, I'm afraid.

3.5 stars rounded up for historical interest.

[Nathan Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book for the history, not the mystery. Delicate and obscure social and interpersonal dynamics are depicted meticulously. If you like being made to understand how others think and live (or have thought and have lived), you will appreciate this immensely.

Assuming the book’s society is presented with reasonable accuracy (which seems likely, judging by the included list of academic references), this book is a valuable and enjoyable resource for anyone interested in the human side of world history. You won’t learn a lot about factual events in the book, but I don’t think that’s the point.


For those of you who care, the writing quality of the English translation isn’t the greatest. If you will be bothered too much by that, you may be disappointed by this book. I try to have a good attitude, though, because I’m thankful just to have this type of material translated and available at all.

[Grant DeArmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's so much to love about this book - a unique window into Japanese history, some really compelling mysteries, and a way of doing "episodic" storytelling that doesn't get repetitive.

But my absolute favorite part of this was how the titular characters were portrayed, specifically how they were portrayed as detectives. Murashige is a brilliant investigator in his own right, but the way the author made Kanbei seem even more brilliant deepened the seriousness of each mystery, and made it more satisfying when Murashuge finally catches up to the solutions he's already come to. How often do you read a mystery in which the detective character is the *second* smartest person in the room?

That's such a cool way to do mystery storytelling - it's almost like a Hannibal/Will relationship if Hannibal was an expert in logic, not just serial killer psychology. Kind of like a Sherlock/Mycroft Holmes team-up book.

[TL Lin · Rating 3 out of 5]

時代背景很不一樣的推理小說，以日本戰國時代著名懸案【有岡城之戰】為背景，描寫天正四年，本能寺之變前四年攝津守 荒木村重背叛織田信長，被圍城的這段空白歷史為舞台，與天才軍師黑田官兵衛兩人扮演偵探，破解四起詭譎的「事件」，除了時代背景外滿滿的戰國氛圍，若不是對日本戰國史有相當程度的了解，閱讀的帶入感會有難度。

〈雪夜燈籠〉
無足跡雪地密室殺人案件，不是很突出的計謀，詢問官兵衛也只得到糢糊的歌謠暗示。
〈花影功名〉
在戰國領取功勳，需要檢視敵將首級，取得首級之後，卻發生沒有人能指認的情況，一般狀況下，只要派出使者前去敵營詢問即可，但此次無法派出使者也無法確認身分，起初有點期待，如何在無任何線索下去分辨大將首級，結果卻有點失望，結論也僅止於推論而已。
〈遠雷念佛〉
破解不在場證明的案件，還是沒有很邏輯性的推理，不過卻帶出了另一個謎團，為什麼銅牆鐵壁般的城池，村重卻暗地裡要派人去求和?到這裡整座城的民心已見潰散。
〈落日孤影〉
接續上一篇未解疑案，貫穿整部小說的佛罰之說得到了說明。
除以上四篇外其實最大的賣點應該如同作者所說，在歷史空白處恣意揮灑，以自己的想像力解開多起歷史之謎，創作屬於自己的歷史片段，這部分確實讓這四篇推理顯得只是小小點綴，而官兵衛在獄中卻展現無比的影響力，貫穿全書最重要的謀略，為村重的歷史之謎提出合理說法。
1.村重突然背叛信長的動機？
2.村重為何作出許多違反戰國常識之舉，如不殺官兵衛、其他人質與織田家間諜？
3.喜好征戰，身為總大將的村重因何在開戰前便「逃跑」離開有岡城？
以上這些謎團都有合理的說明，我想這才是本書獲得四大獎的原因吧!
撇除這些推理與歷史謎團，看到最後….有點像是主管在管理團隊時，從一些蛛絲馬跡察覺那些地方有問題，目標方向不一致如何修正，民心潰散怠慢時，如何激勵團隊的方法，算是意外的收穫XD。

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in college in the 1970's, Public television aired a series of Japanese films. I was fascinated by the samurai film, especially. I was equally fascinated by this novel. It could almost serve as a prequel to Craig Shreve's "The African Samurai" and James Clavell's "Shogun." This novel, and yes it is very much a work of fiction, feels like history, close-up, dirty and ambiguous. There are loose ends and happy and tragic endings all in these 371 pages.

I must say Honobu Yonezawa's writing is so illustrative that I envisioned a black and white movie unfolding as I read. This, as the dust jacket says, is Honobu Yonezawa's first English language novel. No where is there any mention of a translator, so I must assume Honobu Yonezawa wrote every word himself.

[pareidolia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during the Warring States period, the story consists of four vignettes - winter, spring, summer, fall - each presenting a case befalling the besieged Arioka Castle, each case causing Murashige to seek the help of his prisoner Kanbei. Works better as a historical novel, an exploration of samurai ethos, and an attempt to capture Murashige's character than as a mystery. As those things, though, it works well.

The translation is altogether smooth, although it tends a bit towards verbal clichés in the first part.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This historical novel is set in 1578 Japan. Unfortunately, either the author or his translator has the characters speaking in Shakespearean English from the beginning of the book The use of Shakespearean English will throw fans of historical fiction right out of the story and they may not recover from the shock. This book had such potential for those who love historical novels set in Asia.

My thanks to Edelweiss and Yen Press for an eARC.

[Richard Ra · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have to give a lot of leeway to translations, sometimes they are outstanding, and sometimes just a sluggish piece of misery you want to be over with. I found the latter to be the case here. While the story is enjoyable many of the cultural neaunces are lost in translation. perhaps an updated one will come out one day but this one was hard to get through. But I did enjoy it. Perhaps I will invest in the audiobook, depending on the narrator.

[veri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it at first for the mystery label but the historical aspect was also interesting

[CJ Tillman]

Wow this book was difficult to read. The period accurate Japanese was crazy and it definitely took away from my enjoyment of the actual narrative.

[Lucida · Rating 4 out of 5]

尽管对这段历史比较了解，还是学到了很多细节。最有趣的是，村重在战国史中本来是个被广泛唾弃的人物，但作者视图还原/想象其反叛和抛弃家族的复杂动机。对照历史，里面确实有很多可疑之处，让人对乱世中人的身不由己有了更多的共情与嗟叹。

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on actual events, this book is a historic novel disguised as a detective story, featuring my favourite non-detective-being-detective trope: the duo of a besieged rebel shogun - a skilful tactician, and his captive - a master strategist. The general does the leg work, while the prisoner does armchair deduction. The book has four chapters, each a different case happened during the same year in the besieged city, while overarching historic events unfold.

Overall, I think the book does an excellent job of depicting military life during the Sengoku period. However, the story drags on towards the end, with repetitive scenery and a progressively darker mood. It's unclear whether this was intentional to create a sense of restlessness and bitterness in the reader.

Regarding the characters, only the main ones stand out, and the supporting cast is weak, making it difficult to distinguish them at times.

Overall, I give this book 4 stars.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I write anything about this book I first want to apologized to the author and translator. I wasn't able to finish reading the book because I found it too confusing. I'm not sure if it's the rhythm of the wording or the translation but it was difficult to get into a feeling of the book itself.

I am dyslexic, but over the years I've been able to adjust for it, but this was just beyond my enjoyment and comprehension. So I'm leaving it at three stars, and others can take a shot at writing a more honest review.

[Bowyn Liou · Rating 4 out of 5]

米澤穗信的《黑牢城》是一本故事性豐富的歷史推理小說。作者成功的將日本戰國史和小說內容聯繫在一起，讓人能在看小說的同時，沈浸在那戰爭中的緊張氛圍中。其中，作者在角色的塑造上非常的出色。不管是對善戰的荒木村重，還是是足智多謀的黑田官兵衛，又或是其他配角，都令人映象深刻。儘管推理的部分並不是非常的出色，本書還是值得一看。

[YT · Rating 5 out of 5]

這本大概是近年來看過最好看的推理小說（東野圭吾已了無新意）。整個劇情架構在宏偉磅礡的日本戰國史實中，敘述城主荒木松重和階下囚黑田官兵衛如何在一個巨大且封閉的城池密室中互相鬥智，並攜手解開四大犯罪謎團。除此之外，黑田官兵衛貴為史上有名的軍事鬼才，他內心又是打著什麼如意算盤？為何要協助敵人解開這些謎團？又如荒木松重，雖是戰國名將，為何要背叛織田信長？不直接斬首黑田官兵衛？最終棄城而去？所有的一切，都將在最終章逐一揭曉。

就算明知這是架空在真實歷史上的推理故事，也不得不讚嘆作者心思之細膩，佈局雙方你來我往交鋒過程以及對人性的相互猜疑。務必切記書中開頭所說的「前進乃極樂，後退即地獄」將是貫穿整本書的解謎關鍵！

[Cindy Cheng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me not enjoying this book is definitely my fault since I know very little about Japanese history and historical fiction is really not my thing. It basically offers an explanation to a historical mystery, with four smaller mysteries presented in the course that all ties together at the end. I can definitely understand why it won so many awards.

[Josh Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

「前進乃極樂，後退即地獄」再怎麼想也沒有想到結局是這樣的！不熟悉日本歷史也未曾了解過日本戰國各名將的勢力及地理位置，看這本書著實很費力。書中共分為四個章節，每個章節都是城中發生了令主角無法看透的謎團，每當主角無法看透時就去找一位囚犯（書中的描述是智將）聊天就能領悟出端倪也順利解決謎團，讓人意外的是，這四個謎團實際最後都指向同一個犯人，而這個犯人作下這些案子的目的也呼應了「前進乃極樂，後退即地獄」。真的佩服作者逐步帶著讀者進入這個戰場也體會到戰爭帶來殘酷的現實。

[K♪ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Yvette · Rating 4 out of 5]

以日本战国时期历史故事为背景的推理小说。最大的阅读障碍就是那些不知如何断句的武士家族名号官职称呼等等。译者如果加一些注释就好了。

[Mina I P · Rating 4 out of 5]

序盤は、なぜこの人が主役という触れ込みだったのか？と思った。舞台を戦国時代にしただけで、フーダニットやハウダニットの短編集だと思った。さすが米澤穂信という感じの余韻はあったけど。
それが最後の方で物語として終息した。
時代劇口調なのでちょっと読みにくいが、なれれば問題なし。