# james Clavell's Asian Saga: Which are worth reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081 "2011-01-10T12:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/1 "2011-01-10T12:18:26Z")
I loved Shogun and I’d like to know which of his Asian Saga books I should read. What say you? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/2 "2011-01-10T18:13:24Z")
I enjoyed all of them except _Gai-Jin_. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/3 "2011-01-10T19:10:10Z")
I liked _King Rat_, which is set in a Japanese prison camp in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/4 "2011-01-10T20:21:14Z")
I remember enjoying all of the ones I read… ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/5 "2011-01-10T20:39:21Z")
Seconding King Rat and Tai Pan. ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/6 "2011-01-10T21:48:50Z")
> [@FasterThanMeerkats](#): > > Seconding King Rat and Tai Pan. I haven’t read these in ages, but I remember enjoying both a great deal. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Tickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@Mr.Tickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Tickles)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/7 "2011-01-10T23:30:01Z")
All of them except Gai-Jin, which was the last one he wrote and fleshes out a part of his connected narrative that really didn’t need any fleshing out. Noble House was probably my favorite after Shogun. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/8 "2011-01-11T00:17:41Z")
> [@Dr.Rieux](#): > > I enjoyed all of them except _Gai-Jin_. That’s about right. I never read _Whirlwind_, but overall, that seems right. _Noble House_ isn’t all that great, although it would have been at about half the length. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/9 "2011-01-11T00:36:40Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > That’s about right. I never read _Whirlwind_, but overall, that seems right. _Noble House_ isn’t all that great, although it would have been at about half the length. Noble House is still good though. Tai Pan is better, I think almost as good as Shogun (although I haven’t felt the need to reread it, unlike Shogun). I never made it past 2/3 of Gai-Jin, and never more than 50 pages through Whirlwind. ---
**Author:** ![Anticounterrevolutionary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Anticounterrevolutionary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anticounterrevolutionary)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/10 "2011-01-13T03:52:45Z")
I’ve read the complete series and Tai-Pan and Noble House are the two that I would recommend. Tai-Pan centers on Scottish pirates and Noble House has a cool 60’s Mad Men vibe. I started with Shogun also, and was surprised to find I enjoyed those set in Hong Kong even more. Also, Clavell turned out to be a bit of a prognosticator since a lot of the political intrigue he invented for Noble House came out in the news to be true 20 years later. King Rat is only loosely connected and doesn’t have the scope of the rest of the saga, but is a short, easy read. It really has a completely different feel and is only considered part of the saga for the inclusion of some tertiary characters in the later novels. Also, after reading them I found out Clavell wrote “The Fly” and co-wrote “The Great Escape” and my mind was blown. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/11 "2011-01-13T10:39:51Z")
King Rat it is a great read, Tai Pan and Noble house are both also good. Never finished Gai Jin and didn’t start Shogun so can’t comment ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/12 "2011-01-13T11:08:09Z")
I also highly recommend the [TV Mini-series of Shogun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080274/combined) from around 1980. IIRC it’s about 9 or 10 hours long. Do not confuse it with the theatrical release which cuts the series down to 2.5 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-clavells-asian-saga-which-are-worth-reading/567081/13 "2011-01-13T16:20:05Z")
> [@TPWombat](#): > > I also highly recommend the [TV Mini-series of Shogun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080274/combined) from around 1980. > > IIRC it’s about 9 or 10 hours long. Do not confuse it with the theatrical release which cuts the series down to 2.5 hours. Total guilty pleasure. Watching Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune chew scenery was really a lot of fun. One of the funniest things I found about it, was that the acting was good enough on the Japanese side that I didn’t need the subtitles to figure out what was going on. Really hard to believe that network t.v. used to put out dramatic works of such length, scope, and quality. Oh well, that’s what we have HBO for now, I guess. Another vote for King Rat, and I guess I need to go find a copy of Noble House and Tai-Pan.