‘Cloud of Sparrows’ is an interesting East-meets-West story or rather, Western-meets-Eastern. A group of American missionaries arrive in Japan as the Tokugawa Shongunate is coming to an end (this is the same period in which the Tom Cruise film ‘The Last Samurai’ is set) and they soon become embroiled in the Machiavellian conflicts of the samurai. One of the missionaries is secretly a former-gunslinger, and he has come to Japan to hunt down the man who murdered his family.

It has an engrossing story and a fine cast of characters. The setting is interesting and Matsuoka makes it easy to understand the samurai culture through his Western characters. This book is well worth reading if you’re looking for something different. The sequel, ‘Autumn Bridge’ is very good as well.