So while there is obviously massive historical context here, Clavell relies on his huge cast of fictional characters to churn up the plot and propel the story for themselves. As she is Struan’s mistress, picking up on Struan’s Scottish dialectical and phonetic nuances are understandable. Like Shogun the characters were so vividly portrayed ending the book was like saying good bye to real people. Into these turbulent times comes a tail of rival opium smugglers, piracy, betrayal, love, hatred, incest, murder, friendship and natural disasters.

Even the word “Tai-Pan” is used somewhat incorrectly, as it implies in the novel that the Tai-Pans (Definition: The head or owner of a business establishment), have great political power, maybe even more impressive power than the British Government itself, certainly something that Struan leaves an impression on from time to time, but not an emphasis which the word lends itself to.Pretty much everything is here, giving this the flavour of a historical saga of old with a distinctly masculine edge (Clavell doesn't shy away from depicting violence or perversity). I will talk about the finale in the spoiler below because I feel it's necessary as it made me lower my score from barely 3 stars to a fair 2 stars, but I can say without spoiling anything that I was not wrong in my assumption.

The arch that should have happened over the course of the book is instead rushed out in what can't be more than three hundred words. Much has also been written about Clavell's fondness of blending those aspects that he believed were the best of both worlds to make a new culture.This book raises the issues of Imperial trade, the duplicitousness of Opium smuggling, the strained heirachical positioning of both Chinese and Imperial British society and touches on many of the taboos and prejudices of the British community.

The unusual thing here is that the protagonist already starts out as the undisputed "ruler" of Asia and the most powerful, intelligent, charismatic and wealthiest man in the book.

I read Shogun when I was 14, and remember liking it enough to read through the 1000+ pages (and that sex scene with the anal beads? The man could tell a tale, and one with enough recognizable features enmeshed within the exotic and the historic to propel his literary vessel across roiling, tempestuous seas. Dirk Lochlin Struan is a Scotsman who has spent a good part of his adult life in the orient amassing a fleet of clipper ships and a great fortune. I do not think I will be able to muster enough words to explain the sensations I felt while reading this awesome novel. By the end of this year, he found service on the East India Company merchant ship Vagrant Star to China.

Like all of the Asian saga stories in his canon, the dominant element is the contrast between western and eastern cultures, with a sympathetic tone towards the oriental, and ultimately about how the synergistic combination of cultures creates a prosperous result. The narrative vividly explores the clash of Western and Eastern cultures, intricate business strategies, and the complex relationships among the diverse characters. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as having heroic qualities, who goes on a quest) only in this case Dirk Straun's quest is the never ending struggle to ensure that his company continue to thrive. Struan, as always, finds a solution to this problem after an almost too convenient opportunity appears just as all seems lost.

Partly due to assistance from his father and partly due to running protection rackets, Gordon Chen quickly became the wealthiest Chinese man in Hong Kong. As part of his efforts to protect his father, Gordon Chen arranged the assassination of Gorth Brock and sought a cure for May–May's malaria.