Jan Suzukawa's Kaminishi occupies a space somewhere on the overlap of fantasy, history and romance. The setting moves from contemporary America to feudal-era Japan and back again, finally settling in contemporary Japan.

Michael Holden is losing sleep studying for exams – or maybe it's his obsession with a man he's seen only in his dreams, so clearly that he's been able to draw him – that sketch is taped to the wall above his computer, where he's trying to study late Edo-period Japanese history. It's all of a piece, somehow: the sketch is of a samurai, a warlord, an Edo-period noble, and he's beautiful. Putting his head down to rest his eyes for a few seconds, he blanks out and wakes in a muddy field. The field is part of the lands of the local daimyo, Shinjaro Kaminishi, the man in Michael's dreams. Inevitably they meet, but Michael is a gaijin, a foreigner, and one without leave even to be in Japan. He is a prisoner, and it's only after repeated interviews that Shinjaro begins to believe his story. And it turns out that Shinjaro is attracted to Michael.

In the second half, Michael is back in his own time, his own place. He's lost Shinjaro, but is convinced that they will meet again, so much so that he goes to Japan to find him. But this incarnation of his lost love is a yakuza heir, Shintaro Kawakami, who thinks he's crazy.

Fully realizing that it may be only my own fondness for feudal-era Japan, I have to say that Suzukawa's portrayal in the first half of the story has a bit more resonance than the last half. She has the feel of it, the attitudes, the details, down pat, and brings them out as a seamless part of the story. And the relationship between Michael and Shinjaro makes sense in that context. Michael is not a passive person – that becomes more and more evident as the story develops – but his relationship with Shinjaro is as it must be, given their relative status: Shinjaro is a lord who rules his domain without interference; Michael is a nobody, almost literally. It's indicative that, even as Michael rises in Shinjaro's estimation, his social status doesn't increase apart from his being the lord's favorite – he's a fugitive, or would be if anyone knew officially that he was there.

The second half, portraying Michael's search for Shinjaro in the present day, left me a little unsatisfied. Michael seems ready to fall into the same kind of relationship he had with Shinjaro – Shintaro is a person of some standing in his own milieu, while Michael is nothing more than a tourist, and a quite possibly deranged one at that – but while the general shape of things is the same, the personalities involved are not. It's only gradually that Michael comes to realize that – although I have to say that his determination in the face of Shintaro's dismissal is, in fact, a break from his behavior with Shinjaro, in degree if not entirely in kind. There's a lack of clarity in the development here, however, that didn't quite allow me to get a firm grasp on the development of the relationship.

Suzukawa's prose is easy to read, and quite engaging – there's a good flow to the narrative, and the elements of the story come together quite nicely. This is, for sure, a character-driven story, which I always find the most satisfying. It's not perfect – there are a few rough spots in the execution, but they're not enough to detract significantly from the story.

It's a good first novel, my reservations notwithstanding, and I think Suzukawa displays enough ability as a writer to smoothe out the rough spots in forthcoming efforts – and I hope there are forthcoming efforts: there's a lot of potential evident here.

Dreamspinner Press (2011) ISBN: print: 978-1-61581-850-1 (e-book: 978-1-61581-851-8) US $16.99 ($6.29)

 

 

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