The 47th Samurai

The 47th Samurai is a novel by Stephen Hunter and it continues the story of retired marine master sniper Bob Lee Swagger, who was the main hero in the Hunter's bestseller thriller "Point of Impact", published in 1993 and used as a base story for the film "Shooter", starring Mark Walberg.

The plot of The 47th Samurai starts during the last stage of WWII on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, where Swagger's father, also a marine, Earl Swagger is involved in assault on a heavily fortified hill. During the attack, Swagger senior encounters captain Yano and, what is eventually more important as we will see later in the book, his ceremonial samurai sword.

Years later, the son of captain Yano comes to the States and finds Bob Lee Swagger to ask him for help in finding this sword, which has been lost after the battle of Iwo Jima and which is apparently a precious family relic. Swagger junior, who is approaching his 60s now, touched by the story of a fellow warrior and feeling the urge to pay homage to his father, agrees to help to find and return the sword to its rightful owner.

The journey for the quest of finding the sword turns to be more adventurous than initially planned and takes our hero to Japan, putting a number of dangerous obstacles on the way of the brave ex-marine. He will have to overcome Japanese Yakuza, fight famous Japanese swordsmen, and even become a Samurai himself, learning new ways about honour and loyalty.

Stephen Hunter has done an excellent research for this book and you will find that The 47th Samurai novel gives very accurate and vivid descriptions of the Samurai swords and Samurai life. Some details of sword plays given n the book might be more appropriate in a surgical ward, but they definitely add a level of authenticity and realism to a book.

All in all, it's an interesting read and the only little problem that reviewers mentioned about The 47th Samurai that you will as a reader have to overcome to fully enjoy the novel is a fact that Bob Lee Swagger in his 60s had to learn the way of Samurai, including sword fighting, in a week or so and some of the reviewers found it not quite possible.

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