Historical fiction often falls into two categories: those where the author worries over every detail of what can be known and those who want to tell a good story. With the former, they often grow flummoxed by gaps in the historical record and worry over the "fictional" side of historical fiction. 
 To his credit, David Kirk falls solidly into the second group. The historical record for the life of the great samurai Musashi contains perhaps more gaps than facts, and so this author worries almost entirely about weaving a great story. Even where the record gets in the way, such as with the life and death of Musashi's father, Kirk doesn't let it get in the way. Instead he focuses on the relationships between his characters, which is the reason this novel works particularly well in its first half. Certain classic tropes can work again and again if done well, and Kirk does a fine job of offering a young Musashi torn between the wishes of his scholarly uncle and his soldierly father. 
 Once the story takes Musashi away from his father, it becomes more of a standard adventure story. Kirk continues to demonstrate a strong control over his prose, in particular maintaining that excellent period "feel" which pervades the novel. Particularly impressively he doesn't slip into long exposition but instead creates his world in the interactions between the characters. 
 Whether a duel or a mass battle, he demonstrates a particular capacity for capturing this violence on the page. No doubt many readers will enjoy this skill. One gets the sense of this as the first of several novels. Perhaps others may not agree, but I for one hope that Kirk recognizes how his story most succeeds when he allows his protagonist to grow intimate with another character, making the stakes more than just about vengeance. Either way, I'll surely look forward to reading whatever comes next from this talented young writer.