Not quite as good as Tai-pan, but a continuation of it & anyone who liked the first will like this. I think this was published next after Tai-pan & is as well done. Set in the 1970's or 80's I think, it's similar in a lot of ways to Tai-Pan. One of the cool things is Clavell writes himself into this book as a reporter, Peter Marlow. It's not a huge part, but fun. ( )

Noble house has become one of my favorite novels. This historical novel that is part of Clavell's "Asian Saga" contains large quantities of the Seven Deadly Sins, with avarice and lust leading the way. The story is set in mysterious Hong Kong in 1963, with its beautiful women, wealthy men, cultural clashes, and fascinating intrigue. A longtime feud between two of the largest financial houses revolves about Struan's - the Noble House - and its battle for economic survival. The plot is further complicated by the arrival of an interloping American power broker and his voluptuous assistant who plan to use the bad blood for their own financial gain. In the background the disenfranchised Chinese watch with great interest and hope to reap huge profits as the Europeans try to outwit each other.

The story is among its many competitors. It combines a good amount of fiction, legend and big business and produces a great novel. The struggle between the two great houses sets up the conflict that any great piece of fiction requires. The reader is placed into a world that no longer exists - doubly so since Hong Kong has been returned to Chinese control. It is a world where Tai-Pans - heads of large companies battle each other for money, power and survival. This is international gamesmanship at its highest level with no holds barred. Add gunrunning, opium smuggling, political intrigue, natural disasters, and riots, and the story keeps rolling along. Hong Kong itself sets the backdrop for the novel and in the end its Hong Kong the affects the outcome of the struggle. The book is as fast-paced as any I have ever read and reminds me of the sort of Romantic swash-buckling adventures of Dumas and Sabatini.

If you haven't read a James Clavell novel start with this one or Shogun. ( )

A semi-sequel to Tai-pan, Noble House continues the story of Hong Kong and the Straun and CO. trading company founded in the first book. Noble House takes place in 1963, as Straun and Co. seeks to make a deal with an American company that will give it more access to American markets. Meanwhile, competing businesses in Hong Kong seek to bring down the Noble House and take it's place, and Soviet and Chinese spys all try to use Hong Kong's status as a crossroads of various cultures to their advantage.

At 1400+ pages, this is one of the longest books I have ever read, but I did stay interested in it throughout. There is a large cast of characters, but Clavell manages to give them enough distinction that I was not lost keeping track of who was doing what. The book can be a bit melodramatic, as it takes place over the course of one week, and it that time the financial future of Hong Kong is determined and several major disasters take place. The ending is a bit of a deus ex machina which resolves a number of issues without the characters having to make real choices. It makes for an exciting book though, which gives leaves the impression that that is what Hong Kong in that time was really like. ( )

10.0

Brilliant book, gives a lot of background on the development of Hong Kong and the type of people who built it up. ( )