Synopsis: Deep in the fortress-like headquarters of Yoshimitsu TeleCommuncations, American scientist Elizabeth O'Neil; had molded circuitry of a mammoth computer into a living, thinking, feeling being - a human soul trapped in the confines of a cybernetics body. She named her creation Tokugawa, hero of Japanese samurai lore, and educated him with all the values of a feudal Japanese shogun. Yet Tokugawa's powers were far greater than Elizabeth had imagined. With access to every computer in post-World War III's fully-automated society, he had the potential to become the ultimate spy, the perfect assassin, an invincible dictator. Only loyalty to samurai virtues kept his ambition in check - until the day Elizabeth was taken away from him, and Tokugawa began his quest for revenge. (from the back of the book)

Review: This was a dated, but still relevant story. Tokugawa is a child, then an adolescent, then an adult who becomes a warrior, a lover, and in turn, much wiser than the humans around him. Each person he meets, even the ones who love him, end up using him for their own gain. And in the end, Tokugawa lives up to the values he was taught. This is a darker book than I realized, dark and more graphic - there are several sex scenes and some rather violent deaths. Set after some fictional World War, the authors view of what would happened (war in Europe, America broken in several countries) was amusing and deeply rooted in current events at the time of publication (1985). While technology drives the story, it's really the people and their flaws that make the story. This is a hard-core classic science fiction and worth reading for anyone who enjoys more philosophical stories. ( )

This is an interesting read from a cyber-historic perspective. The author clearly has a deep knowledge of Japanese culture, and uses it to build a fairly good "creating AI" story. Considering it was written in 1986, it carries concepts of dystopian future, mega-corp warfare (in a literal, mercenary warrior sense), network attack/defense, mind linking "helmets" (think fMRI today), and other tech concepts. ( )