Review: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin

by Chriss Cornish published: May 10, 2010 No Comments

J is for Janissary Tree, The

This Book Is About

The year is 1836. Europe is modernizing, and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire feels he has no choice but to follow suit. But just as he’s poised to announce sweeping political change, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court. Who is behind the killings? The sultan announces, “Send for Yashim.” Detective and eunuch Yashim depends on the wisdom of a dyspeptic Polish ambassador, a transsexual dancer, and the Creole-born queen mother. And, as Yashim investigates, he begins to worry that these murders are just a prelude to the Janissaries staging a brutal comeback. And if they are, how can they be stopped without throwing Istanbul into political chaos?

My Thoughts On This Book

I enjoyed Janissary Tree. I’m really glad I finally bought it. The cover kept attracting my eye every time I went into the bookstore and I eventually succumbed to it’s allure and picked it up off the shelf. I liked the description and the portions I read, when I leafed through it, were engaging and exciting.

Proving that sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.

The Janissary Tree is set in Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire. 1836 to be exact. Yashim, the main character, is a eunuch and a detective, initially summoned to take care of a harem girl’s murder (a ‘real’ man can’t enter the women’s palace). Things quickly escalate when Yashim begins uncovering evidence of a wider conspiracy that may involve the resurgence of the recently subdued Janissary forces.

I really love that one of the people he talks to while investigating is a soup master; the dude’s whole life is about making one particular kind of soup. But, then, I love soup, so…

The setting created by the author is very real, both in time and place (so to speak) and it’s clear that he’s done his research well. The writing itself is visual and well paced. The reader gets a good feel for the Istanbul of the early 1800s, both the grime and the glitz. The plot has lots of politics, intrigue, red herrings, and even a near palace coup.

The action is very exciting and the inaction, so to speak, engrossing.

There’s even a chase scene through the dye vats of a tannery, which is really cool. I’ve only ever read one other book where a major scene takes place at a tannery (Angry Lead Skies by Glen Cook).

The narration for Janissary Tree is third person. What made it unique in my eyes was that, though the ‘camera’ is usually on Yashim, the author showed the main character’s investigation from the view point of some of the people he encountered. It was creatively and expertly done.