“Luke Rhinehart won almost universal acclaim for his first novel, THE DICE
MAN. WHITE WIND, BLACK RIDER explores the same themes of fate and
chance. Apart from its philosophical virtues, (it) is a powerful, exciting yarn …”
-All About Books
Oboko finds Matari like a blur of darkness lying in the snow of a blizzard. After he carries her lifeless body into an ancient abandoned temple he is astonished when she opens her eyes. What had seemed a frozen lump of silk is tranformed into a beautiful woman. Matari says softly, “I didn’t die.”
Thus begins the most dramatic and moving of Luke Rhinehart’s books. He has woven an exciting story of three samurai and the beautiful woman they each love, trapped by their very virtues into deadly conflict. Oboko is the poet of the wind, a peace-loving student of Zen; Izzi, the lusty, life-loving court poet on his way to serve the great Lord Arishi. The powerful and proud Arishi has vowed to kill Matari, who he believes has been unfaithful. When Lord Arishi’s samurai pursue them, Oboko, Izzi and Matari each must choose, with each of their lives in the balance. With constant threat lurking, the four take part in a relentless chase, driving the novel to its dramatic and stunning finish.
(WHITE WIND, BLACK RIDER) is . . . a strange jewel of a book: it casts lights and shadows although it is as simply written as a child’s poem.
—The Kilburn Times
“An impressive solemn, but sometimes hilarious drama of 18th Century Japan”—London Sunday Telegraph.
“A witty pastiche . . . Funny and poetic . . . and beneath it all deadly serious”—London Sunday Times.
“A powerful, exciting yarn”—All About Books.