Tales of the Otori

Across the Nightingale Floor (2002) Grass for His Pillow (2003) Brilliance of the Moon (2004) Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn

Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.

I loved everything about these books. The story, the writing, even the covers. The only complaint I have is that there was very little resolution at the end of books one and two, but since I had all three books and didn’t have to wait a year for the sequels, that hardly much to complain about.

The story takes place in a place that is almost Japan in a time that is not quite our past. In the background mighty lords vie for power and domination while 17-year old Tomasu has grown up in isolation in a Hidden village. This isolation comes to a brutal end as Iida Sadamu and his men fall upon the village to destroy it from following the ways of the hidden.

Elsewhere, Kaede Shirakawa is a hostage in the home of Lord Noguchi, her presence there serving as proof of her family’s loyalty to Lord Iida.

And in the Otori family, Lord Shigeru finds Tomasu, and the boy becomes entangled in the plots and snares that surround the Otori lord.

Let me give you the first two paragraphs of the first book:

My mother used to threaten to tear me into eight pieces if I knocked over the water bucket, or pretended not to hear her calling me to come home as the dusk thickened and the cicadas’ shrilling increased. I would hear her voice, rough and fierce, echoing through the lonely valley. “Where’s that wretched boy? I’ll tear him apart when he gets back.”

But when I did get back, muddy from sliding down the hillside, bruised from fighting, once bleeding great spouts of blood from a stone wound to the head (I still have the scar, like a silvered thumbnail), there would be the fire, and the smell of soup, and my mother’s arms not tearing me apart but trying to hold me, clean my face, or straighten my hair, while I twisted like a lizard to get away from her.

I particularly liked the way that the mistakes that Takeo and Kaede make are written. Sometimes when a character makes a stupid mistake, it’s frustrating to read. They should have known better. How could they have been so dumb? What I enjoyed about these books was that the mistakes that Takeo and Kaede made were stupid mistakes, but they came across as the mistakes of youth and naivete, which made them sympathetic mistakes, rather than frustrating, annoying mistakes. It’s a fine line that not all authors are able to cross. Especially when writing teenage characters.

I also like the way that Lian Hearn doesn’t spare his her characters. People are wounded. People die. Actions have consequences. It lead me to wonder whether all the main characters would survive to the end of the story, although I resisted the urge to skip to the end and peek. (It was tempting though, when I wanted to sleep as much as I wanted to know what happened.)

The story is also full of poetry, and the descriptions of paintings by great artists. It was enough to make me wish that I didn’t have a tin ear when it comes to poetry.

I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the writing. I can hardly wait for time to pass so that I can read these books again.
Rating: 9/10

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