{"id":80,"date":"2005-06-09T20:28:21","date_gmt":"2005-06-10T03:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=80"},"modified":"2021-05-30T21:28:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T01:28:14","slug":"tales-of-the-otori","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/80","title":{"rendered":"Tales of the Otori"},"content":{"rendered":"

Across the Nightingale Floor<\/a><\/em> (2002) Grass for His Pillow<\/a><\/em> (2003) Brilliance of the Moon<\/a><\/em> (2004) Tales of the Otori<\/strong> by Lian Hearn<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And in the Otori family, Lord Shigeru finds Tomasu, and the boy becomes entangled in the plots and snares that surround the Otori lord.<\/p>\n

Let me give you the first two paragraphs of the first book:<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>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.<\/p>\n

I also like the way that Lian Hearn doesn’t spare his <\/del> 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.)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-paper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1i","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3571,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3571","url_meta":{"origin":80,"position":0},"title":"Heaven’s Net is Wide","author":"Michelle","date":"February 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Heaven's Net is Wide (2007) Lian Hearn This is the tale of Lord Otori Shigeru, heir to the Otori clan. But it is so very much more. We learn not just of the Otori--Shigeru's family, but of The Tribe, and of the Hidden, and of the Maruyama and of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Heavens Net is Wide","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/heavens-net-is-wide-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":223,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/223","url_meta":{"origin":80,"position":1},"title":"Abandoned Books","author":"Michelle","date":"April 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"More on books I've started to read, and just couldn't get into. Typically, if I abandon a book, it's within the first fifty or so pages. Again, feel free to tell me if I should continue on, because the book gets better. There are several books that I've had a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dislike\/Abandon"","block_context":{"text":"Dislike\/Abandon","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/disliked-or-abandoned"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3587,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3587","url_meta":{"origin":80,"position":2},"title":"Across the Nightingale Floor","author":"Michelle","date":"February 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Across the Nightingale Floor (2002) Lian Hearn I first read these several years ago, and, as I said at the time, couldn't wait for enough time to pass so I could reread them. Far more time than I expected has passed, but when I came across other books in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Across-the-Nightingale-Floor.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":77,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/77","url_meta":{"origin":80,"position":3},"title":"Tales of Mithgar","author":"Michelle","date":"June 2, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Tales of Mithgar (1994) Dennis McKiernan Still looking for books to tide me over, I turned to another favorite, Dennis McKiernan. I picked up Tales of Mithgar because it's a collection of short stories, and I love short stories. Set in the \"One Eyed Crow\" tavern, a blizzard has descended\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/06\/Tales-of-Mithgar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2471,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2471","url_meta":{"origin":80,"position":4},"title":"The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements","author":"Michelle","date":"August 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (2010) Sam Kean This was a fun book. Although I was initially a little unsure, once we got to the part where he explained the big bang\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/non-fiction\/history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/the-disappearing-spoon.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4613,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4613","url_meta":{"origin":80,"position":5},"title":"Tales of the Otherworld","author":"Michelle","date":"May 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Tales of the Otherworld (2010) Kelley Armstrong Not knowing what I was in the mood to read, an anthology seemed just the thing. These are stories from Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series--stories that fill in the cracks between her novels--most of which I have not read. (I believe I have read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"tales-of-the-otherworld","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/tales-of-the-otherworld.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}