Tales of the Otori

[bibliogramma]

Across the Nightingale Floor, Episode One: The Sword of the Warrior, Lian Hearn

Set in an alternate world that seems to have stepped out of the feudal Japan of legend and history entwined, this is a complex and fascinating story told with grace, beauty and simplicity.

A young boy survives the massacre of his family and village, to be taken into the household and family of the enemy of his family’s murderer. As he grows, he shows signs of special gifts found only among the tribe of assassins, and with the approval of his benefactor, he begins his training in the ways and skills that his own father had rejected.

A young girl, held hostage to enforce the loyalty of her family, is selected as a bride to a man she has never met in what appears to be a peace offering between warring factions, but she carries with her a history that is believed to promise death to any man she marries.

A man and a woman, secret lovers who have sworn to marry, are kept apart by war and political considerations, and face being forever separated by forced marriages to others.

And a man has built for himself a nightingale floor, so constructed that, it is said, no one can cross without making a sound.

Such are the beginnings of the Tales of Otori, and I have been captivated.

Note about editions: I am reading currently reading the Firebird editions of Hearn's Tales of the Otori, which are beautiful to the senses in all ways, but which divide each of the original books into two episodes each. This comment, then refers to the first half of the book Across the Nightingale Floor as originally published. The other available TPB editions I know of are the Riverbend editions, which contain the complete text of each book in one volume.

Comments

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

I really liked Across the Nightingale Floor and its sequels.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

I really was entranced. I finished reading Episode 01 of Across the Nightengale floor, went straight to the computer and ordered all of the others.

I will admit to a certain special fondness for material that conforms to a Japanese aesthetic, but the attraction went far beyond that.

[indongcho.livejournal.com]

If you like Japanese styled fantasy worlds, could I recommend Daughter of the Empire and Initiate Brother?

I haven't gotten far through them, but so far they look very interesting. I have trouble finding Asian styled fantasy, and those are the only two on my lists with Japanese influences. The others are Mongolian and Chinese.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendations. I was rather exhausted with Feist after the Riftwar books, but it's probably time to go back and look at what he's been involved with since. And the reviews I've just looked up sound interesting.

I've long intended to read something of Russell's - being Canadain myself, I try to support Canadian authors. I'll have to look at these first.

It's not just Japanese-influenced settings that interest me, by the way - I think that we have something in common in our reading of fantasy, in terms of wanting to explore worlds other than the ones drawn from various all-too-common European cultures and hisorical periods.

I've read several fantasies based on Chinese culture - but am always up for more. Also, I'm very curious about the Mongolian-based fantasy you refer to in passing. Titles and authors, please?

[indongcho.livejournal.com]

It's not just Japanese-influenced settings that interest me, by the way - I think that we have something in common in our reading of fantasy, in terms of wanting to explore worlds other than the ones drawn from various all-too-common European cultures and hisorical periods.

I'm actually quite obsessed with that. I really focus on different cultures in my writing, too. Many of my worlds are drawn from Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Southeast Asian cultures. Unfortunately all of the books with African influences that I had planned fell apart. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the next ones.

The Mongolian based fantasy is Lords of Grass and Thunder by Curt Benjamin. He also has a trilogy set in the same world, but this book is a stand alone. I know of a Chinese based fantasy called The Secrets of Jin-Shei. I haven't read it, and don't even have a copy of it. Due to my recent spending spree on traditional clothing it will be a while before I'll be able to get it.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Benjamin reccomendation.

I've read a couple of interesting reviews about The Secrets of Jin-Shei and have that on my list of books to acquire at some point.

Alas, that list is over 1,000 books long...

Speaking of Chinese-based fatasy, do you enjoy dectective stories? Liz Williams has a dectective series set in an alternate fantasy future Singapore - I've reviewed Snake Agent, the first volume of the series, here (http://bibliogramma.livejournal.com/44141.html). One of her stand-alone novels, Empire of Bones, is a science fiction novel set in India.

[indongcho.livejournal.com]

My list is only thirty books long, but I only started it a short while ago. Plus, I don't include books by favorite authors, since I'm guaranteed to remember them.

I generally only read stories with historical or pseudo-historical settings. I never look for books with modern settings, though if someone shoves a good one down my nose I'll certainly enjoy it.

Hmm. Do you know of any fantasy with Indian-like settings? Tamora Pierce has done a little bit, but I can't think of anyone else.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Indian-based fantasy settings - I think I've come across a couple of short stories, possibly by Vandana Singh.

If you like historical settings and also like vampires, I must recommend Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint Germain books. There are at least 20 of them by now, and several are set in China, Tibet and India at different points in time, and there are also a few set in Egypt - Saint Germain is 4000 years old, and he's travelled around a lot, although he has stayed mostly in Europe because he's of early European stock himself, and tends to stay where he either doesn't stand out or isn't the only visible foreigner around. I think Yarbro has the character say at one point that he's never travelled in sub-Saharan Africa for that reason.

Yarbro does exhaustive research and her settings are very detailed. I've been a fan of her work for a very long time now.

Both Guy Gavriel Kay and Judith Tarr have written fantasies set in the Middle East or in cultures derived from Middle Eastern cultures, but off hand I can't think of much that's been set in the Indian subcontinent.

People who in write in English can be so Eurocentric sometimes.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

I have just bought and read the last in the series: the prequel Heaven's Net is Wide. Which I enjoyed very much.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

I shall have to wait for a paperback edition, alas - we're trying to save money to buy a house, and while I can't give up books, I can wait for less expensive editions.

The other books in the series that I'd ordered arrived yesterday, alnog with a few other things I've been wanting for a while, so I've lots of eagerly anticipated reading to do in the near future.