Tales of the Otori: the beginning

[bibliogramma]

Heaven's Net Is Wide, Lian Hearn

This is the prequel to the stunning Tales of the Otori - Across the Nightingale Floor. Grass for His Pillow, Brilliance of the Moon and The Harsh Cry of the Heron. The beauty, the detail, the lyricism, the sense of immersion in another place and culture - all of the things that made the earlier books things of wonder are part of this book as well.

It is the story of Otori Shigeru as a young man, and brings us from the early days of his boyhood right up to the moment where Kikuta Tomasu, who will henceforth be known as Otori Takeo, the protagonist of the Tales, enters his life.

There are no surprises in this book - we already know most of what is going to happen, because so much of the facts and relationships explored here are part of the important history of the later books. We've heard the facts already. In Heaven's Net Is Wide, we learn how they happened, the context and feel and emotional depth of the past, and why it shaped the future we have already read.

Even though I knew, in general, everything that was going to happen, I simply couldn't put the book down until I'd finished it.

Simply beautiful.