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Apr 16 0 comments
Books

Tales of the Otori (Book 2)

Grass for his pillow book coverGillian Rubinstein (1942—) is an award-winning Australian children’s author and playwright. Born in England, Rubinstein split her childhood between England and Nigeria, moving to Australia in 1973. As well as eight plays, numerous short stories and articles, she has written over 30 books. Her award-winning and hugely popular 1986 debut ‘Space Demons’ introduced the themes of growing up and fantasy worlds which emerge often in her other writings. Books such as “At Ardilla”, “Foxspell” and “Galax-Arena” all received critical acclaim and multiple awards.

In 2001, Rubinstein published the first of the ‘Tales of the Otori’ series under the pseudonym ‘Lian Hearn’. ‘Lian’, comes from a childhood nickname (as the last four letters of ‘Gillian) and ‘Hearn’ refers to herons which is a prominent theme in the series. The series is set in a fictional island nation resembling feudal Japan and is her first work to reach an adult audience. Gillian Rubinstein currently resides in Goolwa, South Australia.

In the second book, Grass for His Pillow, Takeo character rising.
He learns to become ruthless, and to develop his talents. Although he longs for Kaede, he finds himself attracted to another member of the Kikuta family, Yuki, who happens to be Kenji’s daughter. On the other hand, he incurs the hatred of another member, Akio, for being the object of affection for Yuki. When on a mission to go to the Otori home where he had once lived and to obtain records of what Shigeru had recorded, Takeo overhears Akio tell of a plot against him. Akio had been ordered by Kotaro (the leader of the Kikuta) to kill Takeo. With the wise advice of his former teacher Ichiro, Takeo manages to mortally wound Akio and leaves him to die in a freezing river.
After that Takeo flees to Terayama. On his way he ran into Jo-an and other outcasts. Jo-an brings him to a holy woman who makes a phrophecy. It dicates that he will rule at the price of 5 battles. 4 to win and 1 to lose. He will rule the three countries including the unknown far east.
Kaede in the meantime is raising an army to take up her inhertiance at Maruyama. She makes a deal with Fujiwara that’ll she’ll tell him the secrets of her life for food, knowledge, and money. He accepts and that continues on.
Takeo reaches Terayama and begings a training regim with Makoto and the abbot, Matsuda Shingen a famous Otori warror. In the spring Otori and other warrors begin to come to the temple to form in army for Takeo to challenge the Otori lords. Kahei and Gemba Miyoshi are among the first to show. Kaede visits the temple and they get married.

The third book, Brilliance of the Moon, I still have to wait because i still didn’t have that one yet. and it will the same as The Harsh Cry of the Heron and the prequel, Heaven’s Net is Wide (to be published in 2007). still waiting the time to have them all.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Apr 16 0 comments
Books

Tales of the Otori (Book 1)

Across The Nightingale Floor Book CoverThis book, Accross The Nightingale Floor, is the first book of the Tales of the Otori trilogy.. but will have 5 books not only three… you’ll see them all in my reviews, it might not a complete one, but i try the best.
Tales of the Otori is a series of fantasy novels by Lian Hearn, takes place on the fictional island referred to as the “Three Countries,” comprised of the East, the Middle Country, and the West. Each country is ruled by a specific clan, the East by the Tohan, the Middle Country by the Otori, and the West by the Seishuu. The Three Countries are a part of a much larger nation ruled by an emperor who is referred to only in passing and holds little influence over the area.
Social structure in the Three Countries strongly resembles that of feudal Japan, with a samurai-like warrior caste comprising the upper ranks of society and men legally dominant over women.
The four present novels are: Across the Nightingale Floor (2002), Grass for His Pillow (2003), Brilliance of the Moon (2004), and The Harsh Cry of the Heron (2006). The books follow a young warrior named Takeo in his struggles to avenge an adopted father, escape the legacy of his biological father, and pursue the love of his life in the midst of an enormous power struggle involving dozens of clan lords and thousands of warriors.

The story is told primarily in first-person narrative by Otori Takeo (first introduced as Tomasu), who was born in a small village of religious outcasts referred to as the “Hidden.” The Hidden are persecuted throughout the Three Countries for their religious beliefs, and in the opening chapter Takeo’s village is destroyed by a band of warriors led by Iida Sadamu, Lord of the Tohan Clan. During this attack, Takeo is rescued by Otori Shigeru, a young Lord of the Otori Clan, and led back to the Otori stronghold of Hagi. There, Shigeru adopts Takeo and begins to instruct him in the ways of a warrior.
At Hagi, Takeo learns that his father — Kikuta Isamu, who died before Takeo’s birth — was a member of the “Tribe,” a secretive network of spies and assassins known for supernatural traits. Takeo finds he has inherited many of his father’s talents: invisibility, silent movement, the ability to create a mirror image of himself, an extremely good sense of hearing, and a stare that can put dogs and humans to sleep. Under the tutelage of Tribe member Muto Kenji, Takeo learns to employ these skills in the role of an assassin, expecting to take part in Shigeru’s coming conflict with Iida Sadamu.
Shigeru’s uncles, hoping to rid themselves of their popular and powerful nephew, send him to Iida’s capital city of Inuyama. Bound by honor and loyalty to his clan, Shigeru follows their wishes despite suspecting a trap, and takes Takeo along with him. Shigeru’s wariness proves warranted when Iida imprisons and tortures him upon his arrival in Inuyama. Meanwhile Takeo is taken hostage by the Kikuta family, relatives of Takeo’s father who plan on forcing Takeo to take up his father’s legacy as a full member of the Tribe. Before he submits to their will, however, Takeo sneaks into Inuyama castle and frees Shigeru, but not before the Otori lord becomes mortally wounded. Filled with a thirst for vengeance, Takeo returns to the castle intent on slaying Iida, but finds him dead at the hands of Shirakawa Kaede, a young woman Takeo fell in love with on the road to Inuyama, and the female heir to the western domain of Maruyama (Kaede’s story is a secondary plotline and is intermittently told in third-person chapters).
As Takeo escapes Inuyama with Kaede and the Tribe, word of Iida’s death spreads and his Tohan clan is overrun by an army led by Arai Daiichi. In the following weeks, Takeo is torn between three conflicting obligations:

- Avenge the death of his adopted father Otori Shigeru and claim his rightful place as leader of the Otori clan;
- Honor his promise to the Kikuta family to develop his Tribe skills and place them at the employ of the Kikuta;
- Sanctify his love for Kaede through marriage and help her claim the lands of Maruyama.

This conflict is the driving force for the bulk of the series and eventually places Takeo at odds with the Tribe, the Otori lords, and the armies of Arai Daiichi.

The first book ends, Takeo lives by his word and after putting Kaede to sleep with his eyes, he goes to join the Tribe.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Apr 02 2 comments
Books

Norwegian Wood (Japan : Noruwei no Mori)

Norwegian Wood book CoverNorwegian Wood is a work by Haruki Murakami, first published in Japan in 1987. It was also his most resounding success there, a phenomenal bestseller. It was translated into English, by Alfred Birnbaum, but that edition was basically only made available in Japan itself. Now, finally, the book appears in an authorized translation by Jay Rubin.

The original Japanese title, Noruwei no Mori, is the standard Japanese translation of the title of The Beatles song “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” written by John Lennon (the song is often mentioned in the novel). This itself seems to be a mistranslation, since noruwei no mori means “Norwegian wood,” as in forest, and not the material wood referred to in the song. The novel however mentions the song itself invoking for Toru a peaceful mental state, as if one is walking through a wood; and a dark state of mind is compared to a dark forest, both comparisons perhaps adding poignancy to the Japanese translation of the song title.

The novel is a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. The story’s protagonist and narrator is Watanabe Toru, who looks back on his days as a freshman university student living in Tokyo. Through Toru’s reminiscences we see him develop relationships with two very different women — the beautiful yet emotionally troubled Naoko, and the outgoing, lively Midori.

The novel is set in Tokyo the late 1960s, a time when Japanese students, like those of many other nations, were protesting against the established order. While it serves as the backdrop against which the events of the novel unfold, Murakami (through the eyes of Toru and Midori) portrays the student movement as largely weak-willed and hypocritical.

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A 37 year old Watanabe Toru has just arrived in Hamburg, Germany. When he hears an orchestral cover of the Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood”, he is suddenly overwhelmed by feelings of loss and nostalgia. He thinks back to 1960s, when so much happened that touched his life…

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Popularity: 12% [?]

Apr 02 0 comments
Books

The Rule Of Four

the rule of four book coverThe Rule of Four is a novel written by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, and published in 2004. Caldwell is a Princeton University graduate, and Thomason is a Harvard University graduate. They are childhood friends who wrote the book after their respective graduations. Both Caldwell and Thomason attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Rule of Four reached the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. The book was a no. 1 national and international bestseller and has been translated into more than 25 languages. It has sold more than four million copies worldwide, and to date is the best selling debut novel of the decade.

The book is set on the Princeton campus during the weekend of Good Friday, 1999. The story involves four Princeton seniors, friends and roommates, getting ready for graduation: Tom, Paul, Charlie and Gil. Two of the students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are trying to solve the mystery contained within an extremely rare, beautifully decorated and very mysterious (and this is a real and exist) book— the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Tom is the son of a professor who had dedicated his life for the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Throughout the novel, he struggles between being fascinated by the book and trying to pull away from the obsession that drew a rift between his father and his mother and is now causing discord between him and his girlfriend, Katie.
His roommate, Paul Harris, is a brilliant young scholar who is writing his undergraduate thesis on the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. He has spent all four of his undergraduate years studying the book and is close to a breakthrough.
Charlie, the roommate who acts as the parent of the four friends and Gil, heir to a wealthy East-Coast banking family are supporting characters to Tom and Paul’s project.
The novel charts the relationship between the four roommates and how obsession can be both a boon and a burden. It is a story about growing up as much as solving the mystery of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. The disciplines of Renaissance science, history, architecture, and art are drawn upon to solve the mystery.
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Popularity: 16% [?]