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Summary and Reviews of Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

Across the Nightingale Floor

Tales of the Otori, Volume I

by Lian Hearn
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Readers' Rating (67):
  • First Published:
  • Aug 1, 2002, 304 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jun 2003, 323 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

A world-wide sensation, this first book of The Otori Trilogy is a brilliantly imagined, wholly seductive tale of war, passion, and intrigue, evoking the spirit of medieval Japan.

Every now and then a novel appears, completely unlike anything that has appeared before. Across the Nightingale Floor is such a work-a magical creation of a world beyond time.

Set in an imaginary, ancient Japanese society dominated by warring clans, Across the Nightingale Floor is a story of a boy who is suddenly plucked from his life in a remote and peaceful village to find himself a pawn in a political scheme, filled with treacherous warlords, rivalry--and the intensity of first love. In a culture ruled by codes of honor and formal rituals, Takeo must look inside himself to discover the powers that will enable him to fulfill his destiny.

A work of transcendent storytelling with an appeal that crosses genres, genders, and generations, Across the Nightingale Floor is a rich and brilliantly constructed tale, mythic in its themes and epic in its vision. It is poised to become the most captivating novel of the year.

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Reviews

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Many books have kept me up at night but not many have caused me to wake up early to finish them. In this case, I took the book camping and was so hooked that, on waking at 4am, I left the warm confines of my sleeping bag, and sleeping family, in order to sit outside, shivering in the cold early morning, reading by flashlight until the sun rose two hours later! This isn't a particularly deep or intellectual book - just a ripping good mainstream historical fiction yarn.

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Read-Alikes

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