[LM_NET] SEC: Book Review: Accross the Nightengale Floor by Hearn

[Doyle_Tony <tdoyle@MUHSD.K12.CA.US>]

This review, and others, can be seen on "Shelf Life: The Livingston High School 
Reading Blog:
http://lhsblog.edublogs.org/

Accross the Nightengale Floor ("Tales of the Otori" book 1) by Lian Hearn

My wife has been telling me to read this book for several years.  But she’s an 
English teacher.  What would she know about good books? ;-)  Seriously, we have 
very different taste in books and it took me several years to get her to read 
Ender’s Game, so fair is fair.  Of course my wife was right and I loved this book.  
I can’t wait to read the next one in the series (“Tales of the Otori”).

Tomasu lives in a small isolated village of religious dissidents in a country very 
much like feudal Japan.  He returns from a day spent wandering around in the 
mountains (his favorite past time) to find his village destroyed by the ruthless 
Lord Iida.  As Iida’s men bear down on him, intent on completing their massacre, 
Tomasu is rescued by a sword-wielding traveler.  The traveler turns out to be Lord 
Otori Shigeru, the sworn enemy of Iida.  Shigeru renames Tomasu and adopts him.  
Now known as Lord Otori Takeo, he is initiated into the world of the warrior caste 
and its attendant violence, intrigue, and political machinations.  He also learns 
secrets about his own past and develops skills that will place him at the center of 
events that will change the history of his country.

This book will appeal to a wide range of readers.  It has plenty of action to keep 
even reluctant readers hooked and it has a great cast of characters, both male and 
female.  Some, like Takeo and Shigeru, are clearly good guys. Some (Iida and 
Shigeru’s uncles) are clearly bad guys and some are ambiguous so that the reader is 
never sure how they will act as the story progresses.  Prevalent themes include 
revenge, love, loyalty, duty, honor, sacrifice, and religious persecution.  Highly 
recommended for grades 7-12.

Tony



--------------------------------------------------
Anthony Doyle, Teacher Librarian
Livingston High School
Livingston, CA
tdoyle@muhsd.k12.ca.us<mailto:tdoyle@muhsd.k12.ca.us>

"Play nice."
Mrs. Young (my kindergarten teacher)

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