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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
This book was cleverly written about a young boy who is trained to become an assassin in Feudal Japan. It's written with the beautiful flowing nature that only Japanese literature seems to accomplish.
This book could be labeled a quasi-fantasy (it's a stretch to say that there's real magic in it, and there are no dragons whatsoever) or historical fiction, only it doesn't take place in Japan, it takes place somewhere and somewhen that is almost but not quite feudal Japan. It's Japan like Westeros is Western Europe. Hearn goes to great lengths to make sure that it's not actually Japan -- she never says "samurai" or "ninja" or tatami or katana or any number of things that would have been useful and descriptive. I found it irritating. Also, here are things that appeal to me about fantasy/historical fiction:
~descriptions of fancy clothing (in this case, that would be kimono;)
~description of a fancy sword that is important to a family and passed down from generation to generation;
~descriptions of the food to some extent;
~descriptions of fancy hair-dos;
~descriptions of fancy houses and/or castles (especially Japanese architecture, come on!)
~stark differences between classes of people;
~people saying one thing and meaning another;
~cool hand-to-hand fighting.
Now, I don't need ALL of these, but Christ, throw me a bone here! There was nothing! There was one fight scene that I remembered, between the kid and the girl, that was memorable. And she did describe the landscape well a few times. And she tried to describe art, but all she ever said was that the birds looked like they were about to fly off the page. There was a family sword, but I have no clue what it looked like.
That was it! There was none of that other stuff I mentioned above! Maybe that's okay with some people, but not with me. That shit is what I'm there for.
The story was pretty predictable, I guess, though I wasn't usually interested enough in the plot to try to guess what would happen next. The protagonist is terrible, I don't care one whit about him or what happens to him. Oh but he does have an incredible sense of hearing, and I did think that was interesting. I will admit that.
Also there are two people who fall in love at first sight AND I FREAKING HATE THAT SHIT. Come on people.
I don't think I was crazy about the narrator, either.
~descriptions of fancy clothing (in this case, that would be kimono;)
~description of a fancy sword that is important to a family and passed down from generation to generation;
~descriptions of the food to some extent;
~descriptions of fancy hair-dos;
~descriptions of fancy houses and/or castles (especially Japanese architecture, come on!)
~stark differences between classes of people;
~people saying one thing and meaning another;
~cool hand-to-hand fighting.
Now, I don't need ALL of these, but Christ, throw me a bone here! There was nothing! There was one fight scene that I remembered, between the kid and the girl, that was memorable. And she did describe the landscape well a few times. And she tried to describe art, but all she ever said was that the birds looked like they were about to fly off the page. There was a family sword, but I have no clue what it looked like.
That was it! There was none of that other stuff I mentioned above! Maybe that's okay with some people, but not with me. That shit is what I'm there for.
The story was pretty predictable, I guess, though I wasn't usually interested enough in the plot to try to guess what would happen next. The protagonist is terrible, I don't care one whit about him or what happens to him. Oh but he does have an incredible sense of hearing, and I did think that was interesting. I will admit that.
Also there are two people who fall in love at first sight AND I FREAKING HATE THAT SHIT. Come on people.
I don't think I was crazy about the narrator, either.
Jag gillar denna boken, gillar känslan den sätter, de olika familjerna och att berättelsen växlar mellan karaktärerna. Jag har läst det tidigare men ville läsa om för jag kommer inte ihåg hur långt jag kom i serien då… kanske läser vidare nr 2.
I'm torn with this book. I loved the faux-feudal Japan setting, the political wranglings and the magical elements, but quite a few things let it down for me.
Takeo and Kaede are both apparently about 15 and yet behave not at all like 15-year-olds. I know it's a fantasy world etc, but their demeanours most of the time seemed no different to the adults they were dealing with, so very often I forgot they were meant to be much younger.
The love at first device was not to my liking at all - they take one look into each others' eyes and are immediately burned by passion and desire? Ugh, no thanks.
Much though I enjoyed the magical system in general, it was presented very haphazardly which really let it down. I've read many great books where a young student learns a new magical craft and it can be presented in such a way that the reader learns along with the character and really gets a lot from it. Aside from Takeo's hearing which was introduced quite naturally and quite well, the reader didn't witness him learning any of his other Tribe-endowed skills. We learned that the second self was a potential skill because Takeo sees Kenji use it, but it's never shown being taught. Instead Takeo sets off to research a mission and states that here he will use his second self (oh OK, so he can do that now?), here he will go invisible (WHAT, there's invisibility now?!) and so forth. Very disappointing.
There were however a couple of nice plot twists that kept me guessing right to the end and I was glad to see that Hearn wasn't scared to kill off some major characters in order to move the plot along. I probably will read the next to see what happens to Takeo now, but not in any big hurry.
Takeo and Kaede are both apparently about 15 and yet behave not at all like 15-year-olds. I know it's a fantasy world etc, but their demeanours most of the time seemed no different to the adults they were dealing with, so very often I forgot they were meant to be much younger.
The love at first device was not to my liking at all - they take one look into each others' eyes and are immediately burned by passion and desire? Ugh, no thanks.
Much though I enjoyed the magical system in general, it was presented very haphazardly which really let it down. I've read many great books where a young student learns a new magical craft and it can be presented in such a way that the reader learns along with the character and really gets a lot from it. Aside from Takeo's hearing which was introduced quite naturally and quite well, the reader didn't witness him learning any of his other Tribe-endowed skills. We learned that the second self was a potential skill because Takeo sees Kenji use it, but it's never shown being taught. Instead Takeo sets off to research a mission and states that here he will use his second self (oh OK, so he can do that now?), here he will go invisible (WHAT, there's invisibility now?!) and so forth. Very disappointing.
There were however a couple of nice plot twists that kept me guessing right to the end and I was glad to see that Hearn wasn't scared to kill off some major characters in order to move the plot along. I probably will read the next to see what happens to Takeo now, but not in any big hurry.
adventurous
dark
sad
This was a great book.
I’m beginning to think books set in feudal Japan (or books that take inspiration from that era, such as the case may be) are just really perfect for me. Every character was well done, the writing was great, and I liked the way the story ended (in a more realistic fashion).
There are things in this book that a lot of stereotypical social media clout chasing SJWs (ie not people who really care about social justice but just want to look “woke”) would not like in this book, but they make the book more realistic. For example there are pleasure houses and women are supposed to act meek and submissive. Anybody with a brain can tell those are really what we should want for our society, but that’s how life and the culture of feudal Japan was.
I’ve seen one reviewer who was upset about how often earthquakes and The Hidden (whom they pointed out were analogs for Christians) were mentioned. I don’t know what version of the book they read, but earthquakes were mentioned three maybe for times in the entire book (whose setting is inspired by Japan so I don’t know what they were expecting) and the Hidden is an aspect of the world building so of course it’s going to be mentioned. I don’t get why they made such a big deal about those being included in the book because, at least for me, they were never an issue. I suspect she had other reasons to not like the book and used those as a scapegoat.
Anyway, I would definitely recommend picking this one up!
I’m beginning to think books set in feudal Japan (or books that take inspiration from that era, such as the case may be) are just really perfect for me. Every character was well done, the writing was great, and I liked the way the story ended (in a more realistic fashion).
There are things in this book that a lot of stereotypical social media clout chasing SJWs (ie not people who really care about social justice but just want to look “woke”) would not like in this book, but they make the book more realistic. For example there are pleasure houses and women are supposed to act meek and submissive. Anybody with a brain can tell those are really what we should want for our society, but that’s how life and the culture of feudal Japan was.
I’ve seen one reviewer who was upset about how often earthquakes and The Hidden (whom they pointed out were analogs for Christians) were mentioned. I don’t know what version of the book they read, but earthquakes were mentioned three maybe for times in the entire book (whose setting is inspired by Japan so I don’t know what they were expecting) and the Hidden is an aspect of the world building so of course it’s going to be mentioned. I don’t get why they made such a big deal about those being included in the book because, at least for me, they were never an issue. I suspect she had other reasons to not like the book and used those as a scapegoat.
Anyway, I would definitely recommend picking this one up!
I decided to reread this book after reading [b:Heaven's Net is Wide|186668|Heaven's Net Is Wide (The First Tale of the Otori)|Lian Hearn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189044502s/186668.jpg|2376430] and I have to say, it really is soo much more fun to read and you understand everything much better. I would highly recommend reading [b:Heaven's Net is Wide|186668|Heaven's Net Is Wide (The First Tale of the Otori)|Lian Hearn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189044502s/186668.jpg|2376430] before reading the rest of this series.
slow-paced
This is probably my least favorite in the series so far. The stakes don't feel as high as the previous books, and I wasn't as engaged with the setting. I'm glad to see our crew back together, and the adventures that Murderbot goes on are always fun. I'll be looking forward to seeing where Murderbot heads next, as I have completely forgotten everything that happens after this book!!
I first read this when I was 12/13 and was obsessed. Rereading it now it is still a good book but not as good as I thought then. You feel entrenched in the culture and story and I definitely recommend it if you have any interest in Japan.