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A review by trish204
Brilliance Of The Moon by Lian Hearn
5.0
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This third installment picks up right after Takeo's and Kaede's wedding. The Otori uncles are sending threats and it's clear that to have any position amongst the warring clans, indeed any chance to stay alive, Takeo and Kaede must first gain men and power themselves so after defeating the Otori army, they travel to Kaede's domain to reclaim it (after the death of Lady Maruyama, some men took over despite the law being different in that region).
Meanwhile, Takeo is still hunted by the Tribe as well (and boy, weren't there some "nice" developments there?!) and he has therefore no other option than to use Shigeru's records and hunt them.
Following part of the prophecy, he also tries to gain an advantage by sea so he and Kaede split up, with terrible consequences when Kaede is reckless enough to go to her homeland.
And then there is still Lord Arai and he's still very furious - now with both Takeo and Kaede.
We get a lot of battles therefore, just like the prohecy foretold, and a lot of bloodshed.
Fujiwara is still alive, Arai is still alive, the Tribe is still plotting, ... thankfully, there are some good people in this, though, too. Like an old friend of Takeo's from book 1 for example.
Nevertheless, the death toll in this one was brutal.
I only realized how much I liked
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IchiroSpoiler
the outcast Jo-an whom Takeo had to kill despite owing his life to the manAs a complete opposite,
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I didn't feel sorry for Yuki or Kenji one bit. Sure, some will make excuses for Yuki because she was a pawn and in love with Takeo and was forced to kill herself because of that love after she had given the Tribe what they had wanted - the child - but she was old enough and made those choices herself. She also knew the Tribe and still went along. Not to mention that her father had betrayed Shigeru and Takeo so wretchedly so I actually liked how he suffered after the forced suicide of his daughterThe most torturing part was
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Kaede's obductionSpoiler
FujiwaraSpoiler
he wouldn't rape her as he was pretty much uninterested in anything sexualSpoiler
loyal KondoAs was to be expected, the amount of betrayal didn't let up in this third book either.
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I had actually had hope that Arai would just die in battle or something but no, of course he had to turn on Takeo after defeating and killing the Otori uncles with his helpThis book also marks the first time, that we learn of this fictional feudal Japan getting in contact with the rest of the world - namely through the firearms invented after some run-ins with "white barbarians". Isn't it interesting how any given side always calls the other "barbaric" or "savage"?
The ending, at least, was very satisfying what with
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the battles having been won, Takeo and Kaede both being disfigured - because that ensured they remained equals - and ruling the three countriesOne detail I always love and which the author continued through all the books so far is how she incorporates the title of the next volume in the text of the current one. I only figured this out now (maybe because the German translation didn't have it, I'd have to go back and check) but find it a pretty feature.
And I have to once again state how much I like the narration of the audiobooks. Not only are the narrators very good with the pronunciation, it's also nice to have a male and female narrator since the chapters are from Takeo's and Kaede's point of view.