Fantastic book

I realized trying to explain this book to John that it was too hard to do a quick synopsis. I suppose I can say that Tomasu is a young man among the Hidden, a group that is persecuted by the area Lord. He escapes the destruction of his village and family with the help of a man who turns out to be a Lord in the Otori clan, but their meeting may have been less by chance than Tomasu first believes. Shigeru knows more about Tomasu's past than he does himself and plans to adopt him into the Otori clan.

This book picked up pretty quickly for me from the beginning, and I was eager to follow it to the ending. The descriptions were pretty. I'll probably pick up the next in the series if I run across it.

When a little boy’s family is murdered in a horrible raid, an Otori lord saves his life and gives him a new name, Takeo. For Takeo’s family was of the Hidden, a tribe which has been persecuted throughout their country, and Shigeru knows that Takeo’s identity will get him killed. As the story unfolds, Takeo realizes that he has somewhat extraordinary skills; he can hear unnaturally well, be in two places at once, and even draw better than a normal person. He is a born assassin and he is determined to wreak revenge on the man who killed his family. Meanwhile, Kaede is a helpless prisoner, forced into a marriage agreement with Shigeru after years of deprivation and unhappiness. Her marriage offers hope until Kaede realizes just what she’s getting into.

This YA fantasy was a total change of pace. It’s set in a fictional feudal Japan, a beautiful setting that evokes a much different feel than most fantasy set in fiction medieval Europe. It helps that the writing is beautiful; I would quote but unfortunately I had to return the book to the library, so you’ll have to take my word for it. The words of love spoken between the characters, especially Shigeru and his love, were heartbreaking and touching. Even the title, Across the Nightingale Floor, refers to a floor that most of us would refer to as just creaky, designed to alert the occupant to intruders. This is the real name for these floors, but it is still far more beautiful than using just plain English. The book has not only ninjas and samurais and swords, but a feel of history and scope that I loved. Since Kaede and Takeo are from different locations and both travel, we get a feel for this world that is quite breathtaking.

As far as characters are concerned, I liked these, although I do feel we could have gotten to know them a little better. They all have a massive sense of honor and it was fascinating to see how their personal thoughts played out against their real world actions. This is such a polite world even as many of the characters sneak behind each other’s backs and murder one another. If one’s honor is impugned, he or she decides to die. It’s a foreign world view but extremely well played; it doesn’t feel melodramatic, it fits. The special magical skills that Takeo had fit, too, especially given that he’s a scion of a special tribe with many of these skills themselves.

Across the Nightingale Floor was a wonderful read. It’s a different kind of fantasy than I normally prefer but I loved it. I could have done with feeling a bit more emotion towards the characters, but I’m hoping that will come as I continue the series. ( )

Set in a remarkably envisioned feudal Japan, it would be easy to mistake this book for historic fiction. Across the Nightingale Floor has opened my eyes to a new subgenre: historical fantasy. Nightingale fits this subgenre only in its superb rendering of a place in time.

Takeo is the hero, orphaned, then rescued by the good man, Lord Otori Shigeru. Three nations exist on this fantasy island off Japan, and the evil Lord Iida wants it all. It is he who is responsible for killing Takeo's family, because one of his goals for domination includes killing all members of the religious sect, The Hidden, a group with parallels to Christianity. Lord Iida also wants to control the three major nations, and schemes to do so through a marriage agreement that draws Takeo, Shigeru and Kenji into battles and suffering. Takeo faces many coming-of-age dilemmas including falling in love with Kaede, the betrothed woman (girl) of Lord Iida's plan.

It turns out that Takeo is also a member of another secret group, The Tribe. He is endowed with super-human powers that must be developed, and which become critical for the battles between good and evil. Typical of Joseph Campbell's definition of a hero cycle, Nightingale is a monomyth, the type of story I love: unlikely hero is born of seemingly ordinary roots, has supernatural capacity, battles evil, and brings goodness to ordinary people. Hearn has given birth to a likable hero. I look forward to reading more. ( )