Showing results by author "Lian Hearn" in All Categories

An ambitious warrior leaves his nephew for dead and seizes his lands. A stubborn father forces his younger son to give up his wife to his older brother. A woman of the Old People seeks five fathers for her five children, the Spider Tribe, born from cocoons. A powerful priest trains a young disciple, Shikanoko, who has been made a sorcerer against his will. An intricate tapestry has been woven for two rival clans to enter a savage battle over who will be crowned emperor of the Eight Islands.

The Tales of the Otori does for medieval Japan what Game of Thrones does for medieval Europe. The bitter struggles of the Tribe and the clans have left many children orphaned. Among them are Sunaomi and Chikara, sons of Arai Zenko, who face death after their parents' treachery. Their aunt, Kaede, is able to save their lives on the condition they become novice monks and never leave the temple at Terayama. Sunaomi has been brought up as a warrior, yet his grandmother is Muto Shizuka. He cannot escape that he is also a child of the Tribe.

The third title in the compelling Tales of the Otori - the story that began with Across the Nightingale Floor and Grass for his Pillow, Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn is an epic tale of love, power and destiny, set in a mythical world inspired by feudal Japan. Takeo and the exquisite Kaede, still only teenagers, are now married, but the implacable forces of destiny that rule their lives tear them apart.

In his palace at Inuyama, Lord Iida Sadamu, warlord of the Tohan clan, surveys his famous nightingale floor. Its surface sings at the tread of every human foot, and no assassin can cross it. But 16-year-old Otori Takeo, his family murdered by Iida's warriors, has the magical skills of the Tribe - preternatural hearing, invisibility, a second self - that enable him to enter the lair of the Tohan. He has love in his heart and death at his fingertips....

Grass for His Pillow is the second novel in Lian Hearn's astonishingly beautiful series inspired by feudal Japan, Tales of the Otori. In the ancient Oriental lands of the Otori, amidst a time of violent war, famine and treacherous alliances, the fate of the young lovers Otori Takeo and Shirakawa Kaede hangs in the balance.... Takeo, heir to the great Otori clan, has pledged his life to the secret Tribe. His supernatural skills of virtual invisibility and acute hearing make him their most deadly assassin.

In a remote mountain village, a boy is born gifted with the supernatural skills of his father, once the deadliest assassin of the Tribe. Set in the years before the beginning of Across the Nightingale Floor, Heaven's Net Is Wide by Lian Hearn is the first and last tale, which both closes the circle and introduces new listeners to the fantastical, beautiful and thrilling world of the Otori. It is an epic story of betrayal, revenge, magic and love.

An international best seller, Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book in the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn. In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace.

Otori Takeo and Kaede have ruled the Three Countries peacefully for over 16 years, following the events laid out in the epic Tales of the Otori. They have three daughters: Shigeko, 15 years old and heir to the Otori, and Maya and Miki, 13-year-old twins who have inherited the supernatural skills of their father. Kaede knows nothing of the prophecy that Takeo will die at the hands of his son and longs to give him a male child. Nor does she know of the boy he fathered 16 years ago.

A fantasy anthology featuring the deadly, the worldly, and the sneaky. Blackguards consists mainly of stories in established series, and the authors range from wildly successful indie authors to New York Times best sellers. If you enjoy roguish tales of scoundrels and ne'er-do-wells, this one's for you.

As a boy, Arai Sunaomi was known as the Miracle Child and crossed between the worlds to walk among the dead. Now he has put aside his past to follow the way of the warrior. His aunt, Kaede, is considering making him her heir, and her General, Miyoshi Kahei, hopes to betroth Sunaomi to his daughter, Kinu. But there is one girl whom Sunaomi cannot forget - Utahime, who has been dead for seven years. Will he dare bring her back to life?

Against a background of wild forest, elegant castles, hidden temples and savage battlefields, the adventure that began with Emperor of the Eight Islands draws to its thrilling conclusion. The rightful emperor is lost. Shikanoko is condemned to live, half man and half deer, an outlaw in the Darkwood. Yet the mighty lords who now rule the Eight Islands are prey to suspicion and illness, and drought and famine choke the realm. Only Shikanoko can bring healing by restoring the preordained ruler to the Lotus Throne.

Brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people, Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why, then, does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These supernatural powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama and to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his.

Takeo feels he must take on the Tribe and demonstrate the ruthlessness he will need to be a competent ruler. But the Tribe don't believe, firstly, that he knows where to find them and, secondly, that he will have the strength of will to deal with them. They are proven wrong.

A beautiful, haunting evocation of the medieval Japan of Lian Hearn's imagination, this thrilling follow-up to Grass for His Pillow and Across the Nightingale Floor delves deeper into the complex loyalties that bind its characters from birth.... In the third volume of the phenomenal series that began with the best-selling Across the Nightingale Floor and then Grass For His Pillow, the teenage lovers, Takeo and Kaede, are now married.

Praised for its epic scope and descriptive detail, Across the Nightingale Floor, the first book in the Tales of the Otori series, was an international best seller and critical success. With Grass for His Pillow, we return to the medieval Japan of Lian Hearn's creation - a land of harsh beauty and deceptive appearances. In a complex social hierarchy, amid dissembling clans and fractured allegiances, there is no place for passionate young love.

Otori Takeo and the beautiful Kaede are now married. But the inescapable forces of destiny that have bound their lives from birth make their happiness an impossible dream. Takeo, still only 17, must raise an army to reclaim his Otori lands, and fulfil the prophecy of the blind sage: "Peace comes at the price of bloodshed. Four battles to win and one to lose". And he can never be free from the invisible assassins of the secret Tribe who have vowed to kill him.

Takeo has pledged his life to the secret Tribe. His supernatural skills of invisibility and acute hearing make him their most deadly assassin. But he must deny the spiritual vows of his upbringing, his birthright of Otori wealth, land, and power, and his love for Kaede. If he does not serve the Tribe, they will kill him. In growing from boy to man, Takeo chooses a path of danger and vengeance, and learns of the prophecy that shapes his destiny.

Japan, 1857. For centuries Japan has been on its own; isolated by choice from the rest of the world. But the Western powers are now at its shores demanding to be let in, the government is crumbling and revolution is building. The age of the samurai is ending and in its place a new Japan will be born.A young woman is readying herself for marriage in this, the most tumultuous period of her nation’s history.

Au XIVe siècle, dans un Japon médiéval mythique, le jeune Takeo grandit au sein d'une communauté paisible qui condamne la violence. Mais celle-ci est massacrée par les hommes d'Iida, chef du clan des Tohan. Takeo est sauvé et adopté par sire Shigeru, chef du clan des Otori, et se retrouve plongé au cœur de luttes sanglantes entre les seigneurs de la guerre. Il doit suivre son destin. Mais qui est-il ? Paysan, seigneur ou assassin ? D'où tient-il ses dons prodigieux ?

Books 3 and 4 in The Tale of Shikanoko series. The second and final instalment of The Tale of Shikanoko: a bold epic of a fantastical medieval Japan from the creator of the global phenomenon Tales of the Otori, Lian Hearn, whose books have sold over four million copies worldwide. Against a background of wild forest, elegant castles, hidden temples and savage battlefields, the adventure that began with Emperor of the Eight Islands draws to its thrilling conclusion in Lord of the Darkwood, the second instalment of Lian Hearn's the Tale of Shikanoko.