Book Review: Across The Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

August 10, 2009

One day, our main man, Takeo is just chilling out in the woods. He comes back to the biggest bummer ever, his whole village being massacred. Takeo then becomes lucky enough to piss off the culprit behind the massacre, but luckily he has a friend in Lord Otori Shigeru. Across The Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn is a wonderful novel set in feudal Japan and deals with themes of honor, descision making, and identity.

I really, really enjoyed Across the Nightingale Floor. It combined many of my favorite things, historical fiction, YA, romance, fantasy and action. I feel that Hearn accomplished that feat in a way which wasn’t awkward or halting.

I felt the writing style was fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat, so to speak. Across The Nightingale Floor begins with action, there’s no long winded exposition. Instead, we learn everything we need to know gradually. Hearn places faith in the reader, and expects the reader to figure out what they need to know from context, rather than spelling everything out. I like that the author didn’t assume I was a complete idiot.

The characters of Across The Nightingale Floor were awesome. There’s Takeo, the main character, who has assassin genes, but really he might as well be a flower child being as adverse to killing as he is. Iida, the bad guy, is scary! I would not want to meet him in a dark alley. Lord Otoris Shigeru is pretty awesome, he reminds me of that song from Mulan – “Be A Man!” There is also Kaede, she’s a kick ass female who is also a looker, according to the prose since men fall all over her.I definitely enjoyed the fact that this wasn’t a crappy Kung-Fu movie in book form, because with the themes it could have turned into that. This book was a great escapist novel, I definitely look forward to reading the rest of the series.

I would recommend drinking some Coca Cola while you read Across The Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn. Parts of Across The Nightingale Floor definitely had a movie feel to it, and I like to drink soda while I watch movies! Plus Coca Cola is sweet, smooth, tastes good and goes down pretty well.

Other reviews of Across The Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn:

My Awful Reviews – “Well, Across the Nightingale Floor is my new love affair.”
Iceberg Ink – “It is, for lack of a better world, gorgeous.”
Read In A Single Sitting – “a beautifully wrought introduction to what promises to be a thoughtful and engaging series.“

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.
Filed Under: book reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,
About April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

  1. bookjourney says
    August 10, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    Great review. I love the sound of this book. The main character sounds familiar… dont know why. Thanks for reviewing this and the part aout drinking a coke while reading it…. thats jsu good stuff! 🙂

  2. Stephanie @ Read in a Single Sitting says
    September 30, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    Thanks for the link! I’d probably recommend a sake or a calpis soda rather than a Coke, though. 🙂

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