Rating: 
Summary: Tales Of The Otori - Afterthoughts
Review: The Bad:
The books leave you on the verge of reading bliss. You are constantly waiting to cross that line where a great book becomes spectacular, but it doesn't happen. The 3 books combine into an excellent epic story, but the ending seems compact and contrived compared to the amazing depths of detail the author goes through in the first two books. I would have preferred the author to keep the detail and make the third book 1000 pages instead of the 320 or so that just is not long enough. The battles are rushed and while reading I felt like the important detail was wasted on parts of the story I found myself less interested in (only wasted in that the possible 1000 pages of material was condensed to only 320).
The Good:
That being said, the books, as a series, are some of my favorites! I would certainly purchase them again and they are definitely worth reading! I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys the kind of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter - esq books, though these are a bit more real in content and only dabble in magic and fantasy. Its true, I would have liked the series to have a little more detail in the last book, but these are still books that you get addicted to, reading at stop lights and long into the night. The story sucks you in and never lets you go. People actually got mad at me for neglecting my responsibilities while I finished up the series...
Conclusions:
Go get these books! They are worth your time!
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good, but missing something
Review: When this third book came out, I ran to the shelf (I work in a bookstore) amd grabbed it up. I couldn't wait to read it. When i got home, I started it and read the whole thing in four hours. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen to Takeo, Kaede and all the others. The book was as fast paced as the previous two, yet I felt that the battles and the relationships between the major characters were not given enough attention. The first two battles were over and done with in a page or so and the last "major battles" were fought and won more by natural disasters than actual fighting prowess. There were some new characters introduced--Jiro, Hiroshi--that I would have liked to get to know better, whom I thought would end up being Takeo's students, but instead were either killed off or faded quietly into the background. I felt that there should have been more conflict between Arai and Takeo and Akio and the other Kikuta members, not just the master. And Kaede was made into a political pawn and did not seem to have much of a role beyond being a prisoner, which was disappointing, to say the least. Supposedly she had been taking lessons with takeo on being a warrior, but she never even gets a chance to pick up a sword, nor fight against her captor or his sly maid, whom I would have knocked out with something and stuffed in a closet. I felt that Kaede was given short shrift in this book, we didn't even get a chance to see her escape or rescue her sisters or anything.
I also think that Takeo is being way too accepting of the fact that he will one day die at his son's hands. How can he just sit back and say, oh well, one day my son's going to kill me and that's that? He knows his enemies have his son and yet he doesn't even ry and get him away from them. I think it would be much more interesting if he tried to change or defy the "prophecy" and take back his son and raise him as his father, rather than letting the Kikuta turn the boy against him.All in all this was a good book, thought not as good as expected.
Rating: 
Summary: Tales Of The Otori: Brilliance Of The Moon
Review: Without doubt or second thought, I have spent a week thinking of the one book which captivated my interest with such force and curiousity, and provided such tremedous reading pleasure as Tales of the Otori, all three books. Brothers Karamazov? War and Peace? No! I have averaged reading 100 to 200 books per year, for 39 years now. I cannot think of any book or series of books which have captured my imagination and fancy so much and provided me with so much entertainment, including sensations of integrating my self within the storyline, and emotions and feelings of all possible feelings and emotions known to man. They are all contained within this gifted story, of which we as readers are blessed with for our reading pleasure, amongst other reasons. This book is by far the greatest champion of a book I have ever read, of any type of book. Like I said I have read many and all types of books. None have come so close to captivate me as this book. Sure I have read hundreds of books I have deemed great, Neil Gaiman's American God's was a great read. However nothing can come close to this thoroughbred of a book, which has distanced itself halfway around the track ahead of all other contenders. A must for any serious reader of any type or style. I was so enthused with reading this book, I also bought the complete series on CDs, and listened to them several times, and still find myself occassionally listening to them. I found listening to the books on CD to be much more entertaining than reading the books. Not to mention I used to never be able to tolerate any kind of audio books before this story, now I am hooked on audio books, thanks to Legends of the Otori. The narration is soothing, almost hypnotic, and brilliantly read. This makes listening a real pleasure and cuts down on the time it takes to read the books. Plus the narrators add that extra touch of sensation, one cannot get out of reading rather than listening too audio books. Make this a number one on your list. If you are in the market not only to reward yourself with a gift you will always be thankful for, this makes a great gift for others, of which they will never forget you, for this is the greatest book ever written by man! I give this book Ten Stars out of Five available stars.
Rating:
Summary: Novels Don't Get Any Better
Review: Wow!!, wow!!, I have just finished reading Brilliance of the Moon and I was totally blown away.
Like the other two novels in the Tales of the Otori trilogy this novel was an absolute pleasure to read.
I have enjoyed many novels over my twenty years of reading but none have ever capitivated me like this trilogy. I normally read crime, modern mystery or espionage novels but I was drawn to the first of the triolgy Across the Nightingale Floor (ATNF), I must admit by the most beautiful book cover I have ever seen. As a sidenote the book covers for the Australian editions would make a great piece of artwork on any wall. Once I read ATNF I was hooked, I didn't want it to end but once it ended I was impatiently awaiting the next instalment. I must admit that I have had a fascination for Japan and feudal Japan for a long time ( I recently visited Japan and loved it and imangined many scenes from the novels as I travelled around particullarly at the beautiful and amazing Himeji Castle)and Hearn beautifully captured the country (although a ficitional version of it) and its people. Hearn has a way with words, that can only be described as art, its like admiring the most beautiful artwork you have ever seen. That may sound like an unusual description but those who have immersed themselves in this story will understand what I mean and hopefully to thosewho have yet to read it they will understand soon. I can not speak highly enough of these novels and sadly I think all I have to say and all others have to say will never adequately describe the experience of reading these novels. As another sidenote I read that Across the Nightingale Floor is to be made into a movie, I have some hesitation about this because it surely can not live up to the book, but if anyone involved in the film is reading this you NEED to cast Ken Watanabe (The real star of the Last Samurai) perhaps as either Lord Otori Shigeru or Lord Arai. So if you haven't read them yet, do yourself a favour, go to the bookshop and buy the trilogy right now, then find a quite comfortable place, open up the novel and have an adventure of a lifetime. So Lian Hearn (I wish we knew your real name and wish you had an email address so you may get a fan's praise.) take a bow .... Now hurry up and write your next novel. thank you Justin
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