What do You think about Heaven's Net Is Wide (2007)?
When I read Across the Nightingale Floor more than ten years ago, I really liked it, and my favorite character was Shigeru. I was increasingly less enchanted with the sequels until I found I couldn't read any of the Otori books anymore, but I thought I would give this one a chance because of its subject. While it started good, in the end I was also disappointed with it and its characters. I don't know if it is age or familiarity breeding contempt, but for the life of me I can't remember why I once liked Shigeru enough to cry at his death. He wasn't a bad character, but he wasn't anything special. Even more of a problem was the course of the plot. Hearn was so focused on making its events meet up with the first book that its own narrative arc was sacrificed. The most dramatic scene took place in the middle, and the rest of the book felt like a slow slide down into inevitability. If this were the only book in the series that you read, I think it would be very unsatisfying because its latter half was all set up rather than the resolution of its own conflicts.What I will say about Hearn is that the fantasy Japan was done incredibly well. I last read this series before I lived in Japan, and so I did not appreciate all the countless small details that are just spot on. The world came alive to me. Sadly, the story did not.
—Nicole
kisah Lord Otori Shigeru yang sangat mengasyikan. Buku yang menarik karena merupakan buku yang paling terakhir keluar setelah Kisah Klan Otori 1-4, padahal ceritanya duluan.Klan Otori 1-4 berkisah dengan tokoh utama Otori Takeo, keponakan dari Lord Shigeru tapi beda ibu. setting pada buku 1 berawal dengan kondisi bahwa Otori sudah kalah dari Klan Tohan di Yaegahara. Kisah mengenai kekalahan Otori dan intrik-intrik setelah kekalahan tersebut dikisahkan dengan sangat menarik dalam buku ini sampai akhirnya Shigeru menemukan keponakannya yang selama ini hilang dan tidak diketahui orang lain selain Shigeru dan Lord Shigemori. sayangnya sebelum bertemu dengan Takeo, Shigeru harus kehilangan adiknya Lord Takeshi karena dibantai oleh Tohan.bagi teman-teman yang senang dengan novel dengan latar belakang sejarah Jepang, saya sangat merekomendasikan buku ini (5 buku). tetapi jangan memperbandingkan kisah dalam buku ini dengan Buku Taiko karena memang pendekatannya yang berbeda. Taiko lebih kental fakta sejarahnya dibanding dengan seri buku Klan Otori ini. sedangkan buku ini benar-benar novel sehingga ceritanya banyak dibumbui misalnya dengan adanya kaum Tribe yang mempunyai keahlian hampir supranatural dan kaum Hidden sebagai kaum kristen pertama di Jepang yang diburu oleh para penguasa pada saat itu.
—Ade
Okay, so I don't often do reviews of the books I read, but this is going to be an exception. This is the prequel of the series "The Tales of the Otori", and being a Japanophile I absolutely fell in love with this book. I anxiously await reading the rest of the series, but they are surprisingly hard to find (not at the local bookstores or in the Barnes & Noble at the Grove). The detail to which the author immerses you into the Japanese culture is astounding, and it wove in just enough fantasy to keep me hooked. I'm sad that the characters I became attached to are only to serve as backstory for the rest of the series, but am also excited to see where the story goes from here.Hearn really captures the emotional struggle that each class level in feudal Japan had to endure, from high-ranking men to women of the pleasure houses. The buildups to major events were exciting, and the shocking plot twists were hard to see coming (I especially loved the events leading to the death of one character, so. epic.). I know that as soon as I can find the rest of the series I will gobble them up.
—Xander Jeanneret
