Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn

[meganbmoore]

Heaven’s Net is Wide is a prequel to Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori series. TotO is set in an alternate Japan whose world and society only have one real change to being part of any unspecified part of ancient Japan: ninja magic skills exist and are pretty darn cool. The first three books cover the life of Tomasu, later Takeo, the son of a man of the Tribe(the magic ninja guys) and a woman of the Hidden(the not-even-minimally-disguised version of Christianity in this world.) As a teen, Takeo is taken in and adopted by Otori Shigeru, a man who plans to overthrow Iida Sadamu, the corrupt Lord of the land. We follow Takeo’s life as he fulfills Shigeru’s dreams and carves his own destiny and loves, setting the stage for his children. For, we learn, it is not so much Takeo himself that is important(though, of course, he is) but rather, the world he creates and the legacy he leaves for his children, and what they do with it. I should go on the record now as saying that I view The Harsh Cry of the Heron as the best book, and that as far as I’m concerned, the entire point of the first three books. It is, very simply, including Heaven’s Net is Wide, the best written, crafted, and executed of the books.

Heaven’s Net is Wide serves as a prequel to the series, telling the life of Shigeru much the same as the first three books followed Takeo’s life, detailing how he got to the personal and political stage he was at in Across the Nightingale Floor, as well as showing the emergence of his enmity with Iida Sadamu, and the earlier lives of main of the supporting characters of the series. Like all the books, it’s good. Very, very good. And yet…for most of it, while I liked it, while I thought it was good, while I found it interesting…I just wasn’t involved. I had my suspicions of why throughout, but they solidified once I got to the last 150 pages, when it started to include other perspectives and get into the events that directly led to AtNF.

The thing is this: Takeo’s role is to leave a legacy and create the world for his children to guide. Shigeru’s role is to train and guide Takeo and put him on that path. Everything we needed to know about Shigeru, we got into in great detail in Takeo’s books. Most of the rest is…extra. Good extra, but extra. Once we got to the events leading to Shigeru’s finding and adopting Takeo, there was a feeling of bittersweetness because you know what’s coming, and anticipation to get to see it in a new way, but for the most part, while good, there was just this anti-climatic feeling to it. It’s like I used up all my anticipation and energy with the other books, and this one was only filling in the holes for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I unconditionally recommend it, whether you’ve read the others or not, but if you haven’t read the rest, I suggest starting with this one, as I suspect it’ll make a much bigger impact that way.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm more interested in Japan's "loss of body part(usually eye or arm)=love" and China's "loss of body part=heroism and nobility."

Kaede...gets better...then gets worse again. She's by far the weakest of the major female characters.