STUPID MOVE
I read both the first two books and found them most enjoyable although it is clear that Mr. Hearn writes from a western point of view no matter how much he may have studied Japan. I was only able to make it through half of this book when I was totally disgusted by the STUPID moves made by Kaede. First, knowing the importance of the records of the Tribe see decide to make a copy of them. Great, smart thinking. Then what does she do? She leaves town of carrying both copies with her and with only a small escort, none of which are battle harden soldiers. Of course I am thinking great they are going to nab her and get both copies. But while I am fearing this to be a stupid move Mr. Hearn goes and has her hide both copies in the same place, quite killing the need for a back up copy. But that's not the killer. The straw that breaks this camel's back is she walks right into a trap set by the noble man Fugiwara that she has totally ticked off and humiliated. How stupid is that? Too stupid for me. Especially after waiting days for Takeo to return then to leave when his return is more eminent than ever. Of course without reading the rest of the book I know this will totally screw up all of Takeo's plans with the pirate's to take Otori. So sorry just tooo too much frustration for me. And we are to think that these two, Takeo and Kaede, are going to be wise rulers and bring peace? Fat chance.
Disappointing ending
I agree with other posters critical of the ending. You get to about 20 pages left in the book and you're thinking, "no way is Hearn going to finish this series this book, is she?" Well she does, and it's disappointing. Otherwise, all in all, the series was entertaining enough to warrant the time and money.
Satisfying Conclusion
I ripped through this, a much better book than Grass for his Pillow, and a worthy book to match Across the Nightingale Floor. This book legitimizes the trilogy in my mind. I highly recommend this book for fun sci-fi/fantasy!
Beautifully written fantasy set in feudal Japan
The Brilliance of the Moon concludes the Tales of the Otori trilogy that began with Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1)and Grass for His Pillow (Tales of the Otori, Book 2). It's important that you read the series in order, and, unless you have a lot of Japanese friends and a great memory, have read the earlier books recently.
The tales of the Otori are fantasy based on a feudal Japanese milieu rather than the more common medieval European setting. Hearn (a pen name, by the way) lyrically depicts the sights and sounds of Japan, and imbues the characters with Japanese values and beliefs. Takeo and Kaede, teenagers in a time when men and women came of age early, marry in defiance of their overlord at the end of Book 2. In order for them both to survive, Takeo must regain his domain and hers, and hold them against enemies. The wheels for these events have been set in motion in previous installments.
Takeo is a great main character as he has conflict eight ways to Sunday. He was born into a peasant family, adopted into the noble Otori clan, and also has heritage of the Tribe and the Hidden. It doesn't matter if you don't know what these things are; you can see there are a lot of influences in this young man's life. He's also struggling spiritually, at odds with the rest of the Otori, most of the Tribe, and trying to figure out his relationship with the Hidden. Meanwhile, he's trying to protect Kaede, win battles against steep odds, and interpret a prophecy about his life and death.
Truthfully, The Brilliance of the Moon isn't the strongest in the series, but the writing is spare and evocative, the main characters are vivid and true to their culture, and the story is engrossing.
"I Had Been Claimed by Both Sides of my Ancestry..."
This is the third and final book in the "Tales of the Otori" trilogy, in that it wraps up the main plot of the previous novels, Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1) and Grass for His Pillow (Tales of the Otori, Book 2). However, there is a forth installment that is set fifteen years after the conclusion of this book, that deals with a couple of plot-threads that were left dangling here (namely, the prophesy that claims Takeo will die at the hands of his own son). However, for all intents and purposes, this is the grand finale of the story that has been gradually building up throughout the previous books, and Lian Hearn brings the semi-epic tale to a satisfactory and bittersweet conclusion.
Being the third novel, there is a huge amount of back-story and intrigue already set up, and so it seems pointless to summarize it here. Let's just say that there's no way you can understand this story without already having read the previous novels, so if you're thinking about buying, you need to backtrack a little bit. Basically, our main character Otori Takeo is a young warrior with allegiances to three opposing factions in the Japanese-inspired world of the Three Countries. Attempting to negotiate his ties with all three of them (both within himself and in the world itself) makes up the crux of his character, as he is torn between the honourable Otori Clan (into which he was adopted), the pacifist Hidden people (who bear a resemblance to Christians) and the devious Tribe, a secretive and devious faction who instigate their near-supernatural abilities in the art of spy-craft and assassination. Told in first-person narrative, Takeo's story is suspenseful and poignant, as the young man is called upon to make some *very* difficult decisions throughout the course of the tale. The saying that there can be no peace without war is especially apt here, as Takeo deals with a range of betrayals, alliances, intrigues, enmities and battles that threaten his attempts to secure peace. Several times I found myself asking: "What would I do in that situation?" Hearn doesn't hesitate to make his protagonist undertake some very dubious activities, which adds to the richness of the story itself.
In the final chapter of "Grass for his Pillow", Takeo was wed to his beloved Shirakawa Kaede, something I felt was a surprise move on Hearn's part (usually weddings are postpones till the *end* of a story). Unfortunately, I never felt that the romance between them was handled particularly well, but having a married couple as a story's main protagonists is an interesting change. As in the previous books, Kaede's chapters are told in third-person narrative, although she has a lesser part to play here. Hearn seems to have lost interest in her slightly, as Kaede's development from a timid young girl into an independent and powerful woman is undercut in this installment when she becomes a prisoner of a malevolent lord - remaining there for most of the book's length.
However, one cannot say the same thing about Takeo, who has fully embraced his role as a war-leader and all the responsibilities that come with it. Hearn captures the burden of leadership perfectly, as Takeo struggles to maintain power whilst placating those that answer to him, seeking out allegiances whilst knowing he can trust no one, kill those oppose him whilst suppressing his own distaste for violence. Hearn handles the action sequences and the atmosphere of war extremely well, and though we don't fear for Takeo himself, be certain that all of his friends and comrades are up for grabs. Takeo has grown convincingly from boy to man throughout the course of the three books, capable of both compassionate and merciless actions, something that finally makes him a fully three-dimensional character (being rather distant in the previous books). He struggles, he doubts, he succeeds and fails, and although I would have liked a bit more commentary on Takeo's internal thoughts (often I wasn't sure whether many of the events were due to his own upbringing, or part of the Japanese culture itself - such as the many "honour suicides" that take place, something completely foreign to Western thinking).
Although the violence and randomness of war is captured almost-perfectly, I felt that the final confrontation with the Otori was rather abrupt and anti-climactic. Perhaps this was simply because it was building for so long, but it seemed to be over quickly, with very little effort on Takeo's part. However, though I have not yet read the forth book The Harsh Cry of the Heron: The Last Tale of the Otori (Tales of the Otori, Book 4), this is certainly the best book of the trilogy, with action, suspense, intrigue, revenge and a good wrap-up to what has gone before.
