Billed as "Asian Fantasy," Across the Nightingale Floor is an epic tale of revenge, intrigue, and love unrequited. At least, that is what the book jacket says. The writing style could have ascended me to a higher plane of enlightenment, but its absent plot, vapid characters, and stilted dialog made me want to commit hari-kari.
As I'm working on a book of my own and promoting my latest release, finding time to read is precious. And, like many fans of SF/F/H, I've got a reading list that is longer than my right leg! It's frustrating because there are books written by colleagues that I'd like to read so I could talk to them about their books and vouch for their work with a clear conscience. There are other books I want to read because they either come highly recommended or sound like something right up my alley. As I am into my anime, a lot of people were hardly surprised to find Across the Nightingale Floor on my "To Read" list. This is Book One of the Tales of Otori, penned by Lian Hearn. I was thrilled to see Asian Fantasy begin to make a showing, providing a delightful alternative to Celtic Fantasy. So anxiously I opened up Nightingale Floor and prepared myself to enter a world and a series that was described as an Asian Lord of the Rings.
After reading a description from our hero about how great it felt to take a piss, I knew I was in trouble. Had it been for comic relief or something along those lines, I think I would have been okay?but this was a "moment's peace" for our hero, and only a dark omen for what was to come.
This epic Asian Fantasy centers around a young boy who loses his entire family in a Conan-esque raid on his village. Lord Iida, it seems, has major issues with this group of people called "The Hidden" and whenever these group of pacifists are found, they are wiped out. Why? Well, Lord Iida's an evil Asian warlord, and as we who write Asian Fantasy all know?
First Rule of Evil Asian Warlords: Wipe out pacifists!
The boy gets in a few lucky shots and even manages to unhorse the mighty evil warlord.
Second Rule of Evil Asian Warlords: Don't let a pacifist make you look stupid.
The boy's about to be cut down, but a skilled swordmaster named Shigeru (a/k/a Lord Otori) saves the day. Lord Otori takes the young orphan-sole survivor, gives him the new name of Takeo, and pledges to turn him into a master swordsman as well.
This is how Across the Nightingale Floor begins, but after we get to know Takeo, the first person POV suffers a jarring switch to third person and we meet Kaede. She pretty and smart, but as she is Asian this means she has to be whiny, victimized, and helpless to resist becoming a pawn in a game bigger than her puny existence can fathom. Now why are we getting to know this girl? You'll have to get ninety pages into the book to understand.
And how does Across the Nightingale Floor create a plot that can involve Kaede, Takeo, and Lord Otori. Well?you'll have to get a few more pages into the book to figure that out?like about one hundred and fifty pages?
So, let me cover the good. When Across the Nightingale Floor is at its best, Lian Hearn paints breathtaking landscapes, atmospheres and settings. Her ability to worldbuild and set a stage blew me away. She was brilliant, in particular, where Takeo tests his skills as an assassin and serves as an ?angel of mercy.? Quite a powerful scene.
Now, the bad. All this beautiful scenery and few-and-far-between moments of inspiration are ruined the minute the characters opened their mouths. The dialog was so canned I half-expected an advertisement for ?La Choi Chinese Food? to appear in the back of the book. Even at the opening when Takeo is mute, I really wanted him to shut the hell up because the more he talked, the less I liked him. And if the dialogue wasn't enough, the character development appeared to be straight out of bad kung-fu theatre. I was appalled at how the author toted ?her frequent stays in Japan? inspired the Tales of the Otori and yet presented fortune cookie-cutter cutouts that didn't make it past the second callbacks for The Last Samurai. And as she had cardboard Asian stereotypes for her cast, Hearn tries to weave something resembling a plot around trite device after trite device. For example, we have Takeo who meets Kaede who is promised to Lord Otori in a marriage that will seal alliances. You think Takeo and Kaede will fall in love at first sight? You think? Later on, Takeo and his teacher, Kenji, are on their way to swordfight practice when they come up to Kaede and her servant, Shizuka, who are currently tearing it up in the dojo. Kenji, Takeo's ?ise instructor, thinks it would be good fun for Kaede and Takeo to spar together. You think Takeo and Kaede are going to try and work out their sexual frustrations in this bout, only to cast a covert look of desire that everyone else notices? You think?!? Just take every over-the-top soap opera clich?ou can think of, slap a kimono on them, and you've got Across the Nightingale Floor, a story that redefines predictability.
And you know the "Cast of Thousands" that sometimes appear in books? Don't bother with a scorecard or a program to keep track of who's who. In Across the Nightingale Floor you meet:
- Shigeru
- Sadamu
- Shizuka
- Shirakawa
- Kenji
- Kaede
- Ichiro
- Chiyo
- Takeo
- Takeshi
- ?and so on and so on.
Good luck in trying to keep clans, people, and places straight because the author didn't bother to vary the names all that much.
By now you might be wondering why I'm spewing out this bad review so passionately. Here's the downright butt-ugly truth of this book: IT ISN'T FANTASY. I was looking for something?anything?that would make this book a Fantasy, and it just wasn't there. Perhaps publishers, booksellers, and even the author believed this pretentious nonsense as Fantasy on account of The Tribe and The Hidden, two societies that have "enigmatic backgrounds." Maybe they thought turning Takeo into a super assassin overnight (and I mean it?between a single page, Takeo goes from being Jackie Chan to Jet Li?) would add in an element of Superhero Fantasy, but if Across the Nightingale Floor is Fantasy, then The DaVinci Code is SciFi. So after I got over the initial shock that in Hearn's Asian Fantasy there was no Fantasy, I continued to read it as if it were a Japanese fable. Didn't help. If you want a better example of Asian Fantasy done as a Japanese fable, take a look at Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano. As far as Nightingale Floor is concerned, don't let the hype fool you. The only thing "mythical" about it is the proportions it takes on how hackneyed it is.
Still, Lian Hearn has two more Tales of the Otori out on the bookshelves, Grass For His Pillow and Brilliance of the Moon, and I give her credit for conning her agent, publisher, and readers on asking for more. I was told by someone "It gets better in Book Two." Funny, that's exactly what I was promised after seeing Phantom Menace and Matrix: Reloaded.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Published by: Riverhead Books (Part of Penguin Putnam)
ISBN: 1573223328
Genre: Fantasy (HA!)
Author's Webpage: www.theotori.com [Read more...]
Recent Comments