Heavens Net Is Wide, Lian Hearn
Heavens Net Is Wide, Lian Hearn
List: $31.47 | Sale: $22.03
Club: $15.73

Heaven's Net Is Wide

Author: Lian Hearn

Narrator: Paul Boehmer, Julia Fletcher

Unabridged: 17 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/16/2007


Synopsis

The prequel to the beloved Otori tales both completes and introduces the series while standing firmly on its own, recounting a mythical, medieval world of ninjas and samurais.

As Tolkien's The Silmarillion is to The Lord of the Rings, Lian Hearn's Heaven's Net Is Wide is the backstory fans have been yearning for.

Set before the Tales of the Otori begins, Heaven's Net recounts the life of Lord Otori Shigeru, the series' spiritual warrior-godfather and adoptive father of the Tales' Takeo. We learn about Shigeru's training in the ways of the warrior and feudal lord; his relationship with the Tribe of mysteriously powerful assassins; his fateful meeting with Lady Maruyama, who would become his secret lover; the battle of Yaegahara, where his father is killed; and other turning points that shaped the Tales. The first four volumes gave us only glimpses. Now we are treated to rich detail and more of Hearn's fantastical Japanese world.

Gripping and bewitching, Heaven's Net is a new beginning and a grand finale; a story of monumental battles, supreme loyalty, triumphant love, and heartbreak. It ends just before Across the Nightingale Floor begins, bringing the Otori epic full circle.

About Lian Hearn

Lian Hearn is the pseudonym of a writer-born in England, educated at Oxford, currently living in Australia-who has a lifelong interest in Japan, has lived there, and studies Japanese. She is the author of the bestselling series Tales of the Otori.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bradley on January 11, 2019

I probably liked this book better than all the previous publications. (Published last, it is still a full prequel of the events that follow the next generation.) This has tragic aspects because we just can't get away from it while we spend our time in a Shogunate-ish Japan full of thugs, nastiness, a......more

Goodreads review by Trish on January 14, 2019

This is the prequel to the Tales of the Otori, explaining and showing a lot that has been talked about in the other books, mainly the first. Isamu of the Kikuta tribe has converted to the religion of the Hidden and is living in a village called Mino, settling down with a wife. Meanwhile, a 12-year-o......more

Goodreads review by Cecilia on February 25, 2021

Definitivamente me ha encantado! Comienza un poco lento pero al continuar las páginas cada vez se llena de intrigas, manteniéndotelas atrapada en la historia y encariñándose de los protagonistas... había leído la saga desde el “suelo del ruiseñor” pero me faltaba el comienzo. Definitivamente recomen......more

Goodreads review by Ian on July 05, 2022

From time to time we hear ‘life is too short to read bad books’ which I have always regarded as a bit precious because stories are written for different purposes for disparate audiences. What appeals to me may not appeal to you. But there are limits. Well, Tales of the Otori are not bad, but not gre......more

Goodreads review by Toby on March 17, 2019

Absolutely awesome start/end of the best series of books i've ever read. there is no higher praise. Feudal japanese set tales of samurai, geisha, swords, blood, treachery, intrigue, and love. The complex, entertaining and beautiful history of the otori is finally finished with Heaven's Net is Wide -......more