Library Loot - August 4th

Library Loot is a weekly event that celebrates libraries and the resource they are for book bloggers. This week it's hosted by Claire of The Captive Reader for the first time. Congratulations!

I have to admit, I haven't been much of a library user lately. Shame! Shame! But then, that's what I get for working in a bookstore. The books are right there, calling out for me to buy them.

Anyway, I finally got back to the library yesterday. Took out the entire Otori series by Lian Hearn. I know it was recommended over on my What Would You Recommend post on Japan some weeks back, so I thought I'd give it a try. Loving the books so far.

My bag of loot:

Across The Nightingale Floor
Lian Hearn

The amazon.com product description:

One Boy, One Journey, One Dark Destiny In his palace at Inuyama, Lord lida Sadamu, warlord of the Tohan clan, surveys his famous nightingale floor. Its surface sings at the tread of every human foot, and no assassin can cross it. But 16-year-old Otori Takeo, his family murdered by lida's warriors, has the magical skills of the Tribe - preternatural hearing, invisibility, a second self - that enable him to enter the lair of the Tohan. He has love in his heart and death at his fingertips...Across the Nightingale Floor, Book 1 in the Tales of the Otori trilogy, is a stunningly powerful novel. An epic story for readers young and old. Set in a mythical, feudal, Japanese land, a world both beautiful and cruel, the intense love story of two young people takes place against a background of warring clans, secret alliances, high honour and lightning swordplay.

I've already finished this one and I absolutely loved it. Had to start the second one right away. Thank goodness I got them all from the library at once.

Grass For His Pillow
Lian Hearn

The Amazon.com product description:

Praised for its epic scope and descriptive detail, Across the Nightingale Floor, the first book of the Tales of the Otori, was an international bestseller and critical success, named by the London Times as "the most compelling novel to have been published this year." With Grass for His Pillow, Book Two of the Tales of the Otori, we return to the medieval Japan of Hearn's creation-a land of harsh beauty and deceptive appearances. 

Brilliance Of The Moon
Lian Hearn

The Amazon.com product description:

A beautiful, haunting evocation of the medieval Japan of Lian Hearn's imagination, this thrilling follow-up to Grass for His Pillow and Across the Nightingale Floor delves deeper into the complex loyalties that bind its characters from birth. Filled with adventure and surprising twists of plot and fortune, this final volume travels beyond the Three Countries, to the outside influences that threaten to intrude upon this isolated realm.

The Harsh Cry Of The Heron
Lian Hearn

The amazon.com product description:

The epic conclusion to the bestselling Tales of the Otori-"one of the most thrilling new series of our time."*
The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the rich and stirring finale to a series whose imaginative vision has enthralled millions of readers worldwide, and an extraordinary novel that stands as a thrilling achievement in its own right.
A dazzling epic of warfare and sacrifice, passionate revenge, treacherous betrayal, and unconquerable love, The Harsh Cry of the Heron takes the storytelling achievement of Hearn's fantastic medieval Japanese world to startling new heights of drama and action. Fifteen years of peace and prosperity under the rule of Lord Otori Takeo and his wife Kaede is threatened by a rogue network of assassins, the resurgence of old rivalries, the arrival of foreigners bearing new weapons and religion, and an unfulfilled prophecy that Lord Takeo will die at the hand of a member of his own family.
The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the ultimate conclusion to the Tales of the Otori series that both completes the characters' lives and brilliantly illuminates unexpected aspects of the entire Otori saga. 

Heaven's Net Is Wide
Lian Hearn

The amazon.com product description:

The new beginning and the grand finale of the celebrated Tales of the Otori is “rivetingly elegant” (Washington Post).

Heaven’s Net Is Wide is the prequel that reveals the full story of Lord Otori Shigeru—the figure who has presided in both life and death over the entire series, the man who represents the true spirit of the Otori Clan. The first and the last tale, it introduces readers to the strange and beautiful world of the Otori and closes the circle where it opened in Across the Nightingale Floor. Set in a mythical, medieval Japan, this epic historical fantasy of revenge and betrayal, honor and loyalty, beauty, passion, and the overwhelming power of love, has enthralled millions of readers the world over—and now, with the cycle complete, its audience will only continue to grow.