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booksand_claire's review
2.0
Started off so well, but progressively lost interest and the story never got me enough back in it to truly feel like this was a fleshed enough world unfortunately.
matprts's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
iwona_mag's review against another edition
4.0
It was a good read with a nice plot and this soft and calm narrative. Thanks to this book I was able to feel this need for reading books again after a long break.
fishface's review against another edition
4.0
Not as big a fan of this series as of the “Tales of the Otori” but hey :) I eat up this kind of fantasy content
popi's review
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
alexreadsboooks's review against another edition
4.0
This review also appears on my blog alexreadsboooks
_______
Kazumaru is about to be killed by his uncle, who wants to take over the family's estate once and for all, but a stag saves him in the last second. What follows is a tale of magic, demons and political intrigue that sees a family toppled, a mysterious woman looking for five fathers for her children, and a powerful priest meddling in the politics of the country.
I picked this up because I felt like reading something inspired by Japanese culture, and since Emperor of the Eight Islands is set in a fictional medieval Japan it seemed perfect. Besides, I loved Hearn's Tales of the Otori series when I read it years ago.
Emperor of the Eight Islands weaves a wonderful tale of intrique and politics. The world is built quite well, and while my knowledge of medieval Japan is limited, the feeling of the world checks out against my experience with manga set in similar settings.
The dialogue was a bit too stilted for my tastes in the beginning, but as I read on the overall style of the narration drew me in and the dialogue fit in very well with that after all. In fact, the narration is one of my favourite things about this book (and it was already a favourite in Tales of the Otori if memory serves right), because to me it just fits in so well with the overall world building and the characters. I'm not sure if I'm bringing it across properly, but it's a narrative voice that reminds me of some of my favourite story-telling in Japanese media, and I just really love that.
The characters are a bit of a weak point in my opinion. Some of them are amazingly complex and interesting. However, I felt that some of them could have been explored a bit more, and were kept a little one dimensional for my tastes.
Another thing that I already loved in Tales of the Otori and that has carried over to The Tale of Shikanoko so far, is the complete avoidance of dropping random Japanese words into the text. To me there's nothing that throws me off more than throwing in random Japanese words and '-san's and '-chans' just for the sake of it (and italicizing them on top of it as so many books do). It just reads a lot like something a 16-year-old weeaboo would do (believe me, I've been there myself). There's stories where it's appropriate and actually realistic to throw in words in other languages (bilingual characters come to mind, or multilingual and multicultural societies like the one in Ian McDonald's Luna series) but a world that is practically free from outsiders and where everyone speaks the same language is not the place for this. Believe me, we know that we're in Japan, even if you only use English words.
Sorry for the tangent, my point is that Hearn does not use Japanese words and honorifics just for the sake of it, which makes the world building and the text in itself so much better.
Overall I really liked Emperor of the Eight Islands, and while it's probably not the most amazing book out there it does a great job at things I've seen fail before.
_______
Kazumaru is about to be killed by his uncle, who wants to take over the family's estate once and for all, but a stag saves him in the last second. What follows is a tale of magic, demons and political intrigue that sees a family toppled, a mysterious woman looking for five fathers for her children, and a powerful priest meddling in the politics of the country.
I picked this up because I felt like reading something inspired by Japanese culture, and since Emperor of the Eight Islands is set in a fictional medieval Japan it seemed perfect. Besides, I loved Hearn's Tales of the Otori series when I read it years ago.
Emperor of the Eight Islands weaves a wonderful tale of intrique and politics. The world is built quite well, and while my knowledge of medieval Japan is limited, the feeling of the world checks out against my experience with manga set in similar settings.
The dialogue was a bit too stilted for my tastes in the beginning, but as I read on the overall style of the narration drew me in and the dialogue fit in very well with that after all. In fact, the narration is one of my favourite things about this book (and it was already a favourite in Tales of the Otori if memory serves right), because to me it just fits in so well with the overall world building and the characters. I'm not sure if I'm bringing it across properly, but it's a narrative voice that reminds me of some of my favourite story-telling in Japanese media, and I just really love that.
The characters are a bit of a weak point in my opinion. Some of them are amazingly complex and interesting. However, I felt that some of them could have been explored a bit more, and were kept a little one dimensional for my tastes.
Another thing that I already loved in Tales of the Otori and that has carried over to The Tale of Shikanoko so far, is the complete avoidance of dropping random Japanese words into the text. To me there's nothing that throws me off more than throwing in random Japanese words and '-san's and '-chans' just for the sake of it (and italicizing them on top of it as so many books do). It just reads a lot like something a 16-year-old weeaboo would do (believe me, I've been there myself). There's stories where it's appropriate and actually realistic to throw in words in other languages (bilingual characters come to mind, or multilingual and multicultural societies like the one in Ian McDonald's Luna series) but a world that is practically free from outsiders and where everyone speaks the same language is not the place for this. Believe me, we know that we're in Japan, even if you only use English words.
Sorry for the tangent, my point is that Hearn does not use Japanese words and honorifics just for the sake of it, which makes the world building and the text in itself so much better.
Overall I really liked Emperor of the Eight Islands, and while it's probably not the most amazing book out there it does a great job at things I've seen fail before.
brocc's review against another edition
4.0
review can be found on my blog here: http://butterfly-elephant.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/book-review-emperor-of-eight-islands.html
kj2355's review against another edition
2.0
I could not work out how distance and the map worked in this book. I was constantly looking at the map trying to get bearings on the character's movements. But I couldn't work out how big the place is and how spread out things were. At times it took the characters days to get somewhere, and at other times for seemingly similar distances it took weeks. It was also confusing because sometimes travel was by foot and sometimes by horse. It just completely broke the illusion of the story.
Also where does the 'eight islanders' of the title fit in? I haven't read the precursor books, Tales of the Otori, and I'm assuming it has something to do with that. But there was no mention of islands, unless islands is a metaphor for all the different clans and families??
Also where does the 'eight islanders' of the title fit in? I haven't read the precursor books, Tales of the Otori, and I'm assuming it has something to do with that. But there was no mention of islands, unless islands is a metaphor for all the different clans and families??
madeline11037's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
sadie_slater's review against another edition
4.0
I'd often glanced at Lian Hearn's fantasy novels, set in a fantasy country inspired by Japanese folklore and history, in bookshops but never actually bought one until earlier this year when I was trying to find a third book for the three-for-two offer in Blackwell's and picked up Emperor of the Eight Islands, a recent novel which is the first of the two-volume sequence The Tale of Shikanoko rather than being connected to the earlier sequence which began with Across the Nightingale Floor.
Emperor of the Eight Islands tells several interlocking stories, with each chapter devoted to one of several point-of-view characters. Shikanoko, the son of a lord who is dispossessed by his ambitious uncle, becomes the "deer's child", owner of a stag's-head mask that imbues him with supernatural powers; meanwhile, the powerful and scheming Prince Abbot supports a coup against the rightful Emperor, and the rightful heir to the throne is forced to flee in disguise, and characters from both factions appear and reappear, connecting with each other and moving the plot forward in unexpected ways.
Despite the complexity of the plot, this felt like a very easy book to read; the style is very simple and has a detached feeling which reminded me of folk tales and fairy tales. It felt a bit like a children's book, though had enough sex and violence that I think it was probably intended for a primarily adult audience. I liked it a lot, and particularly enjoyed reading fantasy set in a world so different from the default fantasy world based on medieval Europe.
Emperor of the Eight Islands tells several interlocking stories, with each chapter devoted to one of several point-of-view characters. Shikanoko, the son of a lord who is dispossessed by his ambitious uncle, becomes the "deer's child", owner of a stag's-head mask that imbues him with supernatural powers; meanwhile, the powerful and scheming Prince Abbot supports a coup against the rightful Emperor, and the rightful heir to the throne is forced to flee in disguise, and characters from both factions appear and reappear, connecting with each other and moving the plot forward in unexpected ways.
Despite the complexity of the plot, this felt like a very easy book to read; the style is very simple and has a detached feeling which reminded me of folk tales and fairy tales. It felt a bit like a children's book, though had enough sex and violence that I think it was probably intended for a primarily adult audience. I liked it a lot, and particularly enjoyed reading fantasy set in a world so different from the default fantasy world based on medieval Europe.