12 September, 2003
Grass for His Pillow, Lian Hearn (292 pp, HC, 2003)
This is the long-awaited (by me, at any rate) sequel to Across the Nightingale floor. At the end of the previous book, our protagonists, Takeo and Kaede, had achieved their revenge against the warlord Iida, but were unable to live happily ever after. Takeo had to fulfill his obligation to the Tribe (the clan of Magic Ninja Assassins(TM) of which his father was a member). And so, he's spirited away for training and assimilation, expecting that he'll never see his beloved Kaede, or any of his Otori acquaintances again. Meanwhile, Kaede herself returns to her family's estate, only to find it in shambles. Lacking both money and power, she sets out to restore it through sheer force of will.
The Tribe turns out to be a really nasty group of people. They have no loyalty to anybody but the collective, and no notion of basic human decency. Our boy Takeo tries to fit in, but comes to realize that his loyalties and desires lie elsewhere.
Across the Nightingale Floor covered a period of several years, showing Takeo's growth from a scared peasant boy into a capable, competent young man of the warrior class. The entire plot of Grass for His Pillow takes place in just a few months. Because of this time-span, the book is rather short on plot and character development. Granted, there's still more in its 292 pages than in the most recent Robert Jordan book (or so I hear). Nevertheless, I have to say that on the whole, this was a disappointment. It was still an entertaining read, but nowhere near as good as its predecessor.
On the other hand, it might just be middle-book syndrome, and it'll come off better taken as part of a completed series.