description: The Barnes &amp; Noble ReviewReading like a cross between Frank Herbert's 
  Dune
 and the film 
  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
, this intrigue-soaked, magic-realist tale is likely to appeal to readers who enjoy experiencing an original world unfold with each new chapter. Those who have read and reread Tolkien will blissfully turn these pages and find themselves missing appointments. 
  
Set in a long-ago world resembling medieval Japan, where warring clans brutally battle it out while the nobility plots political marriages, the action starts almost immediately. Bodies are piling up by the third page, as teenage Takeo witnesses a massacre in his previously peaceful village. He seems to be writing his own ticket to the grave when he knocks an evil warlord from his horse. The boy is saved, though, by Lord Otori, who introduces Takeo to his clan -- hence the subtitle, Tales of the Otori. Across the Nightingale Floor seems straightforward enough at first, but in Hearn's world, there are plots within plots, schemes within schemes, and skillfully interwoven elements of fantasy. The author does some neat narrative juggling by alternating chapters between Takeo's first-person odyssey and the you-go-girl, third-person story of the Cinderella-like Kaede. Romance is neatly combined with adventure, and it seems likely that any reader arriving at the close of this story will readily pick up the next volume in the series. Lou Harry
title: Across the Nightingale Floor
titlecomplete: Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori)
characters: Lord Iida, Otori Takeo
genres: Romance, Fiction, Asia, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Japan, Fantasy, Adventure, Historical, Young Adult
ratings_count: 41033
series: Tales of the Otori
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Wirral Paperback of the Year, name: Peter Pan Award, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
category: Preis der Jugendjury, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Lincoln Award, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Carnegie Medal, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: La Nuit du Livre
category: Littérature
publisher: Macmillan Audio Books