Tales of the Otori

Tales of the Otori, by Lian Hearn consists of 3 books, (don't they all!) titled: Grass for his pillow Across the nightinggale floor Billiance of the moon I read them all and liked them for their action. The characters were just okay, not bad but not tremendous endearing. The settings were great though and the story was nice. Takeo, a boy orphaned by some bad guys quests to find fame fortune truth and whatnot. Aimed at grades 5-9 I think, set in a ficticious feudal era Japan, it is a saga of the hero's rise to power, but sadly it has very old fashioned ideals on relationships, certainly not as bad as feudal times but Hearn could have done better considering he wrote the series in the 2000's, hopefully a time when authors refute outdated sentiments of gender inequality, and don't perpetuate them. He is however, creative and talented.