Sibling Assassins

Children of the Otori, Book 2

By: Lian Hearn

Narrated by: Patrick Harvey

A new generation, a relentless enmity.

As a boy, Arai Sunaomi was known as the Miracle Child and crossed between the worlds to walk among the dead. Now he has put aside his past to follow the way of the warrior. His aunt, Kaede, is considering making him her heir, and her General, Miyoshi Kahei, hopes to betroth Sunaomi to his daughter, Kinu. But there is one girl whom Sunaomi cannot forget - Utahime, who has been dead for seven years. Will he dare bring her back to life?

Utahime's brother, Masao, is Sunaomi's oldest friend and the only surviving relative of the great warlord Saga Hideki. When Masao disappears after a fight in the city, Sunaomi is charged with finding him. With his cousins Kiyoko and Kichizo, sibling assassins from the Tribe, Sunaomi sets out on a journey which will take him into an enthralling and dangerous world of spirits and supernatural beings, rebels, pirates and saints - the extraordinary and enchanting world of the Tales of the Otori.

©2020 Lian Hearn Associates Pty Ltd (P)2020 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

accents matter

I've enjoy the Otori series and while i enjoyed this last book, the narrators English accents retracted from the story. the story sets in Japan, the English accent made the story less believable.

Yikes! Change of Reader was Jolting

These books that follow up the original Tales of the Otori series do help fill in some gaps in the story and do a nice job of showing how honor, family and culture travel into the next generation even with changes in political alliances and outside influences. On the whole, I've enjoyed the series and found the trend toward somewhat less battle and bloodshed to feel historically correct.

The one thing that really felt out of balance was the shift to only male voices to tell the story and, with this book, a reader with a completely different accent (English), way of pronouncing names and places, and doing character voices. While I was beginning to get accustomed to the reader by the end of this book, it was really jarring. I'd suggest at least doing all 3 books in this series with the same reader.

The emotions

I enjoyed this more than book one. And I loved book one.

The growing up of Suneomi was well done. I did want to smack him silly about a certain flute-playing girl. Typical teen stupidity.

Masterful

Brilliant story and excellent narration…couldn’t stop listening…I am a fan for life .. Lian Hearn please continue….

Entranced

This book touched my soul and healed me. forever a fan. always wishing for more.