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Children of the Otori: Books 1 and 2 are now available

The final books of Lian Hearn's thrilling Otori Series are out now
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OW coverChildren of the Otori: Book 1 - Orphan Warriors

Orphan warriors fight for survival in a brutal medieval world in this enthralling new chapter in Lian Hearn's multi-million-copy selling OTORI series.

The bitter struggles of the Tribe and the clans have left many children orphaned. Among them are Sunaomi and Chikara, sons of Arai Zenko, who face death after their parents' treachery. Their aunt, Kaede, is able to save their lives on condition they become novice monks and never leave the temple at Terayama.
Sunaomi has been brought up as a warrior, yet his grandmother is Muto Shizuka. He cannot escape that he is also a child of the Tribe. As he discovers unimagined talents within himself he comes up against Hisao, Takeo's son, the ghostmaster, as well as Saga Hideki, the most powerful warlord in the realm, the Emperor's General.
Taking place in the magical medieval world of Tales of the Otori, Orphan Warriors is a coming-of-age adventure story in a human world of courage and sacrifice behind which always hovers a supernatural world of danger and dread.




SA coverChildren of the Otori: Book 2 - Sibling Assassins

A new generation, a relentless enmity. The thrilling climax of Lian Hearn's multi-million-copy bestselling OTORI series.

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.




Conversation with Lian Hearn

What is your background? How does it impact on your writing?
I was born in England and [have since] emigrated to Australia. I think the main influences on my writing were my rather disturbed teenage years (I won't go into details) and studying modern languages (French and Spanish) at Oxford...

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The Otori Series

I had been interested in Japan for years, ever since I was a child really, but I only went there for the first time in 1993. It was while I was there that an idea suggested itself to me - to try to write a fantasy set not in an Anglo-Celtic world but one based on medieval Japan...

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Blossoms and Shadows

This is the story of the birth of modern Japan, told by Tsuru, a young woman who breaks every stereotype of the Japanese lady. We meet her on the day of her sister s wedding, and soon realise that she will not accept the same domestic role that her sister is about to take on...

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Lian Hearn writes...

Between the Darkness and the Light

I’ve written five books in the Tales of the Otori series. It started as a trilogy (Across the Nightingale Floor, Grass for his Pillow and Brilliance of the Moon) but I realised I had more to say about the characters and have written one book (Heaven’s Net is Wide) that ends where Across the Nightingale Floor begins...

Across the Nightingale Floor

A land of incomparable beauty torn by civil war An ancient tradition undermined by spies and assassins A society of rigid castes and codes subverted by love Takeo is raised among the Hidden, whose beliefs forbid them to kill. When his family fall victim to religious persecution at the hands of Lord Iida of the Dairyo clan, he is rescued and adopted by the warrior, Shigeru, of the Otori clan...

Brilliance of the Moon

The powerful conclusion to the Tales of the Otori trilogy. A beautiful, haunting evocation of a time and place just beyond the reach of an outside world, the third and final instalment of the Tales of the Otori transports us once again to a medieval Japan of Hearn s imagination, a land of formal ritual and codes, harsh beauty and deceptive appearance...