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Publisher:  Macmillan
Release Date: September 2003 
ISBN: 1405005823 
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Hardback 
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Genre: Historical Fantasy [Feudal Japan] 
Reviewed: 2003
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde 
Reviewer Notes:   A book for Teen and Young Adults, as well.

Grass For His Pillow
By  Lian Hearn


     Lian Hearn's first novel in the series Across The Nightingale Floor (also reviewed on this site) won the author many accolades. Now Takeo and Kaede are back and have the unenviable task of trying to live their lives apart and put right many wrongs. Takeo has turned his back on his new role as adopted heir to Lord Otori Shigeru and instead tries to embrace his arcane powers and live with The Tribe. But he is going to find that this may not the answer he seeks. Meanwhile, Kaede is the heiress to a large estate but goes home to find that things are not as she remembered, and of course she has no husband. In a man's world she is doomed to become a pawn of the great warlords unless she can become one herself…

     This is more akin to Laura Joh Rowland than Tolkein and you don't have to like fantasy to enjoy this thrilling series. Apart from the magic powers of The Tribe, this reads much like a historical novel about feudal Japan. The middle volume of a trilogy usually treads water a bit and it is true that no earth-shattering events happen in here but instead we have the characters growing up and discovering more about themselves and their roles in a harsh society. This is a series that is aimed primarily at young people and I can imagine many teenagers enjoying such a thought-provoking tale. Takeo has to choose between a role dictated by his powers and another which he was trained for from his adoption and Kaede must choose between a traditional female role and a stronger one which her dependents need her to take on. All this is set in the lush world of mediaeval Japan and details are sketched in speedily but to great effect, like the lines of a haiku. Many authors would need a lot more than Hearn's modest 300 pages to get all this in, but by the end, although I was eager for more, I felt that what I had read had left me satisfied as to the depth and breadth of its content. I look forward to reading Brilliance of the Moon and also to whatever Hearn has planned next.