Whichever path he follows, Takeo must hone his skills and become an assassin skilled enough to cross the Nightingale Floor whose sweet song warns Iida of unwanted visitors in the dark. Upon arrival at his new household in the realm of the Otori clan, Takeo discovers through an old friend of Shigeru’s that he has inherited these abilities from the father he never knew and now owes his allegiance to the Tribe, his real family, where he will be trained as an assassin and hired out to the highest bidder.Ĭomplicating his loyalty, Takeo also learns of Shigeru’s plan to utilise his Tribe powers for revenge upon Iida, the man who killed the Lord’s brother and is determined to marry his lover. As they travel he begins to notice changes within himself, temporarily losing his voice but developing in its place superhuman hearing and other useful traits such as the power of brief invisibility and the ability to split himself in two and leave a copy behind him. In the company of his saviour and adopted father, Lord Otori Shigeru, Tomasu crosses the mountains, sheds his identity and takes the name Takeo after Shigeru’s recently deceased brother. Transformed by shock and grief, Tomasu slights Iida, the ruthless noble who is grabbing power across the country through war and dirty politics, by fighting back, eventually being rescued by a wandering stranger and escaping with a price on his head.

Equipped with the wandering heart of one destined for greater things, Tomasu finds himself conveniently absent from home the day the wider world catches up with them, returning to find his family slaughtered for being part of a peaceful religious sect called The Hidden. Like many a prophesied farm boy before him, Tomasu has grown up in a one-horse town (with no horses) in the middle of nowhere with no idea of the political feuds going on in the wider country beyond the mountains. The story takes place in an alternate setting based in medieval Japan. From the title and beautiful Japanese-style cover art alone (variants of which can be found on most editions I’ve come across), Across the Nightingale Floor promises a different kind of adventure dangerous, beautiful and potentially surprising depending on your knowledge of the culture. Eastern settings have an exotic magic all of their own even without traditional fantasy elements.

Across the nightingale floor