Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn

Separated from his beloved Kaede, Takeo was trapped by his Tribe family the Kikuta. Takeo regretted this, having never expected to live after the night at Inuyama where he had both rescued and avenged his adopted father, Lord Otori Shigeru. He was now forced to take part in the wicked duties of spying and silent assassanation, but all the while the magical talents that he inherited from the Tribe were being trained and honed into an acute and focused power. He wished that he could return to his life as Lord Otori Takeo, heir to the Otori clan. The religion of the Hidden that he was born to was lost to him by then, as were any traces of another religion that he might have picked up. He wanted to leave, but he was bound by both word and blood, and if he strayed from Tribe he would be sentenced to certain death. He did, however, run away to fulfill Shigeru's wish for vengeance and to marry Shirakawa Kaede. He learned that he could find safety from the Tribe, however temporary, with all those loyal to the Otori, the shunned Hidden outcasts, and the monks at the monastery of Terayama. Through one of the Hidden, he heard of a prophecy which said that he was to fight five battles, four to win and one to lose. The one he would lose would be at the hands of his child, whose mother was not Shirakawa Kaede. Kaede, one of an extreme few female leaders, also needed to claim a seat of power at the head of two clans, the Shirakawa and the Maruyama. Now faced with winning alliance with the new overlord Arai, the constant threat of the Tribe, and the five battles, Takeo's life was more tense and suspenseful than it ahd ever been before. I was so impressed by Grass for His Pillow. I am eagerly awaiting the chance to read the final book in Lian Hearn's trilogy. Both of the book so far are immensely worthwhile to read, even for those who have less than favorable outlooks towards reading. Nadia J.