Heaven's Net Is Wide
core novel 2007 Tales of the Otori
Record
| First published | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.19 (8,858 ratings, collected 2026-08-21) |
| Page count | 560 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781594489532 |
| Internal chronology | 5 |
Synopsis
A prequel to the rest of the Tales of the Otori series, Heaven's Net Is Wide follows Otori Shigeru from the age of twelve as he begins the long process of training to become both a warrior and a political leader within his clan, roughly seventeen years before the events of Across the Nightingale Floor. Growing up under the pressures of clan rivalry and expectation, Shigeru experiences a series of personal losses and betrayals that shape him into the more guarded, deliberate leader later readers meet, even as he works to build the strategic alliances his clan will need to survive.
Where it sits
- Universe: Tales of the Otori
- Series: Tales of the Otori core; position 5 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Lian Hearn
Awards (verified)
- Aurealis Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2007: won
Notes
- From the series record (Tales of the Otori): Heaven's Net Is Wide is a prequel published last; the internal story order differs from publication order.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Tales of the Otori: position 5 of 5: previous The Harsh Cry of the Heron (2006)
Sources
← Tales of the Otori dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.