Emperor of the Eight Islands

An ambitious warrior leaves his nephew for dead and seizes his lands. A stubborn father forces his younger son to give up his wife to his older brother. A woman of the Old People seeks five fathers for her five children, the Spider Tribe, born from cocoons. A powerful priest trains a young disciple, Shikanoko, who has been made a sorcerer against his will. An intricate tapestry has been woven for two rival clans to enter a savage battle over who will be crowned emperor of the Eight Islands.

In an extraordinary story seething with intrigue, adventure and love, Lian Hearn masterfully brings to life a mythical Japanese world inhabited by assassins, ghosts, spirits, deer and monkeys. A spellbinding new work from the author of Across the Nightingale Floor.

Genre: Fantasy