The Crane

Legend of the Five Rings: Clan War #3

by Ree Soesbee

A Spring of War.

Doji Hoturi, the young Champion of the Crane, is everything a samurai could wish to be: swift of sword and pure of heart . . . but his eyes hide a terrible secret.

Bloody magic whispers through Rokugan's greatest cities, and the undead servants of a Dark God rise. From the shadows, Doji Hoturi watches as a new champion of evil lifts his sword and laughs—and the face beneath the armor is his own.

Cover art by Brom

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Role Playing Games, High Fantasy

312 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

About the author

Ree Soesbee is a writer, game designer, and lore editor for massively multiplayer online games as well as traditional pen and paper RPGs. She has authored more than sixteen novels in a wide variety of fantastic worlds ranging from the popular Legend of the Five Rings setting to Star Trek, Dragonlance, Deadlands, and Vampire: the Masquerade. Her body of work includes over a hundred RPG texts, and inclusion in numerous short story anthologies and professional literary journals. Currently, she is a lead designer and lore writer for Guild Wars 2; innovative follow-up to the award-winning Guild Wars MMORPG. Already, Guild Wars 2 has recieved Gamescom's 'Best Online Game' and MMORPG.com's 'Most Anticipated MMO' awards.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several years after the Scorpion Clad-led coup, the Crane Clan find themselves beset by Crab and Lion attacks. Their prince, Hoturi, travels to the imperial palace for aid, but his lust mixes him and his people up in even worse warfare and bloodshed. So far, I’ve probably enjoyed this book best of the Clan Wars, but it certainly suffers from the same issues as the other entries in the series: too many names and histories jammed at the reader right away. Part of my issue was that I waited too long between reading books 1 and 2 and was not prepared to remember the 9,000 character names presented in passing in the prior books. However, I didn’t mind Hoturi’s journey from beginning to end though. The series is definitely much more plot-focused than character-driven.

[Nathaniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

“On the distant fields of Kyuden Kakita, four foxes fled into the wide woodland.

Lost forever to the world of men, one turned for a last long gaze at the lights of the distant palace. For a moment, the wind ruffled her shorn hair, reminding the young kitsune of all the things that would be left behind.

That place is not yours, Sister. One of the other foxes nuzzled away her tears and barked encouragement. You should never have stayed as long as you did. The ways of man are not the ways of the spirits. Leave them to their own destiny: it is not for us to change the will of fate.

I loved him.

We know.”

*

there were individually strong sections of this book — Ameiko’s departure, Toshimoko’s meeting with Yokatsu, the battle at Kyuden Kakita — but ultimately it felt like a selection of disconnected anecdotes (which also didn’t quite ever line up with the timeline as we saw it in The Unicorn), rather than a cohesive novel. messy. also the honorifics were all over the place, but that’s a minor complaint.

[literarykal · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars ⭐️

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was very about about the pride before the fall, and the subsequent fall. Even though the story ended happily, I don't care for some kinds of arrogant characters, such as is seen in the Crane clan. Hopefully they will learn something from this. Still trying to figure out what Kachiko's plan is.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read series for fans of the Legend of the Five Rings CCG. Being a fan causes me to add an additional star to the review. However non-fans of the game might find this to be an enjoyable series.

[Ishpeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gameyverse books have quite a few hurdles to overcome. This one came closer to getting past them than most.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great, as a book or a series but I've accepted these as guilty pleasure reads.