After reading 'The Scorpion' I can safely say this book is a worthy follow up and the quality of writing is just as good as the previous book. My only gripes is that a person not acquainted with the L5R universe may not have a clue as to what is going on, such as the false Hoturi, why The Crab are allied with the Shadowlands etc. Also, towards the end of the book, the whole thing feels like a prologue to 'The Crane' since the whole False Hoturi thing is left dangling (Come on, the guy killed Jikkyo and yet Tetsuko and co. don't seem to be pursuing the matter?) Also, as some L5R players may know, there's no mention of the Kolat, but that wouldn't have many any impact on the Clan War storyline. Also, certain parts of the dialogue, especially the 'jokes' ('Don't bother sending them a thank-you scroll, their already dead') seem pretty un-Rokuganese. Overall, this is a worthy successor to the 'Scorpion' and I'm looking forward to starting on 'The Crane' soon.....