| Title | : | The Great Clans of Rokugan: Legend of the Five Rings: The Collected Novellas, Vol. 1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1839081201 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781839081200 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 544 |
| Publication | : | Published November 16, 2021 |
Ice and Snow by Katrina Ostrander – a surprise attack and courtly machinations challenge the untested heir to the Crane Clan to keep the peace and prove her value to her family.
The Sword and the Spirits by Robert Denton III – the champion of the Phoenix Clan must save her lost love from the darkness consuming him, and from the menace of a desecrated shrine.
Whispers of Shadow and Steel by Mari Murdock – in the Scorpion City of Lies, the “only honest Scorpion” magistrate is caught between family and finding justice in a murder case.
Across the Burning Sands by Daniel Lovat Clark – the future heir to the mighty Unicorn Clan faces duplicity, assassins, betrayal, and even sorcery as he seeks peace with the caliph of al-Zawira.
The Great Clans of Rokugan: Legend of the Five Rings: The Collected Novellas, Vol. 1 Reviews
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I've read this and Volume Two for help with running my Legend of the Five Rings 4th Edition RPG. It's helped me out with some details on the universe. I'm not sure that these books are any use to people that aren't fans of the RPG.
If you're looking for samurai/Japanese history, these aren't the books for you. Gaming fiction is notoriously fickle when it comes to quality. -
This novella anthology includes 4 stories. I was worried that they might all have similar plots, but each one was totally different and I liked them all.
Ice and Snow by Katrina Ostrander - no magic or monsters, but some well written political intrigue, some action, and a little romance. I get they're emulating an Asian culture, but I'm always hoping they're going to change things up a bit, but this didn't. There was something strange going on with gender that wasn't described, but one of the characters was called "he" once, maybe by accident, but the rest of the time used "they/them" as their pronouns. Seemed strange because you only know if someone identifies as "they/them" if they (or someone else) tells you. The author didn't give a lot of description about the character, so it was kind of confusing. 6.5
The Sword and the Spirits by Robert Denton III - This one had a bunch of magic and monsters. Would make a cool D&D adventure. I don't like underconfident/reluctant heroes and this one was especially annoying, but I guess that was kind of the story - her finding her confidence. 6.5
Whispers of Shadow and Steel by Mari Murdock - I like how each of these have been totally different. This one had a little magic, a very complicated plot with lots of background characters and different factions and motivations. 7.0
Across the Burning Sands by Daniel Lovat Clark - Diplomacy at the edge of the empire. Djinn and ghuls, sorcerers and sword fighting. Good stuff, though the self-hate of the main character got a little old. 7.0
