Rating: 
Summary: Return of the Fallen Lord
Review: The third in the series, the Crane runs largely parallel to the events in the Unicorn book (ending slightly later), but manages to hold its pace better. While not as full of shocks as the Scorpion novel, the Crane novel largely succeeds where the Unicorn failed: it provides suspense in a tale where the outcome is already widely known.Ms. Soesbee's style is not for everyone, as it mimics the fighting style of the Crane by moving so quickly that it's not uncommon to have to reread paragraphs. The revelation of Hoturi, the protagonist, is also somewhat derivative of a similar sequence of events in Alan Moore's "The Watchmen" series. On the whole, however, the book succeeds at displaying the many facets of the Crane, and is better-written than the Scorpion novel.
Rating:
Summary: Very good in the beginning but a little weak at the end.
Review: This book started out very good. The characters are all well written and all of them come across rather well due to a good balance of strengths and weakness. It is true that it is hard to remeber who some characters are due to the large number of them combined with names that can seem very familer. Also some of the characters pop in with little or no introduction. It does help to have read the other two that came out before. Still it is fast paced where it should be(battles) well it takes it time when it should (court politics). Towards the end the book starts to fall apart because it seems to disagree with the Unicorn. Since the last battle against the evil army is pretty different. Yet the rest of the book is a first class read.
Rating:
Summary: A different perspective...
Review: This book was just as cool as the first two in the series. This time things are written from the Crane point of view. It seems to take place at the same time as "The Unicorn" book (scroll 2) and ends a bit after the ending of "The Unicorn".
The best part is that "The Crane" lets the reader in on more of what was going on in "The Unicorn". There were things happening in "The Unicorn" that were not described much, but are described at length in this book. This is mostly because the Unicorn Clan was not actuallly present at those events. For example, there was a fortress that the Unicorn clan were to defend, but got to it too late. It had already been destroyed. Since that was a Crane fortress, the battle that destroyed that fortress is fully described in this book,"The Crane". Another thing that is revealed is what's up with Hoturi... the Crane Champion. He was a hero in "The Scorpion", and started out as one in "The Unicorn", but toward the end of that book he changes. This book describes what happened. Along the same lines, there is a Dragon Clan Warrior in THIS book who makes a brief appearance. She has been given some sort of crystal hand to replace the hand she lost in some earlier battle with the Crab Clan. I have a feeling she will be the focus of "The Dragon" book and these events will be explained. One really cool character is Hoturi's teacher. He's a laid-back Samurai who is totally confident in his abilities as a warrior. He's a lot like martial arts master you see in martial arts films. There's always the simple master who's not afraid of anyone. A really important aspect of this series is the way each Clan behaves differently from the others. I haven't read past This book yet, but so far, the 'Way of the Scorpion' is deception, the 'Way of the Unicorn' is (I think) protection of the defenseless (not to mention a way with horses), and the 'Way of the Crane' is diplomacy and perfection. Each clan is riteous in its own way, depending on which book you read. In the first book/scroll, "The Scorpion" are all about sneakin' and deception/manipulation, but they are doing it for the betterment of the empire. They know that no one will understand their actions, but they do what they do anyway to save the Empire. Ironically, all those that oppose them are doing so to save the Empire as well. Other clans are portrayed as being unorganized and quarrelsome. One Crane Samurai in particular is portrayed as being quite bloodthirsty although he isn't that way in "The Crane" book. All Scorpion Clan characters in "The Scorpion" are good people. In the second book, "The Unicorn", The Scorpion Clan is portrayed as being trecherous and dishonored, but in need of defending and so the Unicorn help them out. It's the honorable thing to do. The Crane are portrayed as being arrogant yet friends to the Unicorn. The Unicorn clan so far seem to be the most well-rounded clan to me. In the third book, "The Crane", the Scorpion are portrayed as being truly evil and the Unicorn are portrayed as being a lesser clan (even though friends) especially because they actually defend the peasants (what were they thinking?). The Crane Clan is pretty vain. And why not? They are related to the Emperor and his family. They are all about diplomacy and the court. This series is totally huge. There are so many things going on it's incredible. The good news is that it's easy to read... except for the names. It takes a while to get used to the names of people, places, and things. It's all Japanese to me, man. That's a bonus as well. A lot of research went into this story. It really feels like the writers know a ton about ancient Japan... if not from a Gaijin writing style.
Rating:
Summary: good for late comers to the game
Review: this story tells the story of the cranes fight against my clan the crab this is a good book that tells the story of the clan war
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