Rating: 
Summary: THE SCORPION STRIKES!
Review: This is a good idea for a book series since I don't know of any other samurai/ninja fantasy books. I always loved the old samurai movies and japanese animae that depicts these warriors in the shining light. This new book gives a good description of a land steeped in mysticism and warring clans. The characters were plentiful and pretty interesting as well as the intrigues. The story flew along at a good pace and there was quite a bit of good old samurai/ninja action. I just hope that it becomes a little more fantasy-ish as the series goes along. I would have liked to see more demons or ogres and such in the books to come to give it more of a fantasy flavor. But this was a good start and I just purchased the new book THE UNICORN and will be reviewing that next. Give this one a try if samurai and ninja's are your bag.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book, Excellent Start !
Review: This is definetely one of the best books I've read in a long time.The author did a great job with character developement and plot. Although I dont play the card game this book caught my interest a long time ago(when i saw the advirtisements for it in other books) and am glad to say it was worth the wait. The story is great and also the backround for it is also great because its different involoving eastern mythology instead of western mythology. Eastern mythology is interesting and this book had a lot of it. The book was also a great start off for what i hope will be a great series. I would highly recommend this book for anyone is into the fantasy genre. I hope the other books in the series will be as great at this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Introduction to a Fine Oriental Fantasy Series
Review: Typically, I'm not a fan of fiction based on games, be they card, roleplaying or even video games. The Clan War series, however, is a very special exception and I give most of the credit for that to Stephen D. Sullivan's work in this book. It hooks you early and it hooks you deep with its tragic anti-hero Bayushi Shoju, Daimyo of the deceptive Scorpion clan, and his malicious, seductive counterpart Bayushi Kachiko.
It does what any first volume of a series should do and that is make you want to read the rest of the books as soon as humanly possible. The fact that there were a couple of clunkers in the seven book series was somewhat disappointing (especially the lopsided follow-up The Unicorn), but the strength of The Scorpion alone will make you want to see how the rest of the clans fare in this imperial free-for-all. It's simply the best of the series and I'm glad it was the first or I might not have bothered to read the others!
So do yourself a favor and read The Scorpion. If you enjoy it then you have six more books waiting in the wings (and five more after that if you include The Four Winds series)! I can't say that any of the other Clan War books will make quite as deep an impression as this one (alough The Crane is a close second), but as a whole this is an excellent four-star series that deserves to be read.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting treatise on Honour for Rokugani.
Review: Who are the Scorpion? A clan without honor, made up of assassins and ninja, those you cannot trust.This is true, but it is also false. The scorpion sacrificed the honor as viewed by the other clans, to the honor of the empire. This is the story of Honor and Hubris, Disloyalty on one hand but a greater Loyalty on the other, Duty in it's utmost. The tale weaves through the world as an attempt that eventually resulted in a self-fulfilling prophecy, and a lesson to one that is chosen for, a lesson that is hard to learn. I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in the world of AEG's Legend of the Five Rings, and to those who are interested in a society that is similar, though not identical, to Feudal Asia (China/Japan). This is a High Fantasy novel, but much of the novel tends to deal more with the mundane world than the fantastic, though you can never truly escape the fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: When you love to hate it...
Review: With much anticipation and baited breath, I finally got my copy of The Scorpion. Nervous fingers turned page after page and with each word I read I became hooked on a story I was slowly beginning to hate. My insides turned and boiled with characters I wished I could rip apart myself. And yet on the other side of the coin, my eyes were welling with tears for characters I never believed I could feel for. By the end of the book I had tossed it across the room in complete anger and frustration. It was the best book I had EVER read. I loved it so much that I turned into a giddy little idiot when I met Mr. Sullivan. I can't wait to see what you do next to screw up the rest of my favorite gaming series! Just kidding Stephen... ;) We both know those evil, mean people made you do it... LONG LIVE SHOJU!
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