Black Omega
First Post
The third in the series of novels based on the Four Winds storyline for the CCG and RPG.
The first book was a prelude that did a good job setting everything up, despite some hiccups in continuity. The second book was even better, adding depth and personality to Toturi Tsudao, the least well developed of the four children fighting for Toturi's throne.
Wind of War is based around Akodo Kaneka, the bastard son of Toturi I. The good news is that the book was clearly written by a fan of Akira Kurosawa and his movies. He knows the history of the character and seems to have spent a little time making sure there are no serious continuity errors.
Sadly, he's a little too much of a fan of Kurosawa. The main part of the adventure starts as a knock off of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, then slips over more to Seven Samurai with Kaneka in a small village, first playing two gangs of thugs against each other, then training peasants to fight bandits. He even named one character Akira and mentions the guys father is Kurosawa. There is such a thing as taking an homage too far.
The author, Jess Lebow, does seem to know Kaneka's history. But he only uses it for background information. The previous books in the series delved into the L5R storyline and put the characters into important events. Lebow avoids all that, which was a little disappointing for an L5R fan like me but a I doubt anyone else noticed.
The weakest part of the story is the badguys and the lack of a real Japanese feel. The main badguy feels like a generic baddie, missing only maniacal laughter and mustache twirling. The author seems aware of this, a couple of other characters comment on this, but it doesn't help. It's just other characters in the story seeming to agree that yes, the main bad guy is really pretty sad.
Lebow also seems to have trouble in how he uses people. The main sneaky, ninja clan of Rokugan are the one's launching frontal assaults, showing no sneakiness or deviousness at all. While the Lion clan, known for unshakable bravery, honor, and skill, are the one's sneaking around and using deception.
The book isn't terrible, but it's definitely the weakest of the series so far.
The first book was a prelude that did a good job setting everything up, despite some hiccups in continuity. The second book was even better, adding depth and personality to Toturi Tsudao, the least well developed of the four children fighting for Toturi's throne.
Wind of War is based around Akodo Kaneka, the bastard son of Toturi I. The good news is that the book was clearly written by a fan of Akira Kurosawa and his movies. He knows the history of the character and seems to have spent a little time making sure there are no serious continuity errors.
Sadly, he's a little too much of a fan of Kurosawa. The main part of the adventure starts as a knock off of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, then slips over more to Seven Samurai with Kaneka in a small village, first playing two gangs of thugs against each other, then training peasants to fight bandits. He even named one character Akira and mentions the guys father is Kurosawa. There is such a thing as taking an homage too far.
The author, Jess Lebow, does seem to know Kaneka's history. But he only uses it for background information. The previous books in the series delved into the L5R storyline and put the characters into important events. Lebow avoids all that, which was a little disappointing for an L5R fan like me but a I doubt anyone else noticed.
The weakest part of the story is the badguys and the lack of a real Japanese feel. The main badguy feels like a generic baddie, missing only maniacal laughter and mustache twirling. The author seems aware of this, a couple of other characters comment on this, but it doesn't help. It's just other characters in the story seeming to agree that yes, the main bad guy is really pretty sad.
Lebow also seems to have trouble in how he uses people. The main sneaky, ninja clan of Rokugan are the one's launching frontal assaults, showing no sneakiness or deviousness at all. While the Lion clan, known for unshakable bravery, honor, and skill, are the one's sneaking around and using deception.
The book isn't terrible, but it's definitely the weakest of the series so far.
