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Darkness Grows in the Empire...
Naseru, known as "The Anvil," will stop at nothing to sit upon the Throne of Rokugan. When dark forces rise in the City of Night, he must act swiftly. To save his beloved Empire, Naseru must learn to wield the most unlikely weapon of all — justice.

277 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

88 people want to read

About the author

Rich Wulf

37 books17 followers
"I'm a writer, kind of impulsive but shy. Loyal to my friends, tend to take things personally more than I should. Very stubborn, but will listen to reason when I give it a chance. Don't talk much but difficult to shut up when I start. Easily distracted by shiny objects and bright colors. There isn't really much of a point to this page. Not the biggest fan of Myspace in general, except when I want to see hideously ugly websites for the unintended comedy value - it's got a lot of those. At this point it'd just be more effort to take it down than to leave it out there. It's not doing any harm, and sometimes a friend says hi. That can be a good thing. I do check my messages and whatnot but don't expect a lot of updates. You have permission to be heartbroken" - Rich Wulf

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5 stars
35 (29%)
4 stars
37 (31%)
3 stars
39 (32%)
2 stars
6 (5%)
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2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Katie.
348 reviews6 followers
October 15, 2022
By far, the best book in the Legend of the Five Rings series so far. Mostly because the writing was superior to the others by a good bit. In the third of the Four Winds Saga, we follow Naseru, youngest son of the late emperor, during his own efforts to claim the throne and make a name for himself, primarily focusing on his trip to the City of Lies and further into Unicorn Clan territory to investigate the magic and power brewing in a ancient city of ruins there. I loved Naseru as a character (even though his characterization here either changes or directly contradicted his actions in the previous stories); he had personality and motivation that actually made sense. Members of his group of retainers were each interesting enough and not pointless in the story. My two major issues with this are actually with the other books: why is so much action summarized at the beginning of this? The destruction of Otosan Uchi, the capital city, by evil demon forces definitely deserved more than short mention in the first chapter. I don’t fault this book for that; it needed to tell the story following Otosan Uchi’s fall. But why did the previous book waste time with no advancement to the overall world of Rokugan when so much needed to be set up for this one? Anyway, my other issue is that I’m fearful all the interesting characters and creatures brought up here won’t make it into the next and final book in the series. That is the biggest downfall of having each of these books written by different authors who seemingly never communicated with each other.
Profile Image for Nathaniel.
414 reviews65 followers
June 18, 2019
this book was quite good. unfortunately it rather contradicts everything we’ve seen about Naseru previously? I appreciate that Rich Wulf’s job was to humanize him and make him sympathetic, but it’s really jarring to go from the Naseru we saw in Wind of Honor and Wind of War who was ready to de facto attempt to assassinate his sister to...this. even if we assume that Tsudao and Kaneka’s perspectives on Naseru are a little skewed, it’s a big leap. I guess that’s #charactergrowth, but they honestly just don’t feel like the same person, and as a result I’m having a hard time giving it a rating. maybe 4.5 — 5 in its own right and 4 for the disconnect between this book’s version of Naseru and the Naseru we’ve seen previously.
Profile Image for Annchan Maulana.
466 reviews64 followers
October 3, 2007
before u read this book, i think u should read the first and the second books ..

in this third book the Darkness is more Grows in the Empire (more gloomy :< )

Naseru, known as "The Anvil," will stop at nothing to sit upon the Throne of Rokugan. When dark forces rise in the City of Night, if he want to save the Empire, Naseru must learn to wield the most unlikely weapon of all .... it is justice.
Profile Image for Belle.
6 reviews1 follower
June 11, 2013
This, out of the The Four Winds saga, is my favorite book. It is a reflection of the main character itself in a gripping narrative with a charming list of anti-heroes which captivate the reader very easily. A must read for any Japanese fantasy enthusiast as well as a samurai court admirer.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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