[Lotus war

Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, posessed of a talent that, if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus guild, accompanys her father on the Shogun's hunt to capture a thunder tiger, a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger, when she finds herself stranded, a young woman alone in the Shima's last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company.

As civil war sweeps across the Shima Imperium, the Lotus Guild unleashes their deadliest creation--a mechanical goliath, intended to unite the shattered Empire under a yoke of fear. Yukiko and Buruu are forced to take leadership of the rebellion, gathering new allies and old friends. But the ghosts of Buruu's past stand between them and the army they need, and Kin's betrayal has destroyed all trust among their allies. When a new foe joins the war, it will be all the pair can do to muster the strength to fight, let alone win. And as the earth splits asunder, as armies destroy each other for rule over an empire of lifeless ash and the final secret about blood lotus is revealed, the people of Shima will learn one last, horrifying truth.

"The mad Sh?gun Yoritomo has been assassinated by the Stormdancer Yukiko, and the threat of civil war looms over the Shima Imperium. The toxic blood lotus flower continues to ravage the land, the deadlands splitting wider by the day. The machine-worshippers of the Lotus Guild conspire to renew the nation's broken dynasty and crush the growing rebellion simultaneously--by endorsing a new Sh?gun who desires nothing more than to see Yukiko dead"--Dust jacket flap.