The Dragon Scroll isn't bad. Actually, it's fairly entertaining. The problem is, I've read almost all of the books in the
Judge Dee series, and I love them. Judge Dee and his assistants kick Sugawara Akitada and
his sidekicks' butts. They're tougher, their bonds are deeper, their antics are more entertaining, and the justice that they deliver is swift, dramatic, and often very bloody. I can't help but compare the Judge Dee novels to this Sugawara Akitada novel, because there are big similarities. Unfortunately, since I am so devoted to the Judge Dee novels, they color my reading of The Dragon Scroll. I just can't read this book without the ghost of Judge Dee hanging over my shoulder, and that's not fair to this story.
