There are several good reasons for valuing this book. One is that it provides insights into how the author created the world for the Empire’s Legacy series. . . . a complete, imagined world — a fantasy world because of the imagination required. Sorley . . . like the bard who created Beowulf, would crave inspiration and a subject to transform into art. Sorley finds this inspiration when he hears a sailor refer to the tale of a marsh monster. This leads to Sorley’s long poem, which we recognize, from the content as well as the vocabulary and meter, as similar to our Beowulf, although without Christianity as background. . . showing a writer who enjoys playing with the English language.