Making economical use of detail to set scene and atmosphere [in The Master Puppeteer], the author has chosen a period of lawlessness when Japan's old samurai tradition was dying and set against the teamwork and discipline of the puppeteers. Many of the themes in the The Sign of the Chrysanthemum … and Of Nightingales That Weep … reappear in this novel which should be very popular for its combination of excellent writing and irresistible intrigue. (p. 117)