Alls I can say is that if you liked the first three books in the Tales Of The Otori... leave it there. Let that be the end, and that is what Lian Hearn should have done also. While I have absolutly no qualms with her writing style, which is quick and easy to follow, not complicated with an absurd amount of details and subplots as some other fantasy writers are prone to do; the path she leads her characters down is engaging and exciting... until the last three or four chapters. I am simply amazed at how thouroughly the author "drops the ball." If you liked the characters in the previous books don't read this... she makes you hate them. Everything in the last couple of chapters is hurried and unfulfilling. Main characters make extreme and unrealistic decisions, all just to help rush to the overly dramatic sense of tragedy in the end. I can tell that the author was trying to create a compeling, tragic tale, but fails misserably, probably due to deadlines and print dates. All the loose ends and sub-storylines are basically summed up in a brief retelling in the end, the author couldn't even take the time to finish them properly. The end of one of the main plots that continues thoughout the entire series, the death of the MAIN hero IS SUMMED UP IN THE END!!! I was so mad. I had looked forward to this book ever since I heard it was to be written, since I liked the other books so well, but was extremely dissapointed. I gave two stars because the author's writing style is still enjoyable, but I personally will probably never read another of her books if this is how she chooses to end a series...