The Emperor of the Eight Islands

There is a building sense of excitement and direction for a majority of this novel, but that is cut short when the reader reaches the ending. While I am willing to accept a cliffhanger, I tend to expect that the lead-up to that cliffhanger is substantial enough to be worth it. Unfortunately, that is not the case with this novel. If I had gone straight into the second novel (or if I had read the first book of the two-volume Australian edition), I suppose I would not feel so unsatisfied, but since I am reading the four-part version, I feel as if the book lacks any heft ??? heft that its narrative style suggested was there. I feel as though I was promised an epic tale, and while I did get some of it, by the time I finished this book I had the vague sense of being cheated, somehow, out of that epic tale the rest of the book promised.

Full review here: http://wp.me/p21txV-ue