Very fast read, in part because it was so utterly gripping (I nearly missed my bus stop because of it, then accidentally whapped the guy sitting across the way from me with my cello case in my hurry to get out.) Everything is beautifully detailed, and for this Legend of the Five Rings fan, it was an excellent addition to the mystical samurai sub-genre. My only quibbles were with the shifting narrative, which is fine if you keep it all from the same kind of viewpoint (e.g. consistently third-person as in Martin's Game of Thrones series) but switching back and forth from 1st to 3rd as done in this book was just distracting. Also the relationship w Makoto at the end seemed to come out of nowhere, though I'll admit that sometimes relationships just do. Otherwise, I quite look forward to reading the rest of the series, though I'm in no tearing rush to find them. Also, I'm quite a fan of some of the author's non-pseudonymous work.

Now having read some of the negative reviews on the site, I'm a little appalled by how people are freaking out about how Ms Hearn isn't properly 'dignifying' Japanese culture (and usually, so far as I can tell, these people aren't all that familiar with the culture to begin with.) The book, like a lot of manga, doesn't pretend to be realistic, so the high level of dudgeon directed towards it on that account is certainly unwarranted.