As with book 2, the author did a good job of tying up pieces of the storyline together to wrap up details and open plot points that you wouldn't even know were left hanging. The downsides? The ending felt rushed - a lot was crammed into the last 30 pages that could have been expanded. Some of the tying up of the plot points basically amounted to - oh it was just done. And more importantly, I HATED the ending. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. Specifically, the treatment of the Ni Huang and Lin Chen storylines. Much preferred how the TV series chose to end this (and unfortunately, I'd gone into it hoping that the ending of the actual book would be more satisfying).
And in my less biased moments, to be clear, the ending's actually really beautifully written - both the ending as well as the epilogue. It's just not what I was hoping for.