i finished this last week, but i figured i'd finally get around to writing up a quick note about my thoughts.
a lot of the reason for my delay was my crankiness over the emperor in the end. i felt like i was being a baby because i hated his appearance. jmack and i had the exact same thought -- emperor ex machina. it felt very much like the characters were being railroaded for the sake of plot.
there were a few other times along the way where i had the same feeling, but it wasn't as strong. the early disbanding (not that it was disbanded at all, but that it was disbanded early - i would guess both yaart and wubei would disband them simultaneously) of the army. when haung (see! i can spell it!) set zhou free.
but, the emperor stepping in and wrapping things up neatly in a bow was bothersome.
also, there was some head-hopping happening in that last chapter. perspective shifts from the emperor to haung. for example, from "As soon as the young lady with the child left" to "the emperor was saying as Haung and Jiao left the hall".
that being said -- haung sticking the paper/gripping the throat of marbu? YES!! loved that. i cheered.
That's funny, I took it as an anarchist symbol. A dragon without a rider, as in the nation without its emperor. I figured they were anti-emperor rebels.
*whew* me too! glad i wasn't the only one.
and, boquin, zhou, and the emperor (tho, i didn't realize it was the emperor until he did his creepy eye party trick), when the groundwork is laid with the wu, that chunk through there was probably my favorite part in the whole book. like justan, i was all "whoa! so much cool stuff is going on!!"
overall, i enjoyed the book, even with its freshman flaws. there have been lots of books i threw in the dnf pile written by famous and popular authors, so believe me when i say i am not afraid of abandoning a book as "not worth my time".
with this one, there were more than enough fun surprises and interesting questions that needed answers to make up for the mechanical problems like lack of foreshadowing in places and the railroading of characters.
often, when i stumbled across some of these pointier mistakes, i couldn't help but wonder about how awesome of a book it would have been with the help of a professional editor. not just fixing the typos, but helping to spot and adjust some of those structural issues behind the common feelings we readers all having.
but, for sure! mad props to geoff being brave enough to throw his baby to the wolves!