It was too long for me personally and did not satisfy my expectations of the plot. Although the fictional universe is intriguing and the characters are interestingly set together, I just fail to have a good and educational time with them as every time I hold expectations for them they fail to pull through. At some rate in the end it also got a point of tragedy and struggling that I failed to understand. It seems like development is in vain, not because the author planned it that way but because she does not give us a reason to see its purpose. Challenging but ultimately too demanding for my personal taste.