I am giving this book a 4 mostly for the plot, which was rich and full of interesting twists and turns. But I felt extremely detached from the characters, particularly the main and the orchestrator of the the entire thing. For this reason, even the slash wasn't particularly compelling. But I enjoyed the tale of how various political and personal natures kept tangling with the swordsman so that kept me reading. In fact, I was on Page 120 yesterday and finished the entire thing as soon as I picked it up that morning. That it moved that quickly entirely due to the engrossing plot is good enough for me. But yes, I would have preferred to understand more about the characters' mentalities, especially the eccentric Alec. The short stories tagged on the end did little to help as well. I suppose I could interpret, but I didn't expect that would be required for a book like this.