It's been a while since I've read a good historical fiction. This was well thought out and given the sheer number of characters and names, it wasn't overwhelming to track who was related to whom even though they were all related. Just shy of 500, it was a long book. Far longer than it should have been especially in the first half. I would argue that you could have tossed half of the first half and not lost anything. 
 The characters were easy to empathize with even if you wanted (view spoiler)[their penis to fall off(view spoiler)[ or for them to face repercussions. I liked it but not enough to read again. Will go on the donate pile. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]