The book is exceptionally written. The only reason why it isn't a 5 star is because there are a lot of events that occur as well as each event being highly detailed. It made it to where I could only read a journal entry or two at a time or I found I would forget and/or confuse events. I think it would have been better if it was broken up into 2 or 3 books instead of 1. There were a few "what the ..." moments but that is due to the different customs and the different times than what many of us are accustomed to. Those moments didn't take anything from the quality of the book.