After finishing the novel, I have to say I enjoyed reading it. But it wasn't as good as its prequel "Coiling Dragon".
The characters didn't seem as well fleshed out as the original and there weren't many exciting plot twists or such. I think the most glaring difference is that the translation quality is nowhere as good as Ren's Coiling Dragon translation. Its possible that original in chinese could be compared more favourably but the english translation certainly doesn't do it much justice.
When I read through the text, there were lots of mistakes in spelling and grammar. Certain words like gasped, possess, extremely, reckon, unceasingly were used far too often, too repetitively and sometimes in inappropriate places. (Eg wrongly describing someone "extremely" angry as "slightly" angry and vice versa.)
It looks like the translators just used a replace-all function to translate the chinese characters. But the problem is that Chinese is a strongly contextual language, with multiple (sometimes dissimilar) meanings for each character. It would of been better if they browsed a thesaurus to more accurately convey the meaning rather than a blanket replace all approach. That way it would of been less repetitive and more colourful. Many of the sentences also could of been rewritten to make it flow better in english. Often there are good intentioned posters in the comments section pointing out some of the more glaring mistakes but it seems the translators don't bother going back to correct it. As a result, the translation is very rough unlike the quality, polished translation of CD.
Another beef I have with the trans is that the terms used in the novel change alot with different translators. Its not hard to figure out the different terms, but its rather annoying that the later translators don't use the same terms as the translators before them to try and keep it consistent.
That said, the translation is understandable and for the most part, a lot better than google translate. There are worse translations (eg certain fan translated Japanese novels) out there so been understandable is already a major plus. There's also the length of the novel. Actually that might be the best part. The whole thing is extremely long and it's at least as lengthy as CD. If you enjoyed reading it, it would probably provide you with weeks of quality reading time if you read it from beginning to end.
Plus, since it's one of the few completed novels, it gives you a nice sense of closure after reading. So while this novel wasn't as good as Coiling Dragon, it's still decent enough to warrant a read through.