I just finished this series. Someone needs to wring me out and hang me up to dry. Rarely have I been this moved by two flawed but human and humane characters. Was the pace too slow? For sure. That doesn't matter in the face of what this story depicted. People who disliked this series seem to want love shown as a neat perky little something that gets tied up in a neat little bow. Love is not like that, but it is, as depicted here, often insensible and mysterious and always powerful. Love itself is more powerful than the humans who feel it and give life to it. The leads are not your typical Hollywood leading characters; they are skinny and pale and funny and move through the world uncertainly. But their love is never uncertain and they - in the end - have to cave to it.