The biggest problem is how the hero is treated after defeating the villain. As a reader I would like to have some empathy for the realm in which the hero exists. The way things ended I could care less about the realm or about what happens next.
If the treatment of the hero of this story is meant to be some sort of progression tool, or an effort to solicit a desire to see how he emerges from his new challenge, it was wasted on this reader.
Having said all that, the author’s narrative method was excellent. The way the story was read and performed was fantastic. I’d recommend this book for that reason alone. All the way up to the end, it was great.