What then, sang Plato's ghost, what then?

Finished The Surgeon's Mate, wondering almost to the last when the person in the title was going to show up. Ha ha ha on me. Instinct is to reach for the next volume in the pile, as when one reads a manga series, luxuriating in the simple pleasure of More, available and to hand. (Pleasurable if it's a good series, natch, and not the kind that makes you think *How* many more volumes of this until I'm done? Normally if something's that much of a slog I won't start on it in the first place, or will abandon it instanter; but there are certain Manga Must-reads that have affected me that way, Wind and Tree Song most notably and Yuki Kaori most recently.)
( But )