I liked those books a lot (which I also discovered thru Sorc & Sword). They are heavy and weird and oddly paced in parts but strangely affecting, too. They were a big inspiration for my wuxia Charnel Gods game, even though I went all Chinese instead of Japanese for that, and I don't think I really pulled the Tomoe Gozen somberness off - but that was part of what I was going for.