The ending of this book is an amazing account of aging. Empress Wu remains as long as she can with all the reins of power for as long as she possibly can, interrupting plots and coups against her life and still basking in beauty and physicality while doing everything she possibly can to keep her health and feel vitality. Her greatest frustration is that her body rebels and declines. She refers to work ruling an empire as an anti-aging agent. When she does die, her voice remains as the narrator, and she knows what happens to the country after her departure. It is not as if she died, but as if she separated. Her worn out body separates from her spirit.
Sa, S. (2003). Empress: A novel. NY: Harper Perennial.