Ultimately, this book disappointed me, not only because of many points already mentioned throughout this thread but also because it shakes my faith in Bakker's capabilities as a writer. I appreciate a lot of what he wanted to evoke in a lot of different moments throughout the book, but the execution of literally everything felt like it missed the mark. I can't escape the sensation that Bakker cheated himself out of so many moments that could have had a powerful impact on the reader, at the end of this seven book journey. So much of it was because of writing so ambiguous as to become borderline incompetent - and I say that knowing, without a doubt, a lot of philosophy flies over my head, but what does it matter if a fraction of a fraction of his readership actually groks the meaning of what goes on?
IMO, a great deal of TSA's appeal was the incredible sense of depth it offered. I, at least, truly felt like so much was going on behind the scenes that could be better appreciated on a second read through... and in many senses, that is true. Having finished TUC and feeling sorely disappointed, I still think it's a vastly more cerebral fantasy series than anything I've read in the genre. But when so much is left unclear to the readers that we're left theorizing about key plot points, and Bakker's comments seem to indicate he didn't intend for that level of ambiguity, I don't know what to think. If anything, TGO and TUC have gone to great lengths to show that a lot of the depth wasn't ever really there.
I can't remember the child of Ishual's situation at the end of TGO, but I kept wondering to myself if he would ever be mentioned at all throughout TUC. He is just a single example of so many characters whose arcs were either aborted or felt pointless from the very beginning. Moenghus (Jr), Sorweel (despite the fact that I felt like he had one of the better resolutions in the story), just to name a few... but far more vitally to the story, why the fuck did we get four books of Achamian and Mimara's dread journey to Golgotterath only for them to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING? I like Wert's interpretation that the DunSult led Akka and Mimara there because TJE was key to resolving two parallel timelines, but even if this is true, it should absolutely receive more clarification in the text.
We received six books building up the Consult as the ultimate threat to humanity. Aurang, Shauriatas, Mekeritrig... I can see where Bakker probably intended for Kellhus to effortlessly trounce them, only to be undone by something so small as to pass beneath his notice. I don't think that is a lazy plot device by its nature, but the execution just left a sour taste in my mouth. Between TGO and TUC, it felt like I read five hundred pages about the teeming Sranc hordes and the terrors undergone by the Ordeal to reach Golgotterath, only for the ringleaders to be effortlessly dealt with over the span of a few pages. As a reader I knew that they posed no threat to Kellhus. I had absolutely no doubt that he was outrageously beyond the scope of the antagonists' "power," but it just felt unconvincing. I know he's the prodigal son of an intellectually advanced people, but these are entities who have walked the earth for thousands and thousands of years and who are prodigies in their own right, and they just get handwaved away... in Cet'ingira's case, literally.
Honestly, so much hangs on the suspension of disbelief. On one hand we're led to believe that Kellhus (and maybe the DunSult?) are orchestrating everything, have accounted for every possible contingency or twist of possibility, but on the other... why did Kellhus need the Great Ordeal at all, honestly? In the end he did all the heavy lifting himself. He only engaged with the teeming hordes of Sranc to help convey the Ordeal to Golgotterath, and later to defend it. He could have just used the Metagnosis to jump there, killed the leaders of the Consult and murdered the Dunyain instead of pausing to dialogue with them. Honestly, why did Kellhus just leave Ishual to be plundered by the Consult to begin with? From the very beginning we saw how Moenghus was able to survive captivity with the Sranc. Was it so far-fetched as to be beneath his notice, that maybe some of his brothers would get caught and just manipulate their way to the head of the Consult?
tl;dr: My thoughts are a little incoherent here, but yeah, I find myself completely unconvinced. I can see the intent but the execution just did not make it happen for me. Characters whose plot arcs and their resolutions felt abrupt, trite or meaningless; questions too big to go unanswered that can pretty much only be explained by having readers peer too deeply into the text, even when we've been shown that many times things were exactly what they seemed on the surface; a handful of red herrings scattered throughout that were either clumsy inclusions or seeds for a series that isn't even confirmed to exist...
I'll continue to adore this series for its beautiful prose, for the cerebral story and the impressive feats of world-building, but this ending did not satisfy me whatsoever.
And let's not even get started on the dragon. Serwa is right, what the fuck does a dragon know about cunny?
