edit: I feel like these types of feelings and minor disappointments are par for the course on anything I read, but some people seem genuinely pissed off that their expectations have been thoroughly overturned. I'm reading a lot about what they didn't like but not a lot of examples of what type of ending they expected overall? e.g. Return of the King type ending, Last Argument of Kings perhaps? Idk.
The book I would have preferred (ending, middle, beginning, plot, character development, etc.) would be one that:
A) Does not use deus ex machina to conclude it -- I'm not disappointed because a god shows up in the story. I have no issue with Yatwer, Ajokli, Momas, Gilgaol, etc. Deus ex machina is a plot device (not a character trope) that is as old as writing itself. It concludes a plot by bringing in a god (magician, hero, whatever) with sufficient power to just end things. There's a reason why no credible author uses it.
B) Does not spend half the book in pedantic detail on rape, sodomy, necrophilia, bestiality, cannibalism, murder, gang rape, gang sodomy, gang necrophilia, gang bestiality, gang cannibalism, rape orgies, sodomy orgies, necrophilia orgies, bestiality orgies, cannibalism orgies, murder orgies, etc. to the detriment of plot, narrative clarity, character development, and so forth.
C) This is the last book of the quadrilogy, so I would expect it to provide closure to some, if not all, of the major arcs. It did not do that. In fact, it just calls into question why those arcs even existed, e.g. Acha and Mimara, Sorwheel.
D) Has a climax that is worthy of the build up. To put this in perspective, more writing is spent on Sorwheel and his, ahem, auto-erotic episode (and how he feels about it afterward throughout the story), then on the showdown with the Unholy Consult (which, by the way, happens to be the name of the book).
