1. I have to agree with everyone who said names. This really makes Bakker's whole story persuasive for me, all, ALL of the names feel right and resonant. Nouns, top to bottom, create the Earwan suspension of disbelief strong in my imagination. I have no idea how he does it, but it's a problem for me reading other fantasy. To me, he's in a class with Tolkien and no one else that I know. I'm trying to think of a name I didn't like and can't. "Sohonc" doesn't sound quite right…
2. Don't know the literary term for this, but I love Bakker's pace of revelation. He's kept a nice steady stream of surprises going without starving us (although it feels that way) and while still leaving us hungry for more. I guess TUC will show us if he's got it just right.
3. Love the constant harping on the way a character's reason conforms to their desires.
4. The CONVERSATIONS!!! Maithanet/Inrilatas, Kellhus/Aurang, Kellhus/Moenghus, damn I want some more.
5. Have to agree with everyone else that the bad guys seem properly bad in the Bakkerverse. The villains evility is the measure of what good or not-so-good guys must overcome by the end…or fail tragically! Bakker raises the bar sooo high.
6. The religion. I suspect a strong motive for Bakker doing the SA is to show people what a universe would really be like if it was objectively aligned to spiritual realities. Not exactly what C.S. Lewis was hoping for.
7. The gritty and surprising details Bakker includes about things like migrations, sieges, and battles.
lol, Auriga