I'm with Duskweaver on this one - let the show never end. I loved this story and don't get the sense he screwed us all over for pleasure - just too much minutia and delicious detail for something as base as that to be his ultimate aim. Bakker knows he'll have critics ( The Sound and the Fury had literary critics at the time of release, now widely considered about the greatest American novel ever written ). I agree, this is literature, not "just" fantasy/sci-fi.
The ending was abrupt, but timely in my opinion - I was emotionally exhausted reading this stuff, but loved it as an athlete loves exertion taxing our limits - it's not the triumph, but the struggle. The ending so extremely clever - it was a surprise, yet it was prophesy as well. And Akka has to feel the ultimate dupe he 1/2 unwittingly enabled the 2nd Apocalypse ( can't escape all the blame on he didn't know, much of the PON dealt with his reservations and yet he still taught Kellhus the Gnosis ); one could argue he brought about it as much as Kellhus ( he just HAD to drag along that son of his! ). If the argument is Bakker fucked us over by salting the hero, well we still have Mimara and Akka ( well, maybe, not sure how I see anybody escaping alive ). I'm figuring Kellhus's grandson may play prominently in the resolution of this story ... that, or we get to see what life is like on Earwa with less than 144k people and if that does indeed stave off damnation for the remaining Consult.