OK. Let me start by saying, "I loved this." I loved it! I'd heard basically nothing but gripes and hate for this crossover since it kicked off in 2015 (partially due to production delays and lots of behind-the-scenes problems), so I went in with extremely low expectations. But, as I got further into this, I really got sucked in. I found the (Battle)world Hickman crafts here very engaging and ripe with ideas, just enough to sustain this core series and hint at a deeper history to be explored in the tie-in miniseries. Now, I'm not going to read those minis, mostly because they're universally despised and I've never read an event tie-in I actually liked, but Hickman gave his collaborators no shortage of cool material to work with. 
 Now, with all that out there, I also thought this was a step down from the stellar work Hickman has done in the past with his other Marvel series. Rather than allowing the story to be presented visually and in the details of subtext (something he's usually great at), there's a lot of exposition here, and it's super clunky. There are a couple of instances of characters fully just explaining missing details to another character that would already know these things, which really defuses a lot of the fun and feeling of discovery you normally get from a Hickman read. Allowing the reader to suss out the context of his plot machinations on their own is something very unique to his style, and that was disappointingly absent here for the most part. 
 But, I still loved seeing all of his work since Fantastic Four payoff, and payoff so emotionally. I know the Marvel Universe basically continues unaffected after Secret Wars, but the big moments that felt like endings genuinely impacted me and hit me right in the gut. This sense of impending doom has been building since Hickman began his New Avengers run, and it isn't avoided or dodged here. Shit gets bad, and I loved that it didn't feel like we got manipulated out of any real conflict like we normally do with Marvel crossovers. 
 However, there's a bigger issue at play here, and that's one of "accessibility." This is meant to be the big, climactic finish of the Marvel Universe as we know it. Half a century of world building is getting a hard reset in an attempt to bring in new readers who don't feel the need to read everything that's ever happened to all these characters. But, really, I can't imagine reading this without tons and tons of context. Having read everything Hickman ever wrote for Marvel (Secret Warriors, Fantastic Four, SHIELD, all his Ultimate stuff, Avengers, New Avengers and Infinity), I was well prepared for this. If you haven't read at least all of FF and Avengers/New Avengers/Infinity, though, I would imagine this would at best feel unrooted and stakes-free, at worst feel utterly confounding. 
 Now, maybe that's a good thing, sort of? Since this is the end of the MU, maybe cramming in a lot of references and big moments for hardcore fans and completists is fitting. "Here's your last chance to obsess over these details." But, I don't think so. While I enjoyed this, I don't exactly see myself ever handing it to a less comics-obsessed friend and telling them they'll love it. It's too insidery, which is kind of the whole reason they even did this in the first place. 
 So, take that how you want, I guess. For me, I'm just sad to see Hickman go. He had some of the most dynamic plotting and interesting ideas going on in Marvel, and with him gone I don't know what to look forward to anymore. Here's hoping we get another master craftsman in there soon, because I already miss the guy. 
 Maybe I'll just go start over with Fantastic Four or something.