Glancing at other reviews, there seems to be a divide between those disappointed by the lack of answers, or by the over-resolution of the answers. Because there's a bit of both here. Vandermeer has a lot of pieces on the board by the end of book 2, then introduces several more early in the one, but in the end it rather feels like a post-hoc answer, rather unconvincingly delivered via a flash of understanding or vision, is left to smooth over various other discarded plot pieces or lines of progress that eventually lead nowhere. There's a strength and weakness in that this volume is Acceptance as well: in some ways the story takes an unexpectedly gentler path of easing-out, which perhaps is tied to broader, possibly quite well-chosen themes, but which also robs the story of its early atmosphere and intensity. I'm left with rather a rather non-specific sense of underwelm, which perhaps is inevitable after a beginning so perfectly calibrated for fascination. Do I want more explanation, or less? Perhaps just something different. Different from what we already knew or felt from the earlier volumes. The new aspect, I suppose, is exactly this kind of elegaic slow-fade of acceptance of the world as it is and now must be, which may be the stronger ending in some way than something more climactic, but it is hampered in this by the other attempts at resolution, at climax, that flicker in and out here, as if Vandermeer lacked full commitment to the course he'd set, or never fully chose between several.