Stephenson's books are so much fun - until the end. They all seem like they are all about the journey, but no destination.

I really would love to have a sequel to Seveneves that focuses on the world from the last part of the book (trying to avoid a spoiler here...)

Anathem is one of the exceptions where I think the pace holds up in the final act.

Okay, well I just ordered it.

It's very popular amongst protractor aficionados.

It's the best one IMO. I hope it won't disappoint you.

"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain," or, for stories, "You either end the story well, or you continue telling it until you get GoT season 8."

Or you just get bored and stop writing before resolving anything. Looking at you, John Ringo.

Or the author continues for so many books that they pass away and it has to be completed posthumously, with with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

That said, I Jordan more credit that than (the still-humous) George RR Martin, since Jordan didn't spent pages building up characters and relationships only to kill them off.

I felt the entire last third was the ending, and Stephenson – reacting to the constant (and imo legitimate) critique of his endings – was like 'screw it, I'll show them!'

Yeah I actually disliked that one because after the main action ends there's that weird last 1/3rd "ending" part, indeed basically a separate book.

With the others, they maybe end abruptly but you can see it coming because the entire crazy journey you were on up till then reached convergence

I have a theory that the first three quarters of that book were supposed to be a 10 page prologue to set the scene but during writing it really got away from the author.

My theory is that he got addicted to Kerbal Space Program and spent as long as he could playing it until the editor told him finish the book without saying “delta-v” again.

Sometimes I think Stephenson is more interested in world building than in actually writing a novel. The novels are good, sure, but the world building is the best part.

Tethers are a foundational technology in Seveneves, used e.g. for linking orbiting pods into larger habitats, ascent from low earth orbit, grabbing robots and many other applications