I liked it. Didn't love it, mind, but I liked it.
Perhaps the slippery-slope from the beginning of the Great Battle to the very end was too quick for some people's liking, but that's how War is. I thoroughly approved of the dim lighting and mist:that's the Fog of War and any wargame player or footsoldier would recognise it. Perhaps Danaerys' sudden change from benevolent Queen to vengeful monster was too quick, but then she was a damaged personality and had fire in her blood. What else would you expect, really? The moment when she *looked* at Cersei's keep and knew it was the only obstacle to her dreams... well, what else could possibly have happened? Tyrion hit the nail on the head when he discussed her in prison with Jon Snow.
I was sorry Tyrion didn't get a better outcome. He deserved to have found Love (which was all he wanted, as evidenced by his helping Jaime to escape to (kill? die with?) rejoin Cersei. Tyrion had a massive longing for Love and his plaintive 'You were all I had' to Jaime nearly broke my heart! (Also, Peter Dinklage is *so hot*, you just wanted him to have someone).
It should have been Sansa, but she was self-serving right from the beginning. I don't think she did a single thing for anyone else through the entire series and, true to that, she kept her kingdom out of the final agreement and reigned it as Queen. Now, *she* deserved to be alone!
It was so poignant that Jaime finally realised he was unworthy of the (formerly unsullied) Brienne and went, instead, to end his life with the one with whom he had shared its beginning. Blood truly was thicker than water and the family connection of the Lannisters might have been nasty and violent occasionally but it was *always* strong (as shown by Tyrion's reaction to the twins' deaths).
Nice to see Bron and Sam Tarly rewarded by high office. Davos lasted the distance and it was good to see him there at the end. Hilarious when Edmure Tully rose up to throw his cap in for the crown and Sansa said 'Uncle: sit down'. LOL!
I thought Arya's ending was unsatisfactory. While she was never a Lady and always a Soldier, she never showed any desire for exploration, only for survival. Suddenly, she wants to leave everyone she fought for and held dear to go into the west? Nah. Didn't work for me. Felt like a handy drawstring at the end.
Poor old Jon Snow's ending was sad at first, but when you realise he's going off with the free folk to found a new life it's probably not so bad. He'll find someone to love and whether he fathers children or doesn't, who's to know?
I think the disappointment felt by many was because the cataclysms came in the Great Battle and then Danaerys' descent into madness. Nothing could top those, so it was always going to be anticlimax at the end. It might have worked better to stop the story with Dany looking out over barbecued Kings Landing and smiling, then have a separate epilogue that goes 'You may wonder how everyone ended? Well, this is what they did...'
So yeah. I liked it well enough.
