Thanks, Ammanas! Yeah, I'm particularly compelled by strange twists of fate, no doubt.
Ammanas, I will say, pretty much everyone who reads TSA voices difficulty with the first two thirds of TDTCB. It's helpful to think of the overarching PON trilogy as one book as Bakker originally planned to write TSA - which certainly becomes clear as the third book ends about halfway through the physical volume of the book and includes thereafter an extensive glossary. This makes TDTCB majorly the first third of one book.
Myself and a handful of other hardcores think TDTCB is easily one of the best in the series but for reasons that it's almost incomparable. It's an espionage/political/conspiracy wrapped fantasy, whereas pretty much every novel in the series thereafter is a war narrative - except for portions of Momemn in The Aspect-Emperor.
But I was totally hooked ;).