You’re reading the middle chapters and judging the whole book. Nobody writes the ending in chapter nine.

Reading a book from the middle tells you almost nothing about how it ends, and that is your exact position right now. The part you are judging is the part before anything resolves, where the main character is confused and behind and has not learned the thing yet. That stretch is ordinary structure rather than evidence of a bad story.

When it feels already decided, list three things that would have been unimaginable to you three years ago. Then give the next chapter the time it needs to get written.