[Illuyankas]

Yeah, it's almost as bad as you.

[Egwene]

My top five could be in any order as they all score 10/10 for me.

Bonehunters
Reapers Gale
Memories of Ice
Midnight Tides
Gardens of the Moon

House of Chains
Deadhouse Gates
Toll the Hounds

Interesting to see how some peoples favourites are others bottom of the list. The two books that seem to consistently score high seem to be MoI and MT.

[HoosierDaddy]

Hello, Amyrlin Seat.

I think MOI is high because of its awesome battles and MT because of Tehol and Bugg. .In MOI we get BB action, the conversations between Brood, Rake, Kruppe, Dujek, Whiskeyjack and Kallor, classic battles: Capustan & Coral, and tragedy as well. Tehol and Bugg singlehandedly (or would that be doublehandedly?) made me love Midnight Tides.

[Egwene]

Hello to you too, HoosierDaddy. Good to see supporters of the Salidar crowd here

I agree with your assessment of why those two books are popular. In fact, when you look at my list, you see that the Bridgeburners and the Bug/Tehol stories feature heavily. I keep my fingers crossed that we'll see more of all of them. I also like the storylines involving Genoes and Tavore and look forward to them eventually exchanging notes. Well, lets hope more of a verbal exchange than took place between Tavore and Felisin when they met up again, lol.

[Dance]

So, because I was bored at work, here's a compilation of all the rankings so far in this thread out of 18 entries (only those that ranked all 8 directly were counted).

Average Ranking (Sum of all samples / 18)
MoI - 1.5
MT - 3.11
DG - 3.77
TtH - 4.88
GotM - 5.166
TBH - 5.44
HoC - 5.77
RG - 6.166

By Mode (most common ranking)
MoI - 1
MT - 2
DG - 4
GotM - 5
HoC, TBH - 6
TtH, RG - 7

I was also wondering which books were ranked most consistently, so by standard deviation (a measure of how varied the rankings are, a larger number indicates a larger variation):
MoI - .786
TBH - 1.423
MT - 1.605
RG - 1.654
DG - 1.768
GotM - 2.065
HoC - 2.074
TtH - 2.374

So MoI is easily the king with MT leading the distant pack. TtH is interesting because the most common ranking was 7, but the average was under 5.

[eekwibble]

Memories of Ice - As the first book of the series that I read, this is, for me, far & away the most involving. With a fair bit of history explained; the BB's, KCCM, Jaghut, the CG, & a lot of character development; Rake, WJack, GParan - I could go on but you get the idea. It was this book really taking it to the dark side that hooked me though. The cannibalism and raping of dead people that goes so far beyond shocking (or as some tossers would say 'becomes prurient') that you just have to read on, just to satisfy yourself that there will be a positive end, that justice will be served, that the goodies will beat the twisted mind of the author. And WHAT a finish?

Midnight Tides - Soooo funny. Tehol & Bugg 'made' it! Seren 'emo' Pedac provided the doom and gloom (abley assisted by Hull Beddict & the entire race of Tiste Edur - & a few slaves) and the comedy relief (from T & B, the couple at the lakeside, Ublala & Shurq, was TOP NOTCH!!!

Deadhouse Gates - EPIC! The EPICacy is undeniable! EPIC!

Toll the Hounds - I actually loved the Kruppe narratorial - it was a welcome change, I thought - and who's to say that some 'seemingly' random storylines don't affect the final outcome of the series? Like, 'it's not possible', pfft.

Gardens of the Moon - Many faults not rectified but a kick-ass story.

Bonehunters - Should probably be higher but 'Cold Iron' Tavore rang Hoosier for a list of albums to listen to on her iPod just before the end.

Reaper's Gale - Most disappointing storyline in the series; Red Mist! I saw quite a lot of that come the end of the arc.

House of Chains - I just didn't appreciate half a book of rapist, murdering, asshole POV (although I do enjoy reading Karsa's sections from later books - his character's grown - it still makes me want to just put the book down).

Scarily, this is almost exactly the same as Brood's. :outta:

I've moved DG a little higher though. :placate:
(:confused:)

[HoosierDaddy]

Dance, I'm glad you did this and you are getting paid for our entertainment and knowledge as well.

[Kindly]

1. Memories of Ice
2. The Bonehunters
3. Gardens of The Moon
4. Reaper's Gale
5. Deadhouse Gates
6. Gardens of The Moon
7. Toll the Hounds
8. House of Chains

[Agraba]

Dance;361570 said:

So, because I was bored at work, here's a compilation of all the rankings so far in this thread out of 18 entries (only those that ranked all 8 directly were counted).

Average Ranking (Sum of all samples / 18)
MoI - 1.5
MT - 3.11
DG - 3.77
TtH - 4.88
GotM - 5.166
TBH - 5.44
HoC - 5.77
RG - 6.166

By Mode (most common ranking)
MoI - 1
MT - 2
DG - 4
GotM - 5
HoC, TBH - 6
TtH, RG - 7

I was also wondering which books were ranked most consistently, so by standard deviation (a measure of how varied the rankings are, a larger number indicates a larger variation):
MoI - .786
TBH - 1.423
MT - 1.605
RG - 1.654
DG - 1.768
GotM - 2.065
HoC - 2.074
TtH - 2.374

So MoI is easily the king with MT leading the distant pack. TtH is interesting because the most common ranking was 7, but the average was under 5.

I'm not surprised at all that TtH has the largest deviation, especially considering that it's the most recent installment, and that's when people have the most trouble trying to rank it among the other books. The only way to get the least biased opinion of ranking is to get someone to read the books 1-10 for the first time ever (and probably twice so the effect of 10th's last impression isn't as strong). But also, TtH seems like the kind of book that would elicit that kind of deviation; I see so many mixed opinions on it. It had a strong contrast in terms of style between the first 700 pages and the last 200.

Quote

I think MOI is high because of its awesome battles and MT because of Tehol and Bugg. .In MOI we get BB action, the conversations between Brood, Rake, Kruppe, Dujek, Whiskeyjack and Kallor, classic battles: Capustan & Coral, and tragedy as well. Tehol and Bugg singlehandedly (or would that be doublehandedly?) made me love Midnight Tides.

That's funny: MT is my single favorite installment, and in the explanation I gave, the humor aspect didn't even come up. While I loved Tehol and Bugg, when I think Midnight Tides, I don't picture them. I think the reason MT ranks so high up (or at least the reason it does for me, personally) is because: It has the best structure of a stand-alone novel. There's a perfect pace of introduction, intermediate events and conflict unfolding, and climax. And the dialog was brilliant; probably the best out of his series. I also think it had the single greatest plot twist of all books - the sudden hostility of the Tiste Edur due to Rhulad's awakening.

It also had such an emotional impact for me; one bested only by Deadhouse Gates I think.

[caladanbrood]

eekwibble;361602 said:

Scarily, this is almost exactly the same as Brood's. :outta:

Bwoo. Ha. Ha. :ehh:

Dance - statistics ruined my life! Good job though, interesting results on the SD - though to be expected that the most recently released book has the most varied views i reckon. Give it a while for re-reads and it'll settle into a more consistant level, probably...

[Boonus]

1. Deadhouse Gates - Chain of Dogs is to date the best section of any book i have ever read, ever.
2. Memories of Ice - Seige of Capustan was fantastic as was Coral, without the Mybe this would be top.
3. Midnight Tides - In my opinion SE's best written book + Tehol and Bug were absolutely epic!
4. Reapers Gale - Good, with lots of marines but munitions were hideosly (and hilariously) over used
5. Toll the hounds - Well written, the ending was awesome, i even loved the build up maybe even more than the ending but was still left feeling somewhat let down :confused:
6. bone hunters - not to well written but assasin was at the end was awesome
7. House of Chains - I HATE karsa's story line in this book
8. Gardens of the Moon - not well writen, only SE book i will never reread (well maybe just once)

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

It's interesting how storngly people feel about the Karsa section. People hate it or love it, very little middle ground.

[eekwibble]

Thelomen Marmite Toblakai.

[Lister of Smeg]

Since the last thread about this, I have changed my mind about TtH, so here goes.

1) Deadhouse Gates
2) Midnight Tides
3) Memories of Ice
4) The Bonehunters
5) Reaper's Gale
6) Toll the Hounds
7) House of Chains
8) Gardens of the Moon

[Leanoric]

Go in then, I'll bite:

1) MoI
2) MT
3) HoC
4) GotM
5) TtH
6) TBH
7) RG
8) DG

What?! I put DG last?? How could I? Erm... well. I read it a long long time ago. I *really* need to reread. I remember being pretty confused most of the way through. I would have put GotM last but I actually *did* reread it recently and it was *sooo* much better than I remembered now that I knew what was what a bit more. Probably DG will leap up the rankings when I finally manage a reread.

For me, MoI is the best, due to the epicness of the battles and Itkovian's sacrifice. But the crowning glory for me was the bit at the end where Quick Ben gets that Jaghut dude to use Omtose Phellack inside Burn to slow down the CG's poison. That, all of a sudden, gave the book a 'point' that I hadn't seen before in SE. Yes, everything else that happened was wonderful and I guess bringing down the Pannion Domin scuppered some of the CG's plan - but at the time, for whatever reason (and maybe its still true?), I didn't figure the Pannion Domin was a direct attack from the CG. It seemed more like a way to cause general chaos and misdirection while his *real* attack was on Burn. That QB spotted this and actually did something to address this gave the book a much fuller feel to me. It somehow completed its circle, something which I hadn't got from the other books, and haven't really seen since. This probably makes no sense. But it was how I felt at the time, and that feeling still stays with me.

And that's why I like MoI so much. Did anyone follow that?

I'm about a third of the way through a reread of MoI, then I'll go back to DG (I figured a reread of MoI rather than DG would prepare me better for TtH) and then onwards from there. Pausing for RotCG, of course...

[Bhurnae]

Scarily...my list is much teh same as The Mighty Abyssiness.......(Im sure he is in my brainzz) apart from......
Havent read TtH yet...I'm waiting for the paperback. I am in a minority in that I rate GotM highly ........one of those WOW books.....introduced a lots of concepts and set the wtf style of the rest

[Shpetim]

Wow... this is very very difficult for me. I love all the books. Well, most of the books.

Memories of Ice
Midnight Tides
Deadhouse Gates
Reapers Gale
Toll the Hounds
Bonehunters
House of Chains
Gardens of the Moon


This is how I like the series..
no need to give any explanation as to why MOI tops the list, many have been given by other respectable members of our forums on this thread..
MT is the one book that I would actually dare let other non malazan readers read since it's a story in itself, very few outsiders (well, look away from the main Edur-Andii emnity) which gives the book a solid ground and makes it much easier to comprehend.
DG, well, all praise to the Seventh, that's all I can say. (Whatever happened with Coltaine's soul anyway??)
RG is a very enjoyable ride and a much anticipated timeline, what with tavore daring to open a bold gambit and invade an entire Empire.. jeez... not to mention the rest, specially Beak, the poor bastard
TH, only finished reading it two weeks ago, had been itching for it since... well, long long time, it seemed anyway, and I was lucky enough to have a rich girfriend of mine beside me at the bookstore and her noticing me drooling after the book... yes, you guessed it right, I'm as poor as not being able to afford the book on my own, unless I save money for half a year which I'd been doing for the other books...
BH, yes yes yes... Tavore and all of them behind her behind... ah never mind me and my psychoticallness... very cool book anyway, the best part was when Fid used the Drum... damn but that was cool..
HC, yeah, Teblorians and all, raping and pillaging and all the rest.. Karsa is in need of a woman I say.
GotM, well, it's been so long since I've read this one that I'm wondering whether there's essential info there that I need since I'm starting to miss the beginning, specially the first time Ganoes meets with the marines and Antsy going all dudahoil when he finds out they've a new captain...

Yeah.. I sure hope you'll find this a good read..
Peace

[polishgenius]

MoI
MT
DG
RG
HoC
tBH
GotM
TtH

for me.

[Dr Trouble]

1) House Of Chain
2) Memories of Ice
3) Midnight Tides
4) The Bonehunters
5) Reapers Gale
6) Toll The Hounds
7) Gardens of the Moon
8) Deadhouse Gates


I love me some Karsa action. He shows some of the best character Development I have seen in a series.

But I don't like me some Deadhouse Gates >=(. While the Coltaine and What have you stories are epic, Felisin literally ruined the book for me. I can barely stand to read anything about her.

[Fifty]

I kept changing my mind as I was typing. I haven't a clue!