[Dancer+]

I think the first question is very interesting. Which books do you feel are at the very top level of the SF&F genre?

(Sorry for the multiple polls, I got excited by the new feature.)

I'll post my thoughts later on.

[Vengeance]

I went with DG, MOI, and MT. Because they are really the best. I mean I love them all. But the story, world building and writing in those three are fantastic.

However my favorite is BH. The last 150 or so pages at the end is fantastic.

One has nothing to do with the other.



Edit : 500th post...

This post has been edited by Vengeance: 02 October 2008 - 01:52 PM

[alt146]

I think MOI is the best book so far. The ending was incredible. Gruntle, the tenescowri, Iktovian, Broach all awesome storylines. Brood vs Kruppe was also good. But by far the most powerful scene in the entire series so far is

Spoiler

WJ's death

[Dancer+]

I liked the Bonehunters best (mainly because of the inclusion of Cotillion and Shadowthrone to a large extent.)

For me DHG, MoI and HoC were all superlative, the rest will attain that status someday but I'm being harsh because I don't want to vote for them all. I found RG and TtH the most disappointing but I still enjoyed them immensely. (obviously NoK is that worst out of the 10).

[caladanbrood]

MoI and DhG are the ones I voted for in the first poll, but my favourite at the moment is Midnight Tides... very closely followed by MoI, of course.

[Imperial Historian]

Depends on your definition of best in the genre, DhG and MOI are two classics in my book and would rank high in the genre, but MT and TTH are much better written, MT especially so and so would rank highly because of that. Favourite still has to be DhG though.

[Wordmerchant]

DhG for the win, followed closely by MoI then RG.

[Silencer]

Just realized fast reply isn't enabled here...


I went for MoI, HoC, BH, and TTH for the stand-outs, and BH for my fav. Although, as with Dancer, I am being extra harsh - I really could just vote for them all...

And interesting, yet sad, that no one has yet voted for either NoK or RotCG.
Sorry ICE.

[zwitterion]

What's more interesting to me is that (with the exception that I think TtH is the best or equal best in the series so far in terms of quality of writing), the bars up there is more or less the order in which I would rate each book preferentially too. I don't quite know how that works, statistically, since people were voting for their favourites, but if I were to number them, that second one especially is more or less what it'd look like for me. Funny. (Also man is this valuable feedback for an author. imo.)

[Dragnipurake]

All the 8 books by SE so far are among the best in fantasy in my opinion. The sad consequence of this turned out to be that I cannot seem to enjoy other authors' work much now. read Robert Jordan's series 6-7 times but haven't touched those books since i started reading SE.

as for which of the eight is my favorite, MT was it till TTH came out.

[Stalker]

I voted for DG, MoI, and BH in the first one. All of the books are great, but these really stand out for various reasons. I wanted to add RotCG, but I felt voting for 3 was enough.
Overall, I had to go with MoI.

[Mentalist]

voted for DG, MoI, and TtH for stand outs--the fitst two are self-explanatory, TtH, because with it SE showed that he can write in a different style--the "Kruppe narrating the life of the city"- voice was a great move imho.

a favourite, well... MoI. because of Paran and Capustan. but almost every book had a great page turner like that, so it's really hard to choose.

[blewin]

Deadhouse Gates all the way through. But as expected, MoI comes first in the poll!.....

[Nagrom]

After re-reading the series, again, I think MoI is without a doubt the best book in the genre, especially if someone wanted to pick up a random book from the set.
Actually I was totally blown away by it all over again. Story arc is fantastic and the characters are utterly absorbing - Iktovian, Gruntle, Paran, QB, WJ, etc,
all combining to create a emotionally charged atmosphere. The events in Capustan and Corel really breath and leave the reader with such a vivid account of what is happening, you can almost taste the smoke and rain. It has the strongest and most compelling narrative, without alienating any readers who may not have read any of SE's MBotF before.

Almost my personal favorite, pipped to the post by pure self indulgence - I really enjoyed tBH, as I felt the series really reached a watershed moment for me and I couldn't put it down throughout the 1st, 2nd or 3rd sitting

This post has been edited by Nagrom: 26 November 2008 - 07:15 PM

[Bauchelain the Evil]

For best in the genre I voted MoI and TBH.
My favourite is of course MoI(lost the count of how many times I've read it)

[EsotericForest]

I happened to pick up Reapers Gale at the bookstore the other day because it looked interesting. I haven't read any of Steven Ericksons books yet but I really want to. However after looking at this poll now I have to ask the question...which book of his would it be best for me to read first?

[The Drum]

EsotericForest, on Dec 6 2008, 10:45 PM, said:

I happened to pick up Reapers Gale at the bookstore the other day because it looked interesting. I haven't read any of Steven Ericksons books yet but I really want to. However after looking at this poll now I have to ask the question...which book of his would it be best for me to read first?

Gardens of the Moon, always start at the beginning, things make more sense that way. And don't get frustrated by the 'whats going on' factor, you have to read atleast half of GotM before you get a grasp of the bigger picture and that picture only expands as u read other books.

[The Farmer]

I thought the original post was how does SEs books compare to all other writers fantasy works.
I think SE is the best BY FAR.

Imagine reading Malazan then going back to David Eddings, etc etc.

I think Erikson followed by GRRM.

I try to recommend these series to everyone I meet.

Why do so few like GotM?

[Aptorian]

For a second there I though the tittle was "Malazan Boobs - Where do they rank in the genre?"

I am slightly disappointed.

[KOS TRULL]

For Genre I picked GotM and MoI, the first book opens up the series perfectly, and you can't discredit how pumped you were to read the next 10,000 pages Erikson offers. MoI is just solid.

Favourite book, MoI...but im really undecided, maybe when i reread them all..