If it has been a while since you read Malazan, I would love for you to let me know in the comments your tier ranking. Do you agree with mine? What moments have stuck with you?
Finished the 10 Big Books in Dec 2021. 1) The Crippled God 2) Memories of Ice 3) Dust of Dreams 4) Bonehunters 5) Midnight Tides 6) Reaper's Gale 7) House of Chains 8) Deadhouse Gates 9) Gardens of the Moon 10) Toll the Hounds
Great video and a really interesting ranking. I find myself pretty much agreeing with especially the top two tiers. Mine would probably be something like. 1.The Crippled God 2. Toll the Hounds 3. Memories of Ice 4. Midnight Tides 5. Reaper's Gale 6. Dust of Dreams 7. The Bonehunters 8. House of Chains 9. Deadhouse Gates 10. Gardens of the Moon
I'm halfway through The Crippled God (I can't believe what I'm reading it's so goddamn good) on my first read-through. Your early videos convinced me to start the series last year so I'm happy to see you revisiting this material and happy to see you back on booktube. Good luck with the campaign! A current coworker of mine used to be an organizer/comms person for the DFL!
My Fave: Elder God: Deadhouse Gates Bonehunters Memories of Ice Ascendant Crippled God Gardens of the Moon Midnight Tides House of Chains High Mage Dust of Dreams Squad Mage Toll the Hounds Reapers Gale
I'm a little late to the party but here's what I've got, it's been about 2-3 years since I finished. Elder God: Midnight Tides, Toll the Hounds (can't ever decide which is better) Ascendant: Bonehunters, The Crippled God, Deadhouse Gates Imperial Mage: Memories of Ice, Reapers Gale High Mage: House of Chains, Dust of Dreams Squad Mage: Gardens of the Moon Good hot take putting Bonehunters so low, for me it was amazing but for many it was the best.
I finished December 2019. Elder God: Toll the Hounds Ascendant: The crippled god, The Bonehunters, Memories of Ice, Dust of dreams Imperial Mage: House of chains, Midnight tides High Mage: Gardens of the moon, Deadhouse gates Squad Mage: Reaper's Gale Spoilers here: Notable moments: Inside dragnipur ( Hood, Iskar Jarak, Draconus and Rake), "I lost her", Harllo's return to Stonny, Heboric and the Jade souls, Bottle's honey dream.
I always struggle with putting things above and below each other, but watching this I could only nod. Yup, if I was forced to do a tier ranking, it’d be this. 🙂👌🏻
Awesome idea for a video... A little time away often tells truths better than after immediately finishing something. I stopped reading after Memories of Ice a year ago because of people routinely ranking House of Chains low, but I may get back to it someday... It certainly is a very intriguing world.
Great list!! Your logic and explanation for why you felt how you did for each book, and therefore how it was ranked, was great. I checked your older list and the middle shuffled around quite a bit, but the top and bottom stayed the same :) I'm so bad at these lists... but I will say, when I make one, I will only have 9 books on it. Dust of God is number 1!!!!
Love seeing your tier list even though it's so different from how I would do mine! MBotF more than most series seems to have wildly different book rankings among fans which is quite interesting. The Seven Cities books just hit me personally in a way that the others didn't, so the Bonehunters and Deadhouse Gates would be in my Elder God tier. I also finished the series for the first time about a year and a half ago, so I'm in the same boat of thinking about it retrospectively. Intriguingly, I would have put House of Chains near the bottom of my immediate ranking but now I think have it much higher. It's one that you get so much context for later and one that I have kept thinking and thinking about so much that I feel like I've basically re-read it, and now it would be closer to the top of my ranking. Things I didn't love on first read like the first few Karsa chapters, the Trull and Onrack sections, the cagey Adjunct leading an invasion where not much happens, the anti-climax...it all in retrospect seems so much more meaningful and important. When I do get around to a reread I am really looking forward to this one in particular!
Oh it's been more than 8 years since i finished this amazing series .. for me two arcs really moved me .. Fall of Coltaine and the Tragedy of Trull Sengar . . Emotional damage !
I finished the series 4 months ago. I think the ones that stand out the most are Deadhouse Gates, Bonehunters and Toll the Hounds. Then I guess it's Memories of Ice and Midnight Tides. And the rest are all beneath those. I didn't like Crippled God as much as everyone else seems to.
I'm with you. Memories of Ice, House of Chains, and then Bonehunters were probably the peak for me. I pretty much hate read through Dust of Dreams and Crippled God just to finish the series.
*Black Hole noise* I think it's been almost 2 years 😅 I finished Malazan mid 2020, but my Rankings did not change. I think it's probably because I read the first 3 book over 3 years and finished up the rest during the pandemic. That said, I agree with your lower picks, but alltogether struggled the most with the desert books. My top are MT and TTH, which is the only placement that fluctuates depending on the day. Looking forward to my first reread as well. The last 5 years changed my reader self a lot, and my impression of the first three books will probably change a lot. Great to see you back, I still sometimes go back to your Crippled God Vlogs if I fall into a Malazan Mood
Yes, can't ever decide between midnight tides and toll the hounds being top spot. Love the cast of characters and crazy stuff that goes on in midnight tides but I love the themes in toll the hounds and of course the crazy last section of the book.
fuck this is hard. off the top of my head rankings without thinking too much of it: 9,10,3,1,8,5,2,6,7,4. not so easy to stick to tiers in the limited space of youtube comments, so just a number ordering of best to worst (but there is no worst)
Finished my first reread about 6 months ago. Initial several years prior. GotM is a weird one as it gets better the farther you get into the series. There is just so much there setting the stage. I am not the biggest fan of Toll or Dust. There are i.pressive moments but long slogs of soul crushing depression. Perhaps is they were just not bext to each other. HoC has a different proble of love Karsa, Felisin resolution in the same book? But am a fan of Weepers Gale and Helliam's pub crawl/beerhall putsch. Moments Squint - a lot more second time I am done - still get misty 🕯 - only 30 odd total pages Nimander's march to the Shore
It's been 2 years for me since I finished. It's more or less the same. Some changes between our lists would be . . . . SPOILERS 1. I would absolutely put Reaper's Gale in a no mage category even. I hated that book. Patriots did not work for me at all. RG was just repeating themes from book 5. Karsa/Icarium was very anti climatic. Beak + some malazan military moments were the only saving grace. 2. Midnight tides would be the elder God for me. It's his best plotted book. No meandering, to the point. Two sets of brothers on either side concept was done really well. 3. House of chains will be 2 levels higher for me. I really liked the army origin, logistics part. And fiddler is my fav character. So that pushes the book to imperial mage for me.
Yas, midnight tides is the best plot from start to finish and really didn't need any of the other books to make it awesome. Several attempts at rereading the series have gotten me halfway through gardens of the moon and saying "you know, why don't I just start with midnight tides anyways?"
I will never ever understand in a million years why dead house gates is always so medium/low on people’s list. The fuckin chain of dogs, Duikers amazing arc, Coltaine, Felisin/heboric/bald handless guy, it’s the best ending in any book of the series hands down, it’s too 3 easily, I just don’t get it.
I've got it high middle for me and it's a blast to reread. I love that it's really didn't hold any punches taking about the cost of war. For me, the first read through, I was completely bored by a lot of the chain of dogs walking through the desert but that's been fixed in rereads now that I know where it ends. For me, though, the Felisin and Icarium plot lines are way more interesting and so I'd be wishing I was with their perspective more. I also didn't care for Crokus at all until Toll the Hounds so that part brought it down for me too. Love Kalam's arc though.
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If it has been a while since you read Malazan, I would love for you to let me know in the comments your tier ranking. Do you agree with mine? What moments have stuck with you?
Finished the 10 Big Books in Dec 2021.
1) The Crippled God
2) Memories of Ice
3) Dust of Dreams
4) Bonehunters
5) Midnight Tides
6) Reaper's Gale
7) House of Chains
8) Deadhouse Gates
9) Gardens of the Moon
10) Toll the Hounds
Great video and a really interesting ranking. I find myself pretty much agreeing with especially the top two tiers. Mine would probably be something like.
1.The Crippled God
2. Toll the Hounds
3. Memories of Ice
4. Midnight Tides
5. Reaper's Gale
6. Dust of Dreams
7. The Bonehunters
8. House of Chains
9. Deadhouse Gates
10. Gardens of the Moon
I'm halfway through The Crippled God (I can't believe what I'm reading it's so goddamn good) on my first read-through. Your early videos convinced me to start the series last year so I'm happy to see you revisiting this material and happy to see you back on booktube. Good luck with the campaign! A current coworker of mine used to be an organizer/comms person for the DFL!
you're killing me with that Bonehunters ranking and you know it XD
So sorry, Zan
My Fave:
Elder God:
Deadhouse Gates
Bonehunters
Memories of Ice
Ascendant
Crippled God
Gardens of the Moon
Midnight Tides
House of Chains
High Mage
Dust of Dreams
Squad Mage
Toll the Hounds
Reapers Gale
I'm a little late to the party but here's what I've got, it's been about 2-3 years since I finished.
Elder God: Midnight Tides, Toll the Hounds (can't ever decide which is better)
Ascendant: Bonehunters, The Crippled God, Deadhouse Gates
Imperial Mage: Memories of Ice, Reapers Gale
High Mage: House of Chains, Dust of Dreams
Squad Mage: Gardens of the Moon
Good hot take putting Bonehunters so low, for me it was amazing but for many it was the best.
Wonderful video Andy, and you summed up my thought about why The Crippled God is such a masterpiece in a beautiful way.
I finished December 2019.
Elder God: Toll the Hounds
Ascendant: The crippled god, The Bonehunters, Memories of Ice, Dust of dreams
Imperial Mage: House of chains, Midnight tides
High Mage: Gardens of the moon, Deadhouse gates
Squad Mage: Reaper's Gale
Spoilers here:
Notable moments: Inside dragnipur ( Hood, Iskar Jarak, Draconus and Rake), "I lost her", Harllo's return to Stonny, Heboric and the Jade souls, Bottle's honey dream.
I’d only swap Memories of Ice to the elder god tier but otherwise I agree 100%
Yay for toll the hounds love
I appreciate your congratulations for the Astros. Congrats on your championship last season. Happy Thanksgiving
I always struggle with putting things above and below each other, but watching this I could only nod. Yup, if I was forced to do a tier ranking, it’d be this. 🙂👌🏻
And yeah, I read all 10 in 2020, so it’s been a while. I’m doing a re-read on my channel, but I’m only up to MoI so far.
Awesome idea for a video... A little time away often tells truths better than after immediately finishing something. I stopped reading after Memories of Ice a year ago because of people routinely ranking House of Chains low, but I may get back to it someday... It certainly is a very intriguing world.
Great list!! Your logic and explanation for why you felt how you did for each book, and therefore how it was ranked, was great. I checked your older list and the middle shuffled around quite a bit, but the top and bottom stayed the same :)
I'm so bad at these lists... but I will say, when I make one, I will only have 9 books on it. Dust of God is number 1!!!!
Consider doing a Tier Ranking for Realm of the Elderlings! This one will be super interesting, thanks!
Love seeing your tier list even though it's so different from how I would do mine! MBotF more than most series seems to have wildly different book rankings among fans which is quite interesting. The Seven Cities books just hit me personally in a way that the others didn't, so the Bonehunters and Deadhouse Gates would be in my Elder God tier.
I also finished the series for the first time about a year and a half ago, so I'm in the same boat of thinking about it retrospectively. Intriguingly, I would have put House of Chains near the bottom of my immediate ranking but now I think have it much higher. It's one that you get so much context for later and one that I have kept thinking and thinking about so much that I feel like I've basically re-read it, and now it would be closer to the top of my ranking.
Things I didn't love on first read like the first few Karsa chapters, the Trull and Onrack sections, the cagey Adjunct leading an invasion where not much happens, the anti-climax...it all in retrospect seems so much more meaningful and important. When I do get around to a reread I am really looking forward to this one in particular!
Oh it's been more than 8 years since i finished this amazing series .. for me two arcs really moved me .. Fall of Coltaine and the Tragedy of Trull Sengar . . Emotional damage !
I finished the series 4 months ago. I think the ones that stand out the most are Deadhouse Gates, Bonehunters and Toll the Hounds. Then I guess it's Memories of Ice and Midnight Tides. And the rest are all beneath those. I didn't like Crippled God as much as everyone else seems to.
I'm with you. Memories of Ice, House of Chains, and then Bonehunters were probably the peak for me. I pretty much hate read through Dust of Dreams and Crippled God just to finish the series.
*Black Hole noise*
I think it's been almost 2 years 😅
I finished Malazan mid 2020, but my Rankings did not change. I think it's probably because I read the first 3 book over 3 years and finished up the rest during the pandemic.
That said, I agree with your lower picks, but alltogether struggled the most with the desert books.
My top are MT and TTH, which is the only placement that fluctuates depending on the day.
Looking forward to my first reread as well. The last 5 years changed my reader self a lot, and my impression of the first three books will probably change a lot.
Great to see you back, I still sometimes go back to your Crippled God Vlogs if I fall into a Malazan Mood
Yes, can't ever decide between midnight tides and toll the hounds being top spot. Love the cast of characters and crazy stuff that goes on in midnight tides but I love the themes in toll the hounds and of course the crazy last section of the book.
Had to mute after bonehunters. I think we are pretty similar except I would probably swap Memories of Ice and Bonehunters
But unnoticed you got back on the malazan wagon in September!
I am doing yet another read of the series and I'm at the Capustan part right now
fuck this is hard. off the top of my head rankings without thinking too much of it: 9,10,3,1,8,5,2,6,7,4. not so easy to stick to tiers in the limited space of youtube comments, so just a number ordering of best to worst (but there is no worst)
Wow, dust of dreams at the top, how interesting.
Hello 😊great video!! 🍂🍃
Finished my first reread about 6 months ago. Initial several years prior.
GotM is a weird one as it gets better the farther you get into the series. There is just so much there setting the stage.
I am not the biggest fan of Toll or Dust. There are i.pressive moments but long slogs of soul crushing depression. Perhaps is they were just not bext to each other.
HoC has a different proble of love Karsa, Felisin resolution in the same book? But am a fan of Weepers Gale and Helliam's pub crawl/beerhall putsch.
Moments
Squint - a lot more second time
I am done - still get misty
🕯 - only 30 odd total pages
Nimander's march to the Shore
Good
It's been 2 years for me since I finished. It's more or less the same. Some changes between our lists would be
.
.
.
.
SPOILERS
1. I would absolutely put Reaper's Gale in a no mage category even. I hated that book. Patriots did not work for me at all. RG was just repeating themes from book 5. Karsa/Icarium was very anti climatic. Beak + some malazan military moments were the only saving grace.
2. Midnight tides would be the elder God for me. It's his best plotted book. No meandering, to the point. Two sets of brothers on either side concept was done really well.
3. House of chains will be 2 levels higher for me. I really liked the army origin, logistics part. And fiddler is my fav character. So that pushes the book to imperial mage for me.
Yas, midnight tides is the best plot from start to finish and really didn't need any of the other books to make it awesome. Several attempts at rereading the series have gotten me halfway through gardens of the moon and saying "you know, why don't I just start with midnight tides anyways?"
I will never ever understand in a million years why dead house gates is always so medium/low on people’s list. The fuckin chain of dogs, Duikers amazing arc, Coltaine, Felisin/heboric/bald handless guy, it’s the best ending in any book of the series hands down, it’s too 3 easily, I just don’t get it.
I've got it high middle for me and it's a blast to reread. I love that it's really didn't hold any punches taking about the cost of war. For me, the first read through, I was completely bored by a lot of the chain of dogs walking through the desert but that's been fixed in rereads now that I know where it ends. For me, though, the Felisin and Icarium plot lines are way more interesting and so I'd be wishing I was with their perspective more. I also didn't care for Crokus at all until Toll the Hounds so that part brought it down for me too. Love Kalam's arc though.
But… Bottle is a squad mage 😥