Yeah I have conflicted feelings. It appears to ultimately be about the individuals and their stories. There isn't really a cohesive story arc that gets told in any real way - at least not in a typical way. The world is crushingly deep, the wold-building on a scale beyond anything I've seen. I think Malazan comes in at #2 as my all time favorite, second only to TSA, which is high praise, but it has its short comings. I think it'll probably dethroned from its #2 slot in the future as it was just too much to absorb, too much to reread, and so doesn't have the staying power as some of the shorter books/series that I can pick up and reread.
3.5 million words in Malazan's 10 book, compared to Bakker's what, 1million or TSA as is, maybe 1.25m if he ever finishes TSA.
That kind of scale is great if its the only book series you're ever going to read, and read it over and over, but for someone with a shit memory that likes to read a lot of different authors, its just not going to be my favorite.