Yeah, Ierendi sucked.
My personal favourite (until it, along with my other GAZ books, were "borrowed" by a player who then disappeared!) was the Northern Reaches. It had a good set up, the rules content worked fairly well in actual play, and the different Viking kingdoms were well thought out.
(they pretty much were depictions of the Vikings in different historical eras, but put together in the campaign world in a logical way that made sense... you had traditional Vikings who fought for the old ways, a sort of in-between land of vikigns who adapted to some of the new ways but also fiercely defended their particular worldviews, and then you had a viking economy that was turning merchant and medieval).
Plus, there was some nice language information, and a good rules set that reflected actually RPing your character - you gave your character scores in certain Viking personality types, and if something came up, you could roll to determine how he'd act because of his personality. Some Players would hate it, but I think the basic idea behind this mechanic was sound, as it allowed a designer much more leeway in showing off the cultural traits of any particular nation simply by using these tables. Used in a creative way, I think the tables would really enhance role-playing.
I like the Shires one as well, but I don't like the class that came with it. Plus, it had very little use in a campaign setting, especially BECMI, because there were very few predominately halfling groups out there. It'd work for short adventures, but unlike some of the other GAZ books, it couldn't really become the cornerstone of a whole campaign.
Glantri was kind of cool, but I think I need to read it over again, because I don't remember much. I didn't like Karameikos, as it seemed too "Cookier Cutter" for me when I read it a long time ago. Alfheim added those elf skills, which really just made elves in BECMI that much better... don't remember the setting.
I always wanted to read the Dwarves of Rockhome, though. Many years ago, I torrented it to take a look at it, but I felt very guilty, and deleted it before I gave it more than a cursory glance.
