I read Sea of Death last, and probably liked it the best. After that, I re-read all the others in "as it happened" order, as much as possible (some jarring discordances, there, such as whether Gord left the old woman to rot, or tenderly buried her, for instance).
I thought that I must not have ever read the last book, as I could never remember how it ended. When I re-read it, though, I dound out why I had forgotten it... Not a particularly satisfying ending. It seemed very anticlimactic, to me.
Ultimately, the ending was highly forgettable. I wonder how you would have handled it if things had worked out with T$R, Gary?
Ah well...