amber is classic fantasy. not as much world building, blah blah, more action and plot.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3470140&forum_id=2#32217242)

-It starts in media res in a big way. The first book, Gardens of the Moon, is particularly confusing as a result.

-Books 2 and 3 were pretty good. Definitely the best of the five I read.

-Characters are generally pretty weak. Erickson has a bad habit of having characters change names for some reason which is irritating.

-It's really really over-the-top. Malazan is all about super-wizards who can obliterate armies, battles where 100,000 people die, wars lasting thousands of years, tons of fantasy races, etc.

-Sadly while there's a ton of world-building it's often a shoddy structure. The appendices are even inconsistent between books which really bothered to me. Sometimes there are timeline screw-ups, like a character who suddenly has a 3-year-old daughter in a book that starts a year after the last one.

-Erickson tries to give his books more weight by having his gritty soldiers spout philosophy and I mostly don't think this works.

-There are a shitload of books so it's a huge investment. Counting the spinoffs by Erickson's friend, it may be longer than Wheel of Time by now.

-The plot is sprawling, with basically three major theaters (at least of the books I read). Books 1, 3, and 8 are on their own continent. Books 2, 4, and 6 are on another. Books 5 and 7 on yet another. I don't really know where 9 and 10 go because I quit reading.

-Erickson is...okay as a writer, I guess. But Martin is certainly much better.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3470140&forum_id=2#32217551)

Gene Wolfe is a fun and unconventional author whose work generally has a fantasy edge. You have to put in a lot of effort reading him, though, since he's a bit postmodern and loves unreliable narrators and shit. Expect to do rereads if you want to "get" him.

I liked The Lies of Locke Lamora but the sequels kinda sucked. It works as a standalone though.

Overall I haven't read much fantasy besides the common ones, namely ASOIAF. It's just a lot of investment for a limited upside, ever since Robert Jordan made it so every high-profile fantasy series needs to be a 10-book orgy of worldbuilding.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3470140&forum_id=2#32217871)

that sounds awesome

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3470140&forum_id=2#32219683)

Also you could/should read book of the Lost sin with me. Someone here recommended it awhile ago and it's been on my reading list. Premise sounds really cool. Edit: it was probably charles12 since he mentioned gene Wolfe above

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3470140&forum_id=2#32218317)

joe abercrombie blade itself is fun light reading

robin hobb assassin series is good long term story but it's not traditional fantasy

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3470140&forum_id=2#32221418)