Sup /lit/ Im currently reading through ASOIAF but thinking about

>>9947287
You'd probably be better off asking in /sffg/ but I'll try to help. Malazan is in my opinion everything wrong with fantasy, specifically that it's overlong, conflates in-media-res storytelling with depth and sophistication, isn't really developing any deeper themes along the way and isn't remarkably written at all so really all that you get out of it is a long as fuck soap-opera with swordfights and autistic magic-systems. The whole thing is based on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign the author played. That should really tell you all you need to know.

If you really know fuck all about fantasy and want to get into it there are far better places to look. Tolkien is one of them. His work draws strongly from his interest in traditional European mythology, his faith, and his background in linguistics. It's all very coherent and beautiful when it comes together. The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion are all worthwhile reads.

Some other good bits and pieces of fantasy
>Robert E. Howard
Great Depression era /r9k/ poster who wrote lots of short pulp-hero stories. Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane are his most well known works, there are lots of great stories in these as well as a lot of mediocre stuff.
>Peter S. Beagle
The Last Unicorn is one of the best modern fantasy novels ever written and is also remarkably easy reading.
>Jack Vance
His 'Tales of the Dying Earth' series of short-stories and novels was one of the biggest inspirations behind D&D (Malazan wouldn't exist without Vance) and while the wordiness of his prose might rape your brain at first if you stick with it enough to get used to it you'll find his work remarkably funny and light-hearted.
>Gene Wolfe
Final boss of fantasy. His 'Solar Cycle' (Book of the New Sun, Book of the Long Sun, Book of the Short Sun) is probably the greatest fantasy/sci-fi (it's both) series ever written. If anybody deserve the title of 'American Tolkien' it's Wolfe. His style can be confusing so if you want to try him I'd recommend looking into his earlier and shorter works first.

Check /sffg/ if you want to know more.

I'll offer a more moderate take than >>9947351 although I don't feel like typing a wall.

Malazan isn't art (like LOTR is) but it is a cut above most other swords and sorcery novels. Its biggest strength is Erikson's ability to whip up characters and situations that despite not screaming originality somehow feel fresh. Perhaps its biggest weakness is that after four books or so you start to see that his fountain of good ideas is not exactly limitless and new characters are falling into the same mold as the old ones. The repetition of character archetypes is really not as bad as it sounds-- he's making a smart authorial decision here and taking the things he is self-aware enough to know were working (the quick talking crazy guy, the strong and silent leader with integrity, the beautiful traitorous woman, the all-powerful god in beggars clothing) and hammering them home, which is better than moving on from your best ideas and writing a series of five crap novels to finish off your series. Some of the later iterations are even superior (Tehol and Bug stand out of course).

Anyways, they are very enjoyable novels for some people, particularly people who think they're too smart for the bottom 95% of high fantasy crap (me), so if you're one of those, give it a shot.

>>9947351
To offer another suggestion, I'd say read any of Moorcock's Eternal Champion books. He builds up a pretty decent mythology as it goes on, and hes pretty good at writing books with energy behind them, so they're easy to get through. As well, his fantasy is a lot weirder than modern fantasy, as he was writing before a lot of the conventions were solidified. He's also where people got the whole law vs chaos thing, and popularized the idea of a multiverse.

His books are also surprisingly deep at points, dealing with subjects such as isolation, despair, morality, the cost of heroism, and continuing in the face of overwhelming odds. He writes some of the best tragic heroes as well.

Don't worry about where to start, as any version of the Eternal Champion is a good starting place, but I'd recommend either Corum or Elric as those are my favorites.

>>9947287
its really good.

>>9947385
>Malazan isn't art (like LotR is)
Regardless if you think it isn't as good as LotR, Erikson definitely didn't write these for cheap entertainment (can't speak for Esselmont, though)
>>9947287
It is one of few works of fantasy that I would consider capital L literature (and I speak as a fan of the genre). A few levels above aSoIaF in terms of quality imo (I would consider aSoIaF literature, it's just not nearly as good as /lit/core or even most /sffg/core)

>>9947351

>Tales of the Dying Earth

Cugel is the funniest character I've ever encountered in fiction. I've never laughed so much from reading books.

8/10 as an audiobook, when the characters are voiced well. The magic system is complete garbage. I'm like 5 books in and it's still "I ain't gotta explain shit". the characters are well written and I have laughed out loud a couple times.

i read them recently and really enjoyed them. I think that his depiction of life as a soldier in an army is excellent. i disagree with >>9947351 in that it doesnt have deeper themes. it goes into stuff like loyalty and faith and what drives people to fight. the entire series covers so many different situations that its hard to become bored by virtue of the variety.

this book has an added plus oof being really interesting from an anthropological slant.The dynamic between different cultures and races,and the how and why of those cultures coming to be, is all extremaly interesting.

>>9950216

Cugel's tree weasel insult is great. Shit, Vance is fucking great. Both Dying Earth and Lyonesse are top tier genre stuff.

As for Malazan, it's pretty good. It's just some books are better than others and there's what feels like a lot of filler (honestly, the Tiste stuff, most of book 8, etc).

>>9947287
Read Titus Groan and ignore all the retards above me.