Jackal

Elric of Melnibone-I like Elric's brand of heroism: good, but dangerous company. A single line best sums Elric up; shortly after taking a Pan Tangian slave ship, Elric's companion suggests they sell the slaves at market to replenish their coin purses. Elric lets the slaves go free "because I felt like it." Rather than holding to the notion of honorable combat, Elric isn't above conjuring an elemental or using sorcery to win his fights. Very refreshing. Coltaine-I found his dedication to his duty very inspiring. Kaladin Stormblessed-Same as Coltaine, though I can relate to Kaladin a bit more. Replace Kaladin's imprisonment as a slave and rebirth as a leader with two semesters of organic chemistry. Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)-I liked the idea of a character who is a dark mirror to the hero. The modifications to Bane's origin that presented him as someone struggling to attain what Bruce tossed away (leadership of the League of Shadows) and the desire to prove himself to the father that rejected him made for a compelling villain. Sandor Clegane-The man's brutally honest. In a place like Westeros, it is refreshing. Shallan-Her cleverness makes her chapters easy reads. Roland Deschain-Like Kaladin, I admire Roland's dedication to his quest. I also like his personality in general.

Martin and Erikson both throw around the battlefield dialogue, f-bombs and whatnot, though I think there were more in ASOIAF. In terms of tone, both are epics. Both stories have very detailed settings with lots of history. Martin's tends toward grounded fantasy whereas Erikson's work is more sword and sorcery-esque. If you're big on fantastic elements-dragons, demons, gods, spirits, fantastic races outside the norm of elves, dwarves etc-go with Erikson. If you like a healthy dose of realism or versimilitude, Martin's your author.

Reading Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson. I am about 120-ish pages into the third, and this Pannion Dominion sounds hardcore. I would say books 2 and 3 are a better gauge of how you'll enjoy the rest of the Malazan series; Gardens of the Moon was written 10 years before Deadhouse Gates. The Book of the Fallen seems to be a synthesis of the best aspects of epic fantasy and sword and sorcery. Erikson's style is what I find most appealing-throwing out multiple plot hooks in Book 1, and leaving the reader a bit discombobulated.

The Stormlight Archive is my introduction to Brandon's work. I was looking for a long-running fantasy epic where I could join with other fans and discuss logical and nonsensical theories based on foreshadowing in the earlier volumes. This was what I really enjoyed about the Harry Potter books, which were my introduction to the fantasy genre. Since then I've been through Weis and Hickman, King, Erikson, Lloyd and Moorcock. Great books, but since their series were all wrapped up by the time I got around to them, I couldn't toss out speculation or "this is how it must happen" discussion with other fans. The Way of Kings has a great world, and even better characters. I look forward to speculation with everyone about the future of The Stormlight Archive. I also read somewhere that Brandon used to play Magic: the Gathering?