I tried reading the 1st one of the series (Gardens of the Moon) not once but twice. Both times I was quickly bored and did not make it past page 50. The book (at least in its first pages) is filled with boring descriptions and uninteresting events.
I've heard good things about it (along with that it won't be an easy read as you say) however I don't want to torture myself reading boring stuff for like 1000 pages until something interesting happens.
There are much better books to read and too little time.
Actually, that's more or less a rule I try to follow: If the book can't hook me after some pages and I keep feeling bored and not interesting I just put it away. Other books that I have started but found way too boring to keep reading them:
(* please don't downvote me for this. I know that some of these books are considered classics and many of you won't like this but remember that this is just my personal opinion; I tend to get border easily *)
- The orphan master's son
- The man in the high castle
- Metro 2033
- Neuromancer
- Catch 22
- Digital Fortress (this wasn't so boring but I hated the smart-ass characters)
You may want to try the audiobook version of Gardens of the Moon. I've been listening to it and have quite enjoyed it, but can definitely see how reading the book might be a bit of a slog.
There's a lot of posturing going on, talking about how powerful so many characters are, that it remind me a bit of dragonball z.
This series is amazing if for no other reason than the ambition! They actually use GURPS (a dungeon and dragon like dice system) to decide important events and write the story based on the results, also the two dudes who created the world are PhDs in Archeology and all the different cultures are based on actual human civilizations.
I almost gave up on this series halfway through book one, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. The characters were fantastic, the world was wonderfully built, and there was just.. so much of it. Took me quite a while to get through all 10 just due to their size.
I haven't read any of the off-shoot books yet, but they're on my list.
I've only read 2 books and a half so far and it is brilliant!
I'm not a big fan of fantasy books (prefer hard sci-fi), but Malazan just blew my mind. One of the best things I've ever read.
Not an easy read though, be prepared!