Half a King discussion

I was going to write a review of one of Joe Abercrombie's books but I'll just do a general comparison for the world he has constructed so far with one which people are more familiar.
I'll start off from A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) since that is a cultural reference point that people currently understand. Up until that point there wasn't much in Fantasy that wasn't High Fantasy or Epic Fantasy (there was also comedic Fantasy). It was all save the world from the great evil, most of the protagonists were heroic except for that one conflicted person (I'm talking to you Cyric, Raistlin, Haplo, Elaith Craulnober, Gerald Tarrant etc...). In addition, death was more like comic books - you didn't stay dead or even if you did you only transitioned to an Obi-Wan type of existence, ie. still there. Between all of the high class heroics and true death being saved for only special occasions; there was a rhythm to fantasy that persisted for at least 20 years. Sure there were exceptions but they were few and obscure.

A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) disrupted and changed that rhythm. One reason was novelty. It was so different that it was like a bucket of cold water over the warm fuzzy of contemporary fantasy. It was the anti-Wheel of Time. Even that wouldn't have been enough if the books themselves weren't compelling, which they were because of the sheer amount of fuckery almost everyone in the books got up to. It was a fantasy telenovela for people who were unaware of the existence of telenovelas. (That's why it's on TV now, you're watching trash TV or reading trash fantasy I'm just here to inform you of what you've been in denial of... [Brief aside I went with telenovela because I think they are better than soap operas - the characters are better.])
But, the Fantasy/Sci-Fi community isn't about characters (or at least many of us tell ourselves that) it's about world building, so when publishers and authors saw the success they went to get more stuff that was "just like" ASOIAF and you had all of these new "Dark" Fantasy worlds but not enough good "Dark" fantasy characters. Combine that with the ball that started rolling with Batman's, A Death in the Family, The Killing Joke, Knightfall and Dark Knight and Science Fiction's "darkness" manifest via Cyberpunk. You end up with most of contemporary fiction writing towards the same tone. Not everyone can be dark and gritty; it can't work for everyone, especially if it runs counter to the trope that the character exists to explore (I'm looking at you DC Comics). Now you have over-saturation and the backlash against "grimdark".

So why the speculative history lesson? Because Joe Abercrombie finds the same balance that Steven Erikson does in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It is a gritty realistic world that has interesting characters. And that alone would be enough to get those two series up to the level of ASOIAF but I think they are better than that. (Drop the disagreements/hate mail in the comments.) They are both better because ASOIAF is a telenovela. And telenovelas exist to exist. They're written to be continuous and that means you can't really accomplish too much or you run out of story (perhaps a "why" behind the gigantic gaps in books past the first trilogy of ASOIAF). As interesting as the characters are, they never really do anything that rises to the level of heroic. Sure there are spots of bravery, selflessness and such, but overall it's just management office politics from the great folk and being a cubicle rat for the small folk. They're all just surviving. I already am familiar with that life as I am also just surviving so while George R.R. Martin writes characters that will keep me coming back, unless they or their circumstances change, they'll never inspire me.

Joe Abercrombie and Steven Erickson have gritty, realistic worlds with interesting characters (some of) whom are also heroic. That is the elevation I look for in my escapist hobby. I like to have to put the book down because I'm awestruck, not because I want to tweet out "gurrrrrrl, do you know who Cersi is fucking now?!" (son, that shit would happen tomorrow if I was reading a new GRRM book and that event occurred -- don't get it twisted) . So, if you were wondering what was missing in you fantasy life lately like I was, this might be it. Joe writes on a smaller scale than Steven overall but they both scale up and down well with the surroundings. I suppose I'll also list the Malazan Book of the Fallen at the end also.Deadhouse GatesA Game of Thrones

"Up until that point there wasn't much in Fantasy that wasn't High Fantasy or Epic Fantasy "

Glen Cook, Guy Gavriel Kay, Michael Swanwick, etc would disagree.

You have an odd notion that something is better just because it's "inspiring" (for you personally, at that). Judging from your criteria, you seem to be looking for a self-help book masquerading as fantasy, which is perfectly fine but such content has no relation to the actual quality of the work.