My gallbladder has decided to try to kill me and it needs to come out of my body as it has worn out its welcome. I’ll be off work for a few days and need something new to start reading.
I’m deciding between:
The First Law by Joe Abercrombie
Chronicles of an Age of Darkness by Hugh Cook
Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
I’ve read the Malazan books out of those three and I’d recommend them but with some qualifications. There is real quality there, some great storytelling, characters, world-building. You know how GRRM’s SoIF has such cross-over appeal because all the supernatural trad fantasy elements are dialed way down? The Malazan books are the opposite. Total epic Magic User LvL 86 v Warrior Mage LvL 90 duel for the future of the universe stuff. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea - but lest you think they’re text book rote fantasy, they’re not. The D@D roots are balanced by the characterisation and plotting being v gritty and far away from trad fantasy memes.
(Erikson talks about being influenced by the US author Glen Cook who was one of the first to write fantasy stuff with a contemporary rough-arsed edge to it).
What is really quite impressive about them is that Erikson is a writing machine - dropped a 1000 page book every 2 yrs in the course of the series. This is not the impressive bit in and of itself, rather it was this sustained engagement with the series that let him develop some seriously extended story arcs with massive scope. I’d love to say he pulls the whole thing off over 10 big books - he doesn’t, but he just about dies trying and has come closer than anyone else I’ve read to doing so over such a long series. Again, the obv reference point is a SoIF which has hit the rocks due to the author burning out on it and losing momentum.
Guess the drawback to them is the size - pushing 10,000 pages maybe? I actually read them more or less in a sequence over 6 months (obv they’re dead easy to read) and came away liking them and impressed overall. Better then any other hardcore fantasy series I have read if that is not damning with faint praise.
ETA: I might be exaggerating with the size of the books - they’re not all 1000 page monsters
I’m leaning towards the Malazan books myself.
I voted for First Law.
I have all the Malazan books but have only read three (four, maybe). I don’t know that I’ll bother to finish them.
They’re huge. Unless you’re reading an e-book or a paperback, you’ll kill your wrists. Plus, they require concentration. Another plus (or maybe a minus) is that they’re difficult. Huge cast of characters and IIRC, the story moves back and forth in time. It’s easy to get lost.
First Law is engaging, entertaining, different – and the books don’t weigh a ton. 
I will be reading on my e-reader so no worries about the size of the books. I don’t know if I feel like a big challenge though so I’m worried that you didn’t finish it. Maybe First Law is a better option right now…
I’d vote for the Discworld Terry Pratchett series. It will make you laugh, enter another world…and as you’ll be in pain… I think you’ll like it.
On pain med, it won’t matter.