The first novel in Brandon Sanderson‘s Stormlight Archive series reminds me of R. Scott Bakker’s Aspect-Emperor series. Mostly in structure and length, but also slightly in content (it’s nowhere near as dark/gritty or philosophy-laden though… which could go either way depending on your personal tastes).
It starts out pretty boring while laying the groundwork, picks up markedly by the halfway point, and becomes downright exciting toward the end. Aside from the questionable beginning, the only real issue I had with it were Kaladin and Shallan both acting pretty stupid much of the time. With a book the size of this one you wouldn’t think a mere two characters’ actions could drag it down, but they both end up central to the story it wants to tell. The intermittent flashbacks to Kaladin’s past aren’t particularly interesting either.
The second novel, Words of Radiance, pretty much entirely redeems Shallan… but Kaladin relapses for a while. I’m also still not fond of the flashback segments (this time focusing on Shallan) and the random character resurrection at the end seems, well, random and ill thought out. That said, overall it’s notably more consistent than the prequel and I’m definitely invested in seeing how the story develops from here.