It's just hard to get into, and a bad way to start a series. It drops you right into the story. Characters, battles, magic, almost nothing has any explanation attached. But I liked it. The first book was enough to get me hooked on the series. I didn't really know what was going on (and a re-read showed me just how much I'd missed), but I liked it.

So I'd recommend Erikson. I'll second the suggestions for Name of the Wind and Assassin's Apprentice. You said you didn't like Way of Kings, but have you tried Sanderson's other books? The Mistborn Trilogy is great, and his stand-alone books are very good too. You can actually download Warbreaker for free from his website.