Black Company is more accessible. Glen Cook's a great writer and it's one of the great classics in military fiction - Glen Cook is well known as one of the first writers who helped shape the world of military fiction, and for good reason - very few other novels really capture the life as well as the Black Company.
Malazan Empire series is extremely epic, but has a wide-ranging cast of thousands of characters, and the plot lines and world are way more complex than wheel of time - every book introduces new ascendants, new races, new notables and powers and political systems, etc. If you're good at keeping track of small details, you'll find malazan empire very epic and rewarding, but if you have serious ADD or can't really hyperfocus on books, I wouldn't bother with it. It's the main reason I don't recommend it to my friends - it's great writing, but so much to assimilate every book.
Then again, you did play a very complex text-based MUD for years and years, so I think you'll definitely have the reading hyperfocus to handle Malazan Empire. So it might be a good recommendation for you after all.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2014 09:56AM by vortexmagus.