The First Law is OK, but it's more generic fantasy than ASOIAF. Very clichéd and predictable and it doesn't have the sort of clever dialogue ASOIAF does.
erm, but you do have noticed that he is using those cliches on purpose and then completely fucks them up, right? For me those books have lot of fantasy parodies combined with gritty real life stories. I would never compare them to ASOIAF, and I don't think Abercrombie ever intended to create something similar. And yes, each book seems to get better, you notice first law was his first attempt at being a author.
To add one huge pluspoint to that teeth mentioned: He writes fast. The first Book of his next Trilogy will be released in July this year and the
third of it is planned to be released in July 2015, and so far he more or less kept his publishing plans.
Steven Brust sounds very interesting, will check out someday.