Yeah, I liked Elantris quite a bit. You can definitely tell it's earlier in his career, but it's still got all the things I like in Brandon's books.
Forge of Darkness is the first in a prequel series in the Malazan world. Regarding Malazan Book of the Fallen in general, I'd definitely recommend giving the series another try, as it's one of my favorites. Some things don't change; Erikson will still drop you into the middle of things and not explain any of it, there are still tons of characters and world details, but the overall quality goes way up after the first book, due to it having been written about 10 years before the second. If you don't like that one (Deadhouse Gates), then the series may just not be for you, which is fair enough.