Comments on: Dark fantasy recommendations, please

By: Xyphler

Xyphler — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:39:49 +0000

I found this page while “googl-ing” for good dark fantasy books. The definition of the term is very vague and there don’t seem t be many authors that write dark fantasy.

What dark fantasy would mean to me would be an anti-hero, magical elements, a dark medieval setting, no heroes in shining armor, really human characters with flaws but a good heart.

The first author that sprang to my mind was Glen Cook. His Black Company is definitely dark fantasy. As someone pointed out, good guys could be bad guys and the bad guys could be good. Another would be First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, the ending was ….unexpected because I hadn’t thought of it as dark fantasy.But it is somewhat dark. Then the Night Angel trilogy would be quite dark too.

Another strong recommendation would be Berserk(manga). I’ve seen recommendations for Death Note, its twisted yes but no match for Berserk when it comes to dark fantasy. It is very graphic,violent, an interesting protagonist and the villain more so and the bond between them even more. Its licensed so most sites have stopped displaying it. You can get a torrent though. It is actually these manga which motivated me to read dark fantasy novels.

By: shann[cz]

shann[cz] — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:24:17 +0000

Don’t miss this!!!

Night angel trilogy – Brent Weeks

“Assassin has no friends, just targets”
See the life of assassin (”wetboy”) from childhood to adult age, magic, prophecy, brutality, conspiracy, sex, love, revenge, life/love-philosophizing. Awesome, except the “too-powerfull-main-character” issue.

By: Zaphod

Zaphod — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:51:11 +0000

The first 5 Anita Blake books by Laurel K. Hamilton seem to fit. Stories include murder details that don’t pull any punches, moral ambiguity, the struggle to define ‘person’ in a world of monsters.

By: JP

JP — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:24:39 +0000

Not a discussion that might lead to enlightenment, but provocative.

Seems to me that something like “dark fantasy” has to be relative, with life experience of the reader counting for a lot. Those who have not had much horror or tragedy in their own lives, and those who have plenty of both, would likely classify different things as dark fantasy. For the former, something like Zelazny’s _Jack of Shadows_ might qualify, while for the latter the book might be a bit a existentialist musing.

More simply put, if a fantasy book takes you to a dark place in your own mind, it’s dark fantasy. The mind’s reaction might be verbalized as “oh/eww, you did not just go there, oh man, no I don’t wanna go there but can’t look away.”

Dark fantasy is not merely grim, but evocative of the grim. Or at least, that’s my working understanding.

By: Tierz

Tierz — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:20:11 +0000

Another crucial question is- how dark does something have to be? Death and sorrow everywhere? Bloody and gore-tastic? As for a bleak setting- one wonders why a bright setting wouldn’t work, if the actual occurrences are dark natured. Sorry if this doesn’t fit the thread, but I have been reading the comments and just couldn’t help but wonder. Most of my favorite authors have been listed here by someone, at some point, but I have to admit other than Moorcock’s unforgettable Elric, and the fantastic Anne Bishop, few of them seemed all that dark to me. Loved Anita Blake and Meredith, but they just seemed more realistic to me than dark. Same with Vlad and Loiosh, yes I give him his own mention because I love Loiosh *s*

By: anonymoose

anonymoose — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:44:00 +0000

I highly recommend Janine Cross’ Dragon Temple Saga.

It’s the darkest, and the most controversial fantasy that I have ever read. I also enjoyed it.

http://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Janine_Cross

By: LagDemon

LagDemon — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:05:24 +0000

Based on the definition in #68, I can definitely recommend the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Brilliant series, and about as dark as I want my fantasy books to get.

By: KZK

KZK — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:53:25 +0000

I think condition #4 is off. Agyar wouldn’t fit in that definition. It needs to be instead: Mythology (magic being a subset of that).

By: Or

Or — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:36:51 +0000

+1 for Dark Jewels and +2 for Joe Abercrombie’s ‘The First Law’.

Dark Jewels is nice enough, but the first law is a must read. Awesome and different.

By: MojaveWolf

MojaveWolf — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:19:39 +0000

I just checked back in on a whim since I had used this thread to start a discussion on my blog a week or so ago, thought I’d link in case any of the thoughts or works mentioned there but not here interested you.

Also, I like the definition in 68. That is almost what I had come to think, or rather, a differently stated version of where I and two of my readers wound up.

http://mojave-wolf.livejournal.com/98665.html