Grimdark

[Gilly]

Hi any Grimdark recommendations out there people ?

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Anna Smith Spark's "Court Of Broken Knives" is, I think, really good - it's very poetic and very very bloody. You can read the opening chapter (which is kind of a (whisper) prologue) here : Excerpt: The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith-Spark | Grimdark Magazine

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Hi any Grimdark recommendations out there people ?

What have you already read?

 

[Gilly]

Nothing yet just heard about Grimdark from Twitter sounds like my kind of reading so looking for book ideas

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Nothing yet just heard about Grimdark from Twitter sounds like my kind of reading so looking for book ideas

Ah, okay. If you're on Facebook there is a great group there called Grimdark Readers and Writers.

So, the big names:

Joe Abercrombie
Mark Lawrence
George Martin

Up and coming - Anna's mentioned above - Michael R Fletcher is well regarded.

Dark Space Opera - Richard Morgan comes up a lot.

 

[Gilly]

I'm just starting The Blade Itself
Thanks for the info Jo

 

[Gonk the Insane]

Daniel Polansky's Low Town series, beginning with The Straight Razor Cure, fits into Grimdark quite nicely*.

Dark Space Opera - Richard Morgan comes up a lot.

Yes, his Altered Carbon is dark, gritty, and brilliant (IMHO). He's also done some pretty dark Fantasy, beginning with The Steel Remains.

*Nicely in the sense of grimdark probably involves shouldering the opposition aside, generally menacing other books in the genre and shanking a few just for good measure.

 

[Gilly]

Thanks for the recommendation

 

[zaltys13]

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch is Grimdark Light, the nastiness is offset by wonderful, witty characters and exceptional world building.

 

[Gilly]

Thanks for the recommendation

 

[Inari Writer]

Got to second the recommendations by Zaltys13 and Jo Zebedee.

Also. Malazan Book of the Fallen is good if you like highly complex, high powered and epic grimdark fantasy.

If you really want to get crushed beneath the unrelenting grimdark horror of it all then the Prince of Nothing series is good.

 

[Gilly]

Thanks for the recommendation

 

[Null_Zone]

Ah, okay. If you're on Facebook there is a great group there called Grimdark Readers and Writers.

So, the big names:

Joe Abercrombie
Mark Lawrence
George Martin

Up and coming - Anna's mentioned above - Michael R Fletcher is well regarded.

Dark Space Opera - Richard Morgan comes up a lot.

Mark Lawrence is a completely different beast to the others.

Much like Daily Mail columnists compared to historical events, so much grimdark is mystery from a modern perspective. The characters may as well complain about the lack of Amazon prime.

 

[SilentRoamer]

I thought The First Law trilogy was a good read and actually really funny, I laughed in parts, very dark and very British humor. Best Served Cold was more of the same although I think the pacing was better. I still have his other stuff to read but look forward to it.

R. Scott Bakkers The Second Apocalypse series is fantastic IMO and one of the best Fantasy series around, it's actually a lot darker than Abercrombie. Bakkers writing is some of the best out there although it can be pretty dense but its worth the effort - 7 books in total and some are fairly large books.

I suppose Brent Weeks Night Angel Trilogy could be classed as grimdark. Sort of pew pew ninjas with magical swords and powers and crazy gods and stuff. All very easy reading and action packed, it's not groundbreaking but it's definitely fun.

Those are the only ones I have read and could comment on directly. Although I see others have mentioned other popular authors.

 

[Gilly]

Thanks

 

[Vaz]

Gene wolfes - Book of the New Sun - just wonderful.

And our very own Jo Zebedee's fantastic work - if you want a sci-fi grim space opera read the Abebdau Trilogy, if you fancy seeing how a hostile Alien race gets on when it invades Northern Ireland - read Inish Carraig (which is addictive and a page turner)

V

 

[night_wrtr]

Abercrombie is the must read for the genre, but I'll also support anything from Mark Lawrence and Scott Lynch.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Gene wolfes - Book of the New Sun - just wonderful.

And our very own Jo Zebedee's fantastic work - if you want a sci-fi grim space opera read the Abebdau Trilogy, if you fancy seeing how a hostile Alien race gets on when it invades Northern Ireland - read Inish Carraig (which is addictive and a page turner)

V

I didn't see this until now, thanks @Vaz. I also have Waters and the Wild just out, which is certainly as dark as Inish, if not Abendau. Dark little Irish fae and themes of mental health and innocents being trailed into the chaos. The usual, really. God knows where my mind comes up with such stuff.

 

[Vertigo]

Most of the recommendations so far are fantasy apart from Richard K Morgan who has done both SF and F and I highly second the recommendation of his Takeshi Kovacs novels starting with Altered Carbon.

Are you also interested in SF grimdark?

 

[Toby Frost]

Anna Smith Spark's "Court Of Broken Knives"

Each to his own, but let's just say I wasn't overwhelmed by that opening...

I suppose, this being a thread about "grimdark", there's always the place the expression originated: Warhammer. Their books vary a lot in subject and quality, but Dan Abnett's Imperial Guard books are a pretty safe bet. I enjoyed Kim Newman's Warhammer novels, too, but they might be a bit low on the guts and latrines for some tastes.