Dark Fantasy

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.743594]

Hey, /lit/. I'm looking for some Dark Fantasy. Though it has a fairly broad definition I generally mean something with themes like Berserk.

I wouldn't consider A Song of Fire and Ice dark fantasy, even if it seems to get tagged with the genre.

I've seen The Black Company series mentioned a couple times and was interested.

Any suggestions?

[Arcueid Brunestud !ARCIkc4cG6 No.743605]

Hey man, have you read the Elric of Melnibone series yet?

Shit's dark.

[Anonymous No.743609]

Clive Barker has some pretty good dark fantasy.

[Anonymous No.743631]

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/

[Anonymous No.743633]

The Conan stories of Robert E. Howard.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.743643]

>>743605
I haven't. I shall look it up.

>>743609
Ah, can't believe I forgot him.

>>743631
On my to read list.

>>743633
I'll look this up as well.

[Arcueid Brunestud !ARCIkc4cG6 No.743652]

>>743643

If you haven't already, read the Tale of the Children of Hurin. It's unusually dark for Tolkien. It included incest, rape, suicide, and other delicious things of that nature.

[Anonymous No.743684]

Maybe... The Sundering by Jacqueline Carey...

[Anonymous No.743691]

Don't understand how black company is dark. It thinks it is, but it practically farts unicorns and bleeds rainbows compared to how dark it sees to think it is.

Maybe the later books get "dark", but it will be a bit before I get to the last 2 volumes because I'm loaning them from a friend.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't a bad read, it's just nowhere near as vile as it claims it is.

[Arcueid Brunestud !ARCIkc4cG6 No.743695]

>>743691

Glenn Cook tries way too hard to be edgy. You can feel it in each book.

They're decent reads, but they would be more enjoyable if he weren't doing his damndest to NOT be like all the other fantasy fiction books out there.

[Anonymous No.743706]

>Implying that wizards are a separate race of humans.

Seriously, J.K. Rowling. Fuck you and your legion of morons.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.743720]

>>743652
Well, I enjoy Tolkien, so I'll definitely add that too.

>>743684
Doesn't seem to be Dark Fantasy from what I'm reading, but looks interesting. I'll group with my Fantasy list.

>>743691
Hmmm, wikipedia calls it Dark Fantasy, but that's wikipedia. Does it have any horror elements?

[Anonymous No.743815]

I second both Elric and Conan.

Also, though I seem to be suggesting it a lot lately...the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. Shit's fairly dark, as I remember.

Berserk rocks, btw - just throwing that out there for others who stumble onto this thread and haven't read any of it. The anime's great too.

[Anonymous No.743836]

>>743815

Oh, almost forgot - The Magister Trilogy, also by C.S. Friedman. Only the first two books are out right now, but the third shouldn't be too far off by this point. Possibly better than Coldfire, though I can't say that for sure until the 3rd book is out.

[Anonymous No.743842]

all the ravenloft books with Strahd, and i heard death knight soth was preddy gritty too, but i dont think ravenloft is even out anymore

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.743917]

>>743815
>>743836
I've already got Coldfire down, looking into The Magister Trilogy. Thanks.

Also, yes Berserk is great.

>>743842
Holy shit, there's a lot of books for this setting.

[Anonymous No.743938]

Are you reading Gantz? Claymore is also ok. For a bit I considered it the new Berserk as Berserk is basically 6 months per chapter.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.743977]

>>743938
I keep up with both, but I don't really care for them too much. I ended up marathon-ing both of them for some reason.

Give Vinland Saga a shot if you want something somewhat similar to Berserk.

[Anonymous No.744035]

Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski (seriously read it, whether or not it's fantasy is debatable but it's scary, angsty, crazy and dark as all fuck)

Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake

Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin (it has a scene where an evil vampire cuts up a screaming baby on a platter, how darker can you get?)

China Mieville's New Crobuzon series (people merged with animal parts as a form of punishment? An evil oppressive government? A crime-infested city that never sleeps? You got it it!)

ANYTHING BY CLIVE BARKER. Seriously, Imajica, Great and Secret Show, Cabal, The Damnation Game, Hellbound Heart and Abarat are all genius. Avoid Sacrament and Galilee and you're gold.

Lost Souls and Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite (borders on Mary Sue fanfic territory... imagine the author of my immortal as a published novelist. Then imagine relishing every minute of it).

Caitlin R. Kiernan's Daria Parker or Deacon Silvey books.

Shriek! and Finch by Jeff Vandermeer (you will never look at mushrooms the same way again)

Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix (it has undead and the main character is a zombie slayer)

Ignore anyone telling you either Black Company or Malazan Book of the Fallen have any substantial grimdark. Second does have some cool supernatural shit, though (Shadowthrone, fuck year)

[Anonymous No.744042]

>>743815
>>743842

All a bit too cornball and pulpy to really be called "dark." They're about as dark as an Iron Maiden album on a bright spring day

[Anonymous No.744047]

>>743977
>>743938

As far as dark manga are concerned, check out Parasyte and Lament of the Lamb. Battle Royale might work too depending on what you're looking for.

Avoid the manga versions of Ju-On and Ring like the plague, the art is abominably bad.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.744053]

>>744035
I own House of Leaves and the Abhorsen trilogy, [Abhorsen is one of my favorite young adult fiction series] I'll research the rest. Thanks for the loads of series.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.744085]

>>744047
I'm not really in need of any dark/dark fantasy manga. I've already read just about every manga in that genre that even slightly pulled my interest. I'm only lacking in books and comics for the genre.

Yeah, Parasyte was another good one. Hitoshi Iwaaki is a great mangaka, even if his art is a little plain.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.745139]

6 hours should be an alright amount of time to wait before bumping. Maybe get some input from a different group of /lit/ goers.

[Anonymous No.745439]

>>743977
Vinland Saga is nothing like Berserk besides both of them featuring tough as nails warriors.

[Anonymous No.745480]

Someone mentioned Abercrombies stuff. Richard Morgan has started writing fantasy in a similar vein now, though just one book as of yet.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.746822]

>>745439
Actually, the Golden Age Arc in Berserk is very similar to Vinland Saga.

>>745480
Oh, the sci-fi author who wrote the Takeshi Kovacs novels? Didn't know he was writing fantasy now. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.746852]

>>745439
Vinland Saga is a lot like the early Berserk before it went off on a tangent where nothing happens for the last 15 years. I just read it and came to thank the guy for recommending it.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.746858]

>>746852
Ah, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Anonymous No.746880]

The first law trilogy = fucking win

[Anonymous No.746883]

Again op. Read some Robert E Howard Conan stories.

[Sky !dzrhWhUb6g No.746904]

>>746883
I've looked into them, but just how cornball are we talking here? Like >>744042 mentioned.