Dark Fantasy, Low magic, and Low Fantasy Fiction

[HarryFlashman]

I have never been much interested in most fantasy books but I am a fan of Robert E Howard. Tolkien's Middle Earth was what i would consider Low Magic as magic had very little infleuence on most of the storyline. What other books in the Low-Magic or Low Fantasy or Dark Fantasy genre are out there?

Give me a list, I need something to read!!

I am not interesteed in Pastiches but genuinely good books that stand on their own.

 

[mmadsen]

I suspect that most of the Classics of Fantasy would meet your criteria:

Hobberdy Dick
The Hobbit
The Books of Wonder
Tales of Averoigne
The Book of Three Dragons
Watership Down
The Night Land
The Face in the Frost
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Worm Ouroboros
Bridge of Birds
A Voyage to Arcturus
Silverlock
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Collected Ghost Stories
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
The Well at the World's End

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Guy Gavriel Kay's stuff is excellent. It's more or less historical fiction set in a fantasy world, but with little to no magic to speak of, outside of a few people with odd powers (seers and alchemists).

George R.R. Martin's stuff I would reccomend, but I'll refrain from doing so because in the storyline, magic's coming back and it seems it will probably have a rather large impact on the story.

If you can find a copy of Chaosium's anthology SCROLL OF THOTH, you may want to do so. It's a collection of short stories, but they're all Simon of Gitta tales. I reccomend it because you're a fan of Howard, and these stories have a lot of Howard feel to them. They're kind of a bridge between the Cthulhu Mythos and the Hyborian Age, all set in the days of the Roman Empire.

 

[Dragonblade]

Read David Gemmell. Most of his novels can stand alone and I highly recommend them.

His worlds are low magic and gritty but with a very heroic epic feel to them.

I recommend "The Sword in the Storm" as something for a newbie to read. It can be read as a standalone story and is all around one of Gemmell's best novels.

 

[HarryFlashman]

i am very familiar with HPL and the Lovecraft Mythos. thanks for the exaustive listing guys. I should read the Fafhrd books

What about newer writers? like in The past 10 to 15 years?

By low magic i mean anything with magic less common or strong than your standard D&D world so a little magic is fine. I suppose by low fantasy i mean primarily human oreiented. And of course Dark fantasy sort of explains itself. The books do not need to fit all three criteria.

 

[Dragonblade]

David Gemmell, man.

Read "The Sword in the Storm". Think Braveheart with a dash of magic thrown in. Very powerful story.

Or if you like darker fantasy, then read "Knights of Dark Renown", also by Gemmell. Awesome dark fantasy book that I can't explain without giving away the plot. Lets just say it deals with a fall from grace, not unlike the concept of a fallen D&D paladin.