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Dark fantasy
- Thread starter aerus2800
- Start date
Hey aerus!
A series (trilogy) that I have really enjoyed that could be considerd
Dark Fantasy is C.S. Friedman's "The Coldfire Trilogy" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/104-3371230-0703107?v=glance&s=books
The first book is Great and the other 2 books do continue the series nicely.
The sad thing is from what I read somewhere a while back, for some reason the author was unhappy with the books success and was annoyed with people always asking if there would be more books and said she would never write another book to go along with the Trilogy, But these books are wonderful and I think are terrific 'dark' fantasy books.
The amazon link has some sample pages so you can check out the authors style and see what you think.
This is one of the (Very Few!) books I have read more than one time.
I have tought about checking out David Farland http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...r_asin_1/104-3371230-0703107?v=glance&s=books
and Robin Hobb http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...r_asin_1/104-3371230-0703107?v=glance&s=books as well.
I don't know if they count as dark fantasy or not and haven't read any of their books but they may be worth while?
A series (trilogy) that I have really enjoyed that could be considerd
Dark Fantasy is C.S. Friedman's "The Coldfire Trilogy" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/104-3371230-0703107?v=glance&s=books
The first book is Great and the other 2 books do continue the series nicely.
The sad thing is from what I read somewhere a while back, for some reason the author was unhappy with the books success and was annoyed with people always asking if there would be more books and said she would never write another book to go along with the Trilogy, But these books are wonderful and I think are terrific 'dark' fantasy books.
The amazon link has some sample pages so you can check out the authors style and see what you think.
This is one of the (Very Few!) books I have read more than one time.
I have tought about checking out David Farland http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...r_asin_1/104-3371230-0703107?v=glance&s=books
and Robin Hobb http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...r_asin_1/104-3371230-0703107?v=glance&s=books as well.
I don't know if they count as dark fantasy or not and haven't read any of their books but they may be worth while?
CCamfield
First Post
Sure! I like dark fantasy quite a bit so forgive me if I write a lot 
One of the classic dark fantasy series is The Black Company by Glen Cook. It's about a mercenary company with a shadowy and ancient past, no saints themselves, who are hired in the first book by someone who turns out to be a lieutenant to the ruler of an evil empire. But they're honour-bound to maintain their contract...
Glen Cook also wrote a great fantasy standalone with a sort of Arabian feel to it called The Tower of Fear. It's out of print but well worth tracking down. I think it's one of his best books. The city of an evil wizard has been captured, but a resistance movement still plan a coup against their occupiers. Meanwhile the citadel, which is sealed and unbreachable, holds a few loyalists to the wizard who is not dead, but trapped in stasis. They send out agents to get the ingredients they need to rescue their lord: human sacrifices...
Another series I've been reading recently - but haven't finished 'cause I can't get book 3 - is by an author called K. J. Parker. The first book is Shadow and the second Pattern. It starts with a man waking up in a field of mud - a battlefield, littered with bodies. Everyone else is dead, and he realizes he can't remember who he is (he has amnesia). As he travels, people start recognizing him as someone dire, a monster of a man - and they're trying to kill him. This is definitely a low fantasy setting, with almost no magic at all, but it's a very compelling story.
One of the classic dark fantasy series is The Black Company by Glen Cook. It's about a mercenary company with a shadowy and ancient past, no saints themselves, who are hired in the first book by someone who turns out to be a lieutenant to the ruler of an evil empire. But they're honour-bound to maintain their contract...
Glen Cook also wrote a great fantasy standalone with a sort of Arabian feel to it called The Tower of Fear. It's out of print but well worth tracking down. I think it's one of his best books. The city of an evil wizard has been captured, but a resistance movement still plan a coup against their occupiers. Meanwhile the citadel, which is sealed and unbreachable, holds a few loyalists to the wizard who is not dead, but trapped in stasis. They send out agents to get the ingredients they need to rescue their lord: human sacrifices...
Another series I've been reading recently - but haven't finished 'cause I can't get book 3 - is by an author called K. J. Parker. The first book is Shadow and the second Pattern. It starts with a man waking up in a field of mud - a battlefield, littered with bodies. Everyone else is dead, and he realizes he can't remember who he is (he has amnesia). As he travels, people start recognizing him as someone dire, a monster of a man - and they're trying to kill him. This is definitely a low fantasy setting, with almost no magic at all, but it's a very compelling story.
ergeheilalt
First Post
paulewaug said:
Nope, David Farland is not a horror or dark fantasy writer. His books are still very good and his take on magic and balance are the most radical I have ever read. I'd give them a thumbs up.
Erge
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
This isn't high fantasy, but it does presuppose it to a degree: I'd recommend the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton.
The background is that, in modern-day America, vampires have gone to court and are recognized as being legally alive. Likewise, lycanthropy is rather like AIDS - a disease with heavy prejudice against you if you have it. Some people can use magic also, and the protagonist, Anita Blake, has minor necromantic talents she uses at her job, Animators Inc., to raise the dead as zombies for legal purposes (interpreting wills and such).
Check it out with the first book Guilty Pleasures. The series has almost a dozen titles so far.
The background is that, in modern-day America, vampires have gone to court and are recognized as being legally alive. Likewise, lycanthropy is rather like AIDS - a disease with heavy prejudice against you if you have it. Some people can use magic also, and the protagonist, Anita Blake, has minor necromantic talents she uses at her job, Animators Inc., to raise the dead as zombies for legal purposes (interpreting wills and such).
Check it out with the first book Guilty Pleasures. The series has almost a dozen titles so far.
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Purkle-chan
First Post
I'd not put Hobb's books, at least the five that I've read, into this catergory either.
As for K J Parker, the Scavenger trilogy, mentioned above, is worth checking out if you can get hold of it. Though I know the third one, Memory, has only just come out in papper back over here in the UK.
As for K J Parker, the Scavenger trilogy, mentioned above, is worth checking out if you can get hold of it. Though I know the third one, Memory, has only just come out in papper back over here in the UK.
Holy Bovine
First Post
Would George Martin be considered 'dark fantasy'?
I'm not sure what even makes a book dark fantasy. Is it just a higher level of violence/gore/sex/cussing?
I'm not sure what even makes a book dark fantasy. Is it just a higher level of violence/gore/sex/cussing?
Michael Tree
First Post
The Face in the Frost, by John Bellairs, is a small book, but it has some of the creepiest moments I've read.
The Warlock of Strathearn, by Christopher Whyte is set in 17th century scotland, with a great magical feel and quite a bit of dark creepiness.
The Warlock of Strathearn, by Christopher Whyte is set in 17th century scotland, with a great magical feel and quite a bit of dark creepiness.
CCamfield
First Post
I think definitions of 'dark fantasy' vary, but to me it's something to do with the moral tone and the (extreme) power of evil. For instance, in the first Black Company book, the company is pretty evil, and they're working for an evil empire ruled by an Empress ("The Lady") and a dozen or so "Taken" - sorcerers corrupted to evil by The Lady and her husband. The Lady and the Taken are in fact a form of undead, to boot. There are no gods of good, no crusading paladins... there really isn't any person or nation who you can point to and say "those are the good guys".
Trying not to spoil things, but as an example of the power of evil, there's an item created in the series to keep an evil power dead. People steal it, figuring it could be worth something, and it turns out that it's been tainted by that evil, and it morally (and, I think, physically) corrupts whoever possesses it. And there is no "magic bullet" solution to the problems it creates.
Trying not to spoil things, but as an example of the power of evil, there's an item created in the series to keep an evil power dead. People steal it, figuring it could be worth something, and it turns out that it's been tainted by that evil, and it morally (and, I think, physically) corrupts whoever possesses it. And there is no "magic bullet" solution to the problems it creates.
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