trope: Grimdark

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

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The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart
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Published: 2009-11-16
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Hegel and Manfried Grossbart may not consider themselves bad men – but death still stalks them through the dark woods of medieval Europe.

The year is 1364, and the brothers Grossbart have embarked on a naïve quest for fortune. Descended from a long line of graverobbers, they are determined to follow their family’s footsteps to the fabled crypts of Gyptland. To get there, they will have to brave dangerous and unknown lands and keep company with all manner of desperate travelers-merchants, priests, and scoundrels alike.

For theirs is a world both familiar and distant; a world of living saints and livelier demons, of monsters and madmen. The Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy.

Snakewood

Snakewood
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Published: 2016-03-15
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An epic fantasy like no other, Adrian Selby’s debut takes an unblinking look at the price we pay for our pasts, the art of war and the people who make it their business. Enter a violent world of revenge and bloody combat with characters you’ll never forget. They called them Kailen’s Twenty, a legendary band of ruthless mercenaries who gave no quarter. Living only by the code of steel, blood and coin, and aided by fightbrews that gave them the edge in battle, whoever met their price won. Now, broken up and seemingly forgotten, they are being hunted down, one by one. Drawn from multiple accounts compiled by a scholar investigating the legendary group’s demise, who is also the son of one of the Twenty, SNAKEWOOD is fantasy at its most inventive and rewarding.

The Grim Company (The Grim Company Series Book 1)

The Grim Company
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Published: 2016-04-28
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First in an epic, gritty trilogy from the hottest new voice in British fantasy. It is a time of darkness. The last magic of the dead gods is on the wane. Demons and half-formed monsters plague the land as the final barriers between the realms begin to fail. The jealous Magelords of three great cities sit in their towers of stone and brood over the scant power that remains… It is not a time of heroes.

Their songs are long forgotten, their deeds go unwritten. But, even now, some few still nurse a spark of hope, an unlikely fellowship, united against the tyranny of their immortal overlords – THE GRIM COMPANY.

Empire of the Vampire

Empire of the Vampire
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Published: 2021-09-14
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From New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff comes Empire of the Vampire, the first illustrated volume of an astonishing new dark fantasy saga. From holy cup comes holy light; The faithful hand sets world aright. And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight, Mere man shall end this endless night. It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness. Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains. Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope: The Holy Grail.

Empire of Silence (sun eater serie)

Empire of Silence (sun eater serie)
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Published: 2019-03-21
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Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy. It was not his war. On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe started down a path that could only end in fire. The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives–even the Emperor himself–against Imperial orders.

But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier. Fleeing his father and a future as a torturer, Hadrian finds himself stranded on a strange, backwater world. Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fighting a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

Malice (The Faithful and the Fallen Book 1)

Malice
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Published: 2013-12-03
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The first book in acclaimed epic fantasy author John Gwynne’s Faithful and Fallen series, Malice is a tale of blind greed, ambition, and betrayal set in a world where ancient monsters are reawakening–and a war to end all wars is about to begin. The world is broken…and it can never be made whole again. Corban wants nothing more than to be a warrior under King Brenin’s rule – to protect and serve. But that day will come all too soon. And the price he pays will be in blood. Evnis has sacrificed – too much it seems. But what he wants – the power to rule — will soon be in his grasp. And nothing will stop him once he has started on his path. Veradis is the newest member of the warband for the High Prince, Nathair.

He is one of the most skilled swordsman to come out of his homeland, yet he is always under the shadow of his older brother. Nathair has ideas – and a lot of plans. Many of them don’t involve his father, the High King Aquilus. Nor does he agree with his father’s idea to summon his fellow kings to council.

The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Now, the stones weep red and giant wyrms stir, and those who can still read the signs see a danger far worse than all that has come before… The Faithful and the FallenMaliceValorRuinWrath For more from John Gwynne, check out: Of Blood and BoneA Time of DreadA Time of BloodA Time of Courage

The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes)

The Steel Remains
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Published: 2010-01-12
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“Bold, brutal, and making no compromises—Morgan doesn’t so much twist the clichés of fantasy as take an axe to them.”—Joe Abercrombie

A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs Ringil Eskiath—Gil, for short—a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but when his mother enlists his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one young woman. Grim sorceries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of the Aldrain, a race of widely feared, cruel yet beautiful demons.

Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease. Praise for The Steel Remains “The award-winning author of Altered Carbon and Market Forces brings the same iconoclastic approach to his fantasy debut as he did to his sf technothrillers. . . . [Richard K.] Morgan’s storytelling talent and his atmospheric, hard-hitting prose make this a strong addition to mature fantasy collections.”

Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne Book 1) Kindle

Priest of Bones
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Published: 2018-10-02
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“The first in an unmissable series, Priest of Bones is a fresh and compelling take on grimdark fantasy. Mashing together soldiers, gangsters, magic and war into a heady mix that is a hulking big brother to The Lies of Locke Lamora.”–Anna Stephens, author of Godblind The war is over, and army priest Tomas Piety heads home with Sergeant Bloody Anne at his side. But things have changed while he was away: his crime empire has been stolen and the people of Ellinburg–his people–have run out of food and hope and places to hide.

Tomas sets out to reclaim what was his with help from Anne, his brother, Jochan, and his new gang: the Pious Men. But when he finds himself dragged into a web of political intrigue once again, everything gets more complicated. As the Pious Men fight shadowy foreign infiltrators in the back-street taverns, brothels, and gambling dens of Tomas’s old life, it becomes clear: The war is only just beginning.

Eleventh Cycle (Mistland Book 1)

Eleventh Cycle
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Published: 2023-02
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GRIMDARK MAGAZINE: “Eleventh Cycle checks all the boxes of a grimdark masterpiece. It is a stunning achievement, establishing Kian N. Ardalan as one of the most exciting new voices in speculative fiction

It has been a thousand years since the last Seed abandoned their duty. The mists are closing in. Finally, the Morning Bell tolls. A new Seed is born, but is it too late? The rot eats away at mortals. The Witnesses pray so that they may not turn into one of the forgotten.

And the constricting mists infect the lands with fear. But there is more to this tale than just the Elders and their Seeds. Four mortals will have a part to play in Minethria’s fate. A farmer girl with only love in her eyes. A warrior born to the life of a refugee. A highborn stuck between the realm of gods and men. And a woman running into front lines and away from home.

Will the cycle finally be completed? Or will the mist swallow all? A seed is born and the evil is slain, so doth another cycle commence. Yet the last Seed born hath turned traitor, and the mists which had been pushed back, returneth.

We Are The Dead: Book One (The Last War Trilogy)

We Are the Dead
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Published: 2019-06-13
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The first book in The Last War series: a debut epic fantasy full of crunching revolutionary action, twisted magic, and hard choices in dark times. The war is over. The enemy won. Jia’s people learned the hard way that there are no second chances.

The Egril, their ancient enemy, struck with magic so devastating that Jia’s armies were wiped out. Now terror reigns in the streets, and friend turns on friend just to live another day. Somehow Tinnstra – a deserter, a failure, nothing but a coward – survived. She wants no more than to hide from the chaos.

But dragged into a desperate plot to retake Jia, surrounded by people willing to do anything to win the fight, this time Tinnstra will need to do more than hide. If Jia is to get a second chance after all, this time she will need to be a hero.