Recommendations Hardcover grimdark

[greyblob]

Just as the title suggest. However, anything with a fantasy element would work - nothing necessarily grand. I also haven't read any 'classics', so those would be great as well.
Bonus points for: at least one male MC. Also, if you know of anything published online instead, that is fine too, as long as the quality is up to par. But all recommendations are appreciated nonetheless.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Definitely recommend anything by Brent Weeks. all of his stuff is Grimdark. However, he doesn't know how to end a series as all his series end with a cliffhanger that leads to the next series. You'll never run out of stuff to read though.

 

[TheTrinary]

I feel like Berserk is the defining Grim Dark. The first issue is kind of boring, but it's great past that.

 

[greyblob]

Definitely recommend anything by Brent Weeks. all of his stuff is Grimdark. However, he doesn't know how to end a series as all his series end with a cliffhanger that leads to the next series. You'll never run out of stuff to read though.

I've tried giving The Way of Shadows a shot, but didn't like it. I'll check out the rest though.

I feel like Berserk is the defining Grim Dark. The first issue is kind of boring, but it's great past that.

An all time favorite. It's in a league of its own. But yeah, definitely read it.

 

[Plantorsomething]

Just as the title suggest. However, anything with a fantasy element would work - nothing necessarily grand. I also haven't read any 'classics', so those would be great as well.
Bonus points for: at least one male MC. Also, if you know of anything published online instead, that is fine too, as long as the quality is up to par. But all recommendations are appreciated nonetheless.

Ok I know you said bonus points for male MC but this is the best one I could think of.

I Reincarnated as a Noble Girl Villainess But Why Did It Turn Out This Way? (WN) - Novel Updates

www.novelupdates.com

Do NOT judge by the title. It’s a fucking lie my dude my heart is not the same after this. Not pointless pity-tragedy or random suffering though.
If not that, game of thrones? I also heard Goblin Slayer is good. Also I don’t know if this counts but Attack on Titan is really good.
Some of Brandon Sanderson’s stuff might interest you too, he’s pretty famous for fantasy and realistic-ness

 

[greyblob]

Ok I know you said bonus points for male MC but this is the best one I could think of.

I Reincarnated as a Noble Girl Villainess But Why Did It Turn Out This Way? (WN) - Novel Updates

www.novelupdates.com

Do NOT judge by the title. It’s a fucking lie my dude my heart is not the same after this. Not pointless pity-tragedy or random suffering though.
If not that, game of thrones? I also heard Goblin Slayer is good. Also I don’t know if this counts but Attack on Titan is really good.
Some of Brandon Sanderson’s stuff might interest you too, he’s pretty famous for fantasy and realistic-ness

I'll give it a shot. read Goblin Slayer and have only watched GoT. Don't really wanna touch the books untill it's completed. dropped AoT a while back(shit ending too)

 

[Bloodysin28]

Warhammer fantasy and 40k both are grimdark, devil man (orignal and the crybaby adaptaion anime on netflix) is peak grimdark.

 

[TheTrinary]

I've tried giving The Way of Shadows a shot, but didn't like it. I'll check out the rest though.


An all time favorite. It's in a league of its own. But yeah, definitely read it.

I looked up what is considered grim dark and I can weigh in on what I have read.

ASOIAF. Good but I really don't consider it grim dark.

Poppy War. Weird one. The writing is on the level of a web novel almost, with like a professional editor cleaning it up. And then the first book is pretty light until you get to the end where it turns pretty shocking on that sets the tone for the rest of the series. It's pretty good and the fantasy inspired Chinese world building is interesting.

Sword of Truth. This one just came to me. It doesn't come up on any lists but This one is blatantly grim dark past the first book in my opinion and it's a massively popular series. I can't warn you off it enough. It's top to bottom thinly disguised rape-torture-porn. It's pretty vile and the fact that it's so popular is baffling.

Gantz. Another manga and almost the companion piece to Berserk. I could talk about this one for a couple hours because it's almost objectively one of the weirdest things ever made. It starts off really crappy and is super edgelordy. I kept reading because I knew it was popular and was desperately trying to discover why.

Is it good? There are parts that are good. There are parts that are really, really good. But there are also parts that are just abysmal. More than anything, I think it's interesting in terms of the creativity involved and what the writing says about the author and where he was in his life at that point in writing the series.

If endings are important to you though (I think I saw you mention AOT) then stay away. It has one of the unimaginably worst ending to any series ever.

 

[Deleted member 1244]

Mark Lawrance. The Broken Empire Trilogy (2011)
Set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world about a guy that was a banished prince(IIRC he started off being a merc.) to Emperor.

But to be honest it was too grim for me, was not my cup of tea.... it was very popular at the time.

 

[greyblob]

Mark Lawrance. The Broken Empire Trilogy (2011)
Set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world about a guy that was a banished prince(IIRC he started off being a merc.) to Emperor.

But to be honest it was too grim for me, was not my cup of tea.... it was very popular at the time.

Yeah, love the series. Especially the first book. It's pure edge.

 

[Plantorsomething]

I'll give it a shot. read Goblin Slayer and have only watched GoT. Don't really wanna touch the books untill it's completed. dropped AoT a while back(shit ending too)

Sweet! The magic is fairly low in this one, just so ya know. Not a major part of the story until a while in, but it is a pretty huge ass part of the plot that can’t be ignored.
I just remembered a few other ones.
If you want a non-political but still dark, you can also try I was Called Both God and Satan, which was a really fascinating sci-fi + fantasy to me.
There is also a dark but also wholesome Korean WN called Kidnapped Dragons that I only just remembered, it has outstanding worldbuilding and equally well-written characters. It’s an amazing story about healing while also having a very intriguing plot (personally).

 

[greyblob]

Sweet! The magic is fairly low in this one, just so ya know. Not a major part of the story until a while in, but it is a pretty huge ass part of the plot that can’t be ignored.
I just remembered a few other ones.
If you want a non-political but still dark, you can also try I was Called Both God and Satan, which was a really fascinating sci-fi + fantasy to me.
There is also a dark but also wholesome Korean WN called Kidnapped Dragons that I only just remembered, it has outstanding worldbuilding and equally well-written characters. It’s an amazing story about healing while also having a very intriguing plot (personally).

Thank you. I'll check those too. Though, I was looking more for a novel not a translated one.