Recommendations Looking for dark high-fantasy series with...

[MarQaroll]

'Lo, ev'ryone! This is my first post. I'd like to find my fellow dark high-fantasy folks here, so I'm looking for stories similar to my series, The Little Gods. I admit I'm very picky, so...bear with me. I just know there are stories like these on Scribble Hub...!!

So, I'm looking for dark high-fantasy series with...

• Slow-burn
• High fantasy (other worlds)
• POC or dark-skinned MCs and ensemble
• Subplots of mystery
• Tragedies
• Angst
• Subplots of romance (mainly BL/ML but M/F is also fine)
• Detailed lore/worldbuilding
• Wuxia or wuxia-inspired
• ....and overall well-written stories aimed at adults

But anything similar is alright if you think I might like it! However, I do not want to read:

• Fanfics
• Isekai
• Furries
• Xianxia
• Harem
• Comedy
• School-based locations
• LitRPG
• GameLit
• Modern day
• Teenage protagonists (13 - 19)
• ...any other portal-fantasy-adjacent stories and tropes

I know, I know...That's most of the stories here...

To get an even better idea of what I'm looking for, feel free to look at the blurb of my novel and series in my sig or look at what I offer in TLG in the series' description. I look forward to seeing what y'all bring to the table! I wanna read your best works.

 

[Eldoria]

Try mine. If you dislike it, you can stop reading at any time.

Blood Rose Princess Just Wants to Live in Peace with Her Little Daughter

What if the world chose to forget its saviour and its sins, while the saviour chose instead to protect her daughter’s innocence? Seven years ago, the age of tyranny was erased from the memory of mankind. Civilisation crumbled, the tyrants fell into an eternal sleep, and the victims woke...

www.scribblehub.com

 

[LyssaFae]

You might enjoy my series, Beloved Dawn! It’s still pretty early on (7 chapters currently), but it’s a dark high fantasy focused heavily on trauma, healing, political manipulation, and identity.

It follows a young girl named Shani whose life slowly unravels within the palace walls of Gildan before she’s eventually forced into the Silva Mortis, a forest feared as the Forest of Death.

It’s very character and atmosphere driven, with:

- slow-burn emotional development
- tragedy/angst
- detailed worldbuilding
- mystery elements
- a POC main cast
- psychologically heavy relationships
- and a large focus on healing and survival later in the story

Definitely more melancholic and emotional than action-heavy fantasy... and if you dont like it that's fine too!

 

[MarQaroll]

You might enjoy my series, Beloved Dawn! It’s still pretty early on (7 chapters currently), but it’s a dark high fantasy focused heavily on trauma, healing, political manipulation, and identity.

It follows a young girl named Shani whose life slowly unravels within the palace walls of Gildan before she’s eventually forced into the Silva Mortis, a forest feared as the Forest of Death.

It’s very character and atmosphere driven, with:

- slow-burn emotional development
- tragedy/angst
- detailed worldbuilding
- mystery elements
- a POC main cast
- psychologically heavy relationships
- and a large focus on healing and survival later in the story

Definitely more melancholic and emotional than action-heavy fantasy... and if you dont like it that's fine too!

Ohhhhhhhh...you're a worldbuilder, too!! I wouldn't mind checking it out.

 

[LyssaFae]

Please do! I’m a huge worldbuilding nerd honestly...

I’ve been working on maps, cultures, religions, languages, creature lore… probably way more than is healthy at this point.

Beloved Dawn leans more forest/palace fantasy, but I also have another future project planned with darker desert fantasy tones and an adult cast once this series is finished... thank you for the change in advance!!!! I appreciate it.

Ohhhhhhhh...you're a worldbuilder, too!! I wouldn't mind checking it out.

 

[MarQaroll]

Please do! I’m a huge worldbuilding nerd honestly...

I’ve been working on maps, cultures, religions, languages, creature lore… probably way more than is healthy at this point.

Beloved Dawn leans more forest/palace fantasy, but I also have another future project planned with darker desert fantasy tones and an adult cast once this series is finished... thank you for the change in advance!!!! I appreciate it.

Same, same!! I'm BIG into worldbuilding and have been for a long time now. My novel series also has all of that, too! I think you're the first person who's made it obvious they're into worldbuilding I've come upon so far.

 

[expentio]

Now I'm wondering if my stories would qualify. They don't have anything of the below (all except Eldritch), but they might not be dark enough. They start pretty dark and have some death and dark elements, but I'm not sure about my story execution, as I wasn't all that focused on displaying a dark world. Things are medieval ages. People die, people get exploited, but there are also many decent people, and a lot of things usually turn out fine. It's far from a tragedy, in my opinion, although the respective starts are pretty riling up.
I mean, one of the girls gets her whole family slaughtered in the prologue.

 

[LyssaFae]

Same, same!! I'm BIG into worldbuilding and have been for a long time now. My novel series also has all of that, too! I think you're the first person who's made it obvious they're into worldbuilding I've come upon so far.

Oh! Im sure there are more of us out there! We are just elusive! I called my book just fantasy for the longest time and my husband would nag me "its high fantasy! Not fantasy!" And hes the book snob so I believe him! Lol, is your book on here? I would love to check it out!

 

[MarQaroll]

Oh! Im sure there are more of us out there! We are just elusive! I called my book just fantasy for the longest time and my husband would nag me "its high fantasy! Not fantasy!" And hes the book snob so I believe him! Lol, is your book on here? I would love to check it out!

I'll bet we're everywhere, yeah! That's cool that your husband is your cheerleader!

Yeah, the link is here!

Edit: I only have 3 chapters so far, working on the 4th now!!

Now I'm wondering if my stories would qualify. They don't have anything of the below (all except Eldritch), but they might not be dark enough. They start pretty dark and have some death and dark elements, but I'm not sure about my story execution, as I wasn't all that focused on displaying a dark world. Things are medieval ages. People die, people get exploited, but there are also many decent people, and a lot of things usually turn out fine. It's far from a tragedy, in my opinion, although the respective starts are pretty riling up.
I mean, one of the girls gets her whole family slaughtered in the prologue.

Don't worry about it! There's a story for everyone, and it looks like you have a fair bit of attention on some of yours if not all of 'em.

 

[Asura_26]

'Lo, ev'ryone! This is my first post. I'd like to find my fellow dark high-fantasy folks here, so I'm looking for stories similar to my series, The Little Gods. I admit I'm very picky, so...bear with me. I just know there are stories like these on Scribble Hub...!!

So, I'm looking for dark high-fantasy series with...

• Slow-burn
• High fantasy (other worlds)
• POC or dark-skinned MCs and ensemble
• Subplots of mystery
• Tragedies
• Angst
• Subplots of romance (mainly BL/ML but M/F is also fine)
• Detailed lore/worldbuilding
• Wuxia or wuxia-inspired
• ....and overall well-written stories aimed at adults

But anything similar is alright if you think I might like it! However, I do not want to read:

• Fanfics
• Isekai
• Furries
• Xianxia
• Harem
• Comedy
• School-based locations
• LitRPG
• GameLit
• Modern day
• Teenage protagonists (13 - 19)
• ...any other portal-fantasy-adjacent stories and tropes

I know, I know...That's most of the stories here...

To get an even better idea of what I'm looking for, feel free to look at the blurb of my novel and series in my sig or look at what I offer in TLG in the series' description. I look forward to seeing what y'all bring to the table! I wanna read your best works.

Project-01

 

[snowlily54]

I think we share similar tastes. On top of all your listed criteria (and none of your icks), this story promises action, complex characters, and a world based on Greek x Southeast Asian mythology, where the society and all characters are SEAsian-coded (I myself am from SEA, for reference).
The romance subplot is not BL or M/F, but F/F. I find it interesting you like wuxia, but not xianxia? In any case, if you've heard of MDZS (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) it's a very big inspiration, and if you liked that you would enjoy this novel.

「"Your archenemy is dead, go save the world and stop mourning her like she's your dead wife."
"She's not dead."」
The story of two women: a hero who isn't really a good hero... and a villain who isn't really a good villain.

 

[Bimbanana]

So, I'm looking for dark high-fantasy series with...

• Slow-burn
• High fantasy (other worlds)
• POC or dark-skinned MCs and ensemble
• Subplots of mystery
• Tragedies
• Angst
• Subplots of romance (mainly BL/ML but M/F is also fine)
• Detailed lore/worldbuilding
• Wuxia or wuxia-inspired
• ....and overall well-written stories aimed at adults

Check my–
...oh nvm, i'm none of those

*walks out and kicks pebble*