I actually don't even know if that's a thing. I recently got into fantasy but I want something that still leans into my usual taste.
I absolutely don't want any romance or sex! Sex is mainly regarding SA, poor placement of sex (think hollywood horror films where there's a killer on the loose and two side characters think it's hott to do the nasty in a secluded forest with no cell service), and booktok dark fantasy sex (lol)
Dark: horror, morally grey themes and characters
Gritty: i want themes of survival, again with the morally grey characters maybe selfish in their own goals, brutal consequences
(maybe in the realms of grimdark?), low hope
Atmospheric: would love a good world building. Especially a world where the character seems so small but at time they can be in suffocatingly small spaces.
Melancholic: maybe some retrospection? lots of bittersweet "i wish it didn't have to be this way" type of deal.
Time/Setting: i'm hoping more fantasy/medieval/king arthur-ian
I feel like Vermis by Plastiboo, Usuzumi no Hate (simply the art and the feeling of being so small in such a vast world feeling), Pan's Labrynth, Angel's Egg…etc
Hopefully that's enough info! Thank you
edits: some better clarification
by chouhone
4 Comments
There’s certainly not zero sex in this series, but if you want gritty, dark, atmospheric fantasy with exceptional world-building in a medieval setting with horror and morally grey characters, The Prince of Nothing trilogy by R Scott Bakker fits that description almost perfectly.
There’s also a four book sequel series, The Aspect-Emperor, that is sort of like if Lord of the Rings and Blood Meridian had a baby.
A perennial favorite here, you might like the works of Joe Abercrombie. He’s done a couple of fantasy trilogies, and a few standalone books too.
“The blade itself” is his first book, but if you want to try a standalone first, maybe “best served cold”?
Edit: been a long time since I read them, so might want to check for sexual themes though
Joe Abercrombies First Law series. Both trilogies and the standalones. Book 2 of First Law has a very small bit of sex but soon stops. Likewise Best Served Cold. I don’t remember any in Heroes.
Hunters Lament by Steve Pannett is good. You may not think it’s too grim till the very very end but it is…Def survival, grey characters etc.
KJ Parker does some dark books: The Hammer. The Company. Mention of sex happened / hopefully happening but none described / goes ahead . They are very dark.
Worse is the Fencer Trilogy, dark, dark, dark. Can’t remember if sex in it, if so, not a lot. I must warn you they are a terrible, terrible family!
The First Law by Joe Abercrombie.
You’d probably also enjoy The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb, starting with Assassin’s Apprentice. A beautifully-written, melancholy, fantasy series, with complex characters, rich world building, and strange magics. Always engaging, but a bit lower on the ‘action’ than some fantasy, high on emotion. One of the GOATs.
There *is* sex and some SA, but not as much as the show, and it’s not a massive part of the series, so maybe give A Game of Thrones a shot too, by George RR Martin. It has everything else you’re looking for, and is one of the all-time greats, even if it’s unfinished.