I started my journey of reading books this year, my collection of currently 8 books is steadily growing, but they're all self-help books, stuff you use to study and expanding your knowledge, so alongside these books, I want to read at least one fiction book at least once, maybe twice a month, as I became quite fond of reading.
I really like dark fantasy, stuff that deals with brutal and dark themes, harsh realities, and all that (not so) good stuff, so shoot away some recommendations for someone who has never read a fiction book from start to finish.
by Smith962
5 Comments
First Law (et al) Joe Abercrombie.
The Fencers Trilogy, KJ Parker
The Darkness That Comes Before by R Scott Bakker. It’s the first book in a trilogy, The Prince of Nothing, that also has a four book sequel series, The Aspect-Emperor. Fantasy doesn’t get much darker than Bakker. Don’t let the first book fool you, either. It all gets so much worse for all of the characters.
Daevabad trilogy isn’t super dark but the 2nd and third book get darker – the synopsis is a young thief from Cairo gets caught up with a djinn (creatures from Islamic mysticism) and ends up going to there world and getting caught up in palace intrigue – it features: racism, classism, discrimination, religious bigotry, cities being sacked etc etc it’s one of my favorite series
The Poppy War by RF Kuang
There are a few suggestions I can name.
I would definitely say check out Richard Swan, particularly his empire of the wolf, or the great silence trilogies, very good dark fantasy but it’s also easier to read than some others.
The Dark Tower by Steven king is an excellent dark (and very weird fantasy).
If you’re feeling frisky and want one of the best dark fantasies ever, then try malazan. I wouldnt recommend this as much since you’ve not read that much, but it is excellent and very dark. It’s just very confusing and you must accept that it’s hard to follow until a point where it all clicks.
Also scott bakkers work is very similar