This year, I want to talk about some of the many types of fantasy you can find (I have a post about fantasy subgenres which can be found here). I think when people hear “fantasy”, their mind immediately goes to serious epics with swords, magic, and dragons. While I happen to love all of those things, there are many ways to tell a story. This week’s focus is on grimdark that subgenre with morally complicated characters and often gritty worlds.
To get started, here’s a far from complete list of grimdark authors. Let me know of any I miss!
Joe Abercrombie- First Law series
Alicia Wanstall Burke- Blood of Heirs
Sarah Chorn- Seraphina’s Lament
Glen Cook- Chronicles of the Black Company series
Steven Erikson- Gardens of the Moon
Michael R. Fletcher- Smoke and Stone
C.S. Friedman- The Coldfire trilogy
Ben Galley- Chasing Graves
Rob J. Hayes- The Ties that Bind series
R.F. Kuang- The Poppy War
Mark Lawrence- The Broken Empire series
Ulff Lehman- Light in the Dark series
Scott Lynch- Gentleman Bastard series
Devin Madson- The Reborn Empire series
George R.R. Martin- A Song of Ice and Fire
Krystle Matar- Legacy of the Brightwash
Alex Mead- Unstoppable Shadow
Richard Nell- Ash and Sand series
Mike Shel- Iconoclasts trilogy
Anna Smith Spark- Empires of Dust series
Clayton Snyder- River of Thieves
ML Spencer- Dragon Mage
Luke Tarzian- Adjacent Monsters series
Holly Tinsley- We Men of Ash and Shadow
Brent Weeks- The Way of Shadows
Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub 
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