Fantasy Focus: Grimdark Wrap-Up

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 has been on grimdark, that subgenre with morally complicated characters and often gritty worlds.

Below is a (far from complete) list of grimdark authors worth reading. I’ve also collected the guest posts from throughout the week, in case there are any that have been missed. I’m grateful to all the writers who were kind enough to share their opinions during this week!

Guest Posts:

Fantasy Focus: Grimdark Featuring Holly Tinsley

Fantasy Focus: Grimdark Featuring Rob J. Hayes

Fantasy Focus: Grimdark Featuring Krystle Matar

Fantasy Focus: Grimdark Featuring Luke Tarzian

Fantasy Focus: Grimdark Featuring M.L. Spencer

Fantasy Focus: Grimdark Featuring Beth Tabler

Author suggestions:

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- The Chaos Cycle

Luke Tarzian- Adjacent Monsters series

Holly Tinsley- We Men of Ash and Shadow

Brent Weeks- The Way of Shadows