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The best grimdark fantasy to start with: 4 essential books
Dark, sharp fantasy with morally grey heroes. Four books that define the genre.
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The First Law opener: a torturer, a barbarian and a vain young nobleman, grim and sharply funny.
+ Black humour and reluctant, morally grey heroes.
− PW found the plot workmanlike, the writing repetitive and the torture excessive. (summed up from Publishers Weekly)Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
A vicious young prince leads a band of outlaws on a bloody road back to his throne.
+ Morbidly gripping, gritty fantasy with a fierce antihero.
− Not for the squeamish: the hero's brutality is relentless. (summed up from Publishers Weekly)The Black Company by Glen Cook
Battlefield annals of a mercenary company serving a dark empire; the template for military grimdark.
+ Vivid, fast-moving anti-heroic war story with a realistic mercenary company and an interesting cast.
− Makes few allowances for newcomers; with no map and a tight narrator you feel lost in the fog of war. (summed up from Fantasy Literature)The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
A gang of con artists in a Venice-like city is caught in a deadly underworld power struggle.
+ A witty, tragicomic caper with a resilient thief and a richly detailed city.
− The realistic backdrop makes the melodramatic plot feel less real. (summed up from Publishers Weekly)
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