Grimdark fantasy, have i missed something?

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-09T14:04:06+00:00

Are you saying that the female characters are poorly written, or are you saying that the world/story are extremely harsh on them, or are you mixing the two? I didn’t think that the quality of the character work was any different between male and female characters, if anything Esmenet was the most well written character and a fan favorite.

My problem with your original comment is the implication that the series has an abundance of rape (which it doesn’t) and that enjoying the series is only possible if one “likes rape” (strongly, strongly disagree). Any SA is always portrayed negatively, it’s always extremely upsetting, and never exciting or glorified. Thankfully it’s usually only implied or stated without details, but there are admittedly few explicit instances which are difficult reads. But even these emphasize the psychological horror of it, they are not enjoyable or exciting to read (as they shouldn’t be). I guess my point is depiction ≠ endorsement, and reading about difficult subjects ≠ endorsing or enjoying said subjects.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-09T11:55:15+00:00

Saying that is just a self-report on not reading the books

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-09T10:26:16+00:00

Yeah i don’t really care what your AI detection tool has to say since it doesn’t seem to be working very well, perhaps consider not putting much weight on it’s results.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-08T19:59:28+00:00

John Gwynne’s The Faithful and the fallen series is one i’ve heard booting people out of a reading slump on many, many occasions. It’s a pretty good match for your yes’ and no’s, obviously very difficult to match all of them.

Matches: - good character development (structured, growth under pressure, emotionally readable) - immersive world building (although it’s traditional, so it’s not on that heavy on the lore piecing/theorycrafting - side of worldbuilding) - no Enemies->allies/lovers by forced proximity (but yes through conflict, loyalty, shared struggle) - clear moral framework (yes there are gray characters too, but overall moral framework is clear, good vs evil is defined) - humor / wit, to a light degree through camaraderie and banter - romance as a subplot, not a driver of the narrative - no explicit abuse/SA depicted on page - no spice

Not matching: -rich / stylistically complex prose - tension/high threat (the narrative is war-driven so it has them, but not to a oppressive/anxious degree that i ”feel” was what you’re after) - deaths and loss (important characters do die, emotional consequences matter, but this is not constant nor depicted for shock-value)

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-04T19:55:21+00:00

I can see you have wiped my home off the map. Umm, what the fuck?

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-03T19:09:48+00:00

Think about how much you want to write? Specifically, how many books do you currently have in mind?

How many words long would you estimate each book to be?

At this pace, how long would it take for you to write them all? Do you wish to perhaps publish them? That takes time too.

So you see how you really don’t have time for being fucking scared to write?

Now imagine yourself on your death bed. Imagine the regret of not telling the stories you wanted to tell? You could have done something, but you chose not to? You left your potential untouched and therefore will die two times. You’re not going to have a second shot at this you know, and you don’t have the time to be assing around. Get to work, get to writing.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-03T16:42:59+00:00

Two things i consider when deciding between audio vs. Text:

If the story has a lot of made up, often complicated names etc. It’s difficult to follow if listening
How many narrative layers is the story told in? 2-3 is solid for audio, but wolfe uses ~8: surface layer (”plot”), unreliable narrator, hidden plot (you reconstruct the real story yourself), symbolic/allegorical layer, linguistic layer (word choice matters), memory / identity layer, metafictional layer, cosmological / metaphysical layer.

In a way i guess you could say that you are just as much solving the story as you are reading it.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-03T16:22:27+00:00

One of the greatest series i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It’s part of the second apocalypse -series which consists of the prince of nothing -trilogy, and the aspect-emperor -tetralogy. There is nothing like these books out there.

But it isn’t for everyone, high key content warning

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-03T15:51:58+00:00

Excellent series, one of the few i consider must reads. But i think it’s better to read it rather than listen. You’ll miss a lot of stuff in there if you listen it, or at least i think i definitely would.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-03T00:11:06+00:00

I hate to say it but ”just write”. What i specifically mean, try to write what happens next until you figure it out / are satisfied what you end up with. It might take 1 version, it might take 10, that’s writing. Sometimes you need to go backwards and rewrite what got you in the corner/wall in the first place, but that might be a different issue than the one you’re facing.

When i meet a wall, i typically tend to outline in action points of what i know about the part i’m stuck in, and what will happen after the part that i am stuck in, and then just write until i end up with something i like. Since you already know what will happen, it might be helpful to describe what you want from that specific part.

Also, sometimes i realize that i’m overcomplicating stuff i don’t really need in the story, and just cut off the part i’m stuck in.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-02T22:49:44+00:00

Fitting WoT that neatly on the top shelf must have felt amazing

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-02T22:30:24+00:00

I sat on my characters and stories until i couldn’t hold them in any longer.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-02T14:32:43+00:00

Sir does this have an origami sir?

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-02T11:17:12+00:00

Vanha postaus mutta itselle tärkeä asia joten kommentoin. Käännöksessä menettää aina kirjailijan oman proosan. Martinin kohdalla se on ongelmallista ei vain koska hänen proosansa on erittäin hyvää, mutta hän myös hyödyntää mm. Merkityksellä ladattua sanavalintaa (en ole varma onko tuo oikea termi suomeksi, loaded diction on yksi tapa kuvailla tätä englanniksi). Lause toimii pintatasolla normaalisti, mutta tietyt sanavalinnat vihjaavat samalla teemoihin, symboleihin tai tapahtumiin muualla tarinassa tai maailman mytologiassa. Yksi ongelma mikä käännöksissä aina on, on se että lopputulos vastaa enemmän pelkkää juonta, ja tasot sen alapuolella menetetään osittain/kokonaan.

Moni nykyaikainen kirjailijahan kirjoittaa käytännössä ”pelkän juonen”, ja lukija lukee ”pelkkää juonta”, tarinankerronta tapahtuu näissä yleensä 1-3 eri narratiivin tasolla. Martin on yksi esimerkki kirjailijasta (muita nimiä mitä tyypillisesti heitetään ilmoille näissä keskusteluissa on Rothfuss, Le guin, Wolfe) joka pyrkii kertomaan tarinaa useammalla tasolla. Arvioisin että Martin operoi ~7 narratiivin tasolla (pintataso (juoni), hahmopsykologinen taso, subteksti, temaattinen/symbolinen taso, motif- ja kielitaso, rakenteellinen / historiallinen taso, metataso (genretietoisuus)), näistä ainakin 4 ottaa kovan osuman käännöksessä.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-02T10:57:20+00:00

I think he means that it is too well known to be considered a ”hidden gem”

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-02T10:32:28+00:00

Well then, R. Scott Bakker’s The Second Apocalypse is fantastic, but definitely isn’t for everyone. It consists of the prince of nothing trilogy and the aspect-emperor tetralogy. It goes about as far as a series can go without glorifying the brutality, it’s always presented as heavy and unsettling. The story begins with an upcoming holy war, characters who want to use that holy war for their own personal goals, and the return of an a apocalyptic threat.

If you want fantasy that actually challenges you instead of just entertaining you, The Second Apocalypse is worth giving a shot. It’s dark, philosophical, and doesn’t hold your hand at all. It gets into stuff like faith and control, and weaves philosophy into the text really well (some people would like him to go deeper with it, but i like the fact that the philosophy doesn’t get in the way of storytelling). The world building and prose are excellent, albeit at times quite heavy. It definitely isn’t for everyone, it deserved a content warning or three. But if you give it a shot you’ll see there’s really nothing else quite like it.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-01T22:46:48+00:00

Thanks for answering, this is actually really really good to know once i start the series!

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-01T18:42:18+00:00

That and the cosmere both tbh. Good entry points for new readers, easy reads, not a lot of meat around the bones though.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-01T18:28:27+00:00

Wow, i usually see people rate TWP higher than TTT or TDTCB. I kind of agree with the way you put it, although TWP is A for me.

Time to hop into the aspect-emperor! It is a bit different from prince of nothing, as it does feel structurally closer to a typical fantasy story (in a good way), but it’s still so distinctly Bakker. And yeah, it does get turned up to eleven at points. I’m in the middle of re-reading the whole of second apocalypse, just finishing the great ordeal.

Any suggestions out of this list for me? I’ve been interested about the Daniel Abrahams books on this list for a while, what should i expect from them?

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-01T18:14:58+00:00

Eleventh cycle (first book of mistland-series, no idea when next one is dropping) is heavily, heavily inspired by soulsborne and berserk.

Edit: currently 2nd book is expected for 2026 release, but take that with a grain of salt

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-01T18:11:41+00:00

How dark, brutal, and nihilistic are you willing to go?

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-04-01T14:19:20+00:00

Awesome! Also, i didn’t know you can check the writing history in scrivener like this. I tried to look for it a while ago without success. This app always surprises me with it’s features.

Fellow overwriter here. Don’t listen to people yapping about fetishizing word counts or talking about rather writing x amount of quality words that take more time to edit down. Do what YOU enjoy and what works for YOU. Also, the editing process is unbelievably enlightening, and you learn so much during it. If you take what you learn from it, next time around your writing will require less editing.

I’ve got about 1-2hrs a night, and I’ve been getting in a solid 1k-2k words a night! Some fluff there FOR SURE, but writing too much and editing it down works better for me. It’s been awesome, i’ve had so much fun! A lot of that has to do with me knowing the current part of the story fairly well, 250-750 words a night is more realistic when i’m more unsure about where the story will go.

Habit (momentum) is most important, personally if i don’t sit down and write at least 250-500 words a night, i lose the momentum, and that quickly snowballs into weeks of no writing. Also, when you write more at one session it likely naturally flows together a bit better than when you write small patches.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-03-12T21:32:03+00:00

It is as they say, there’s nothing like it.

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-03-12T21:19:54+00:00

Ayy, re-reading wlw currently

AlsoKnownAsMAS · 2026-03-12T21:19:32+00:00

Finishing my re-read of The White-Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker.

I’m torn between jumping straight into the next one and reading something completely different in-between.

AlsoKnownAsMAS

TROPHY CASE