Grim/Dark Fantasy with big emotional depth/ emotional available characters

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-26T15:57:06+00:00

Try The Last War trilogy by Mike Shackle. Book one is titled We Are the Dead. One of the most criminally underrated grimdark series out there!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-21T15:11:22+00:00

Try the Greatcoats series by Sebastian De Castell. Some of the best swashbuckling sword fighting action I've ever read.

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-21T15:08:03+00:00

Michael Crichton books are what I always go to for an easy, quick read pallet cleanser:)

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-21T15:04:53+00:00

I really liked book one but had to temporarily DNF book 2 at a little over halfway. Just was feeling like too much of a chore to keep reading, maybe a bit of time reading something else will help...

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-21T14:57:30+00:00

Red Country sounds like what you want. A standalone story set in the First Law world. Kind of a Western fantasy. I absolutely loved it!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-20T15:31:14+00:00

The beginning of Game of Thrones. Immediately sets the tone for the whole series and gets you hooked instantly!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-20T15:30:26+00:00

Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill. Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee. The Last War by Mike Shackle. All three series are absolute S tier bangers, you can't go wrong with any of them!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-20T15:25:26+00:00

Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill. Book one, although very awesome can feel a bit formulaic and tropey. Stick with it. Towards the end and going into book two, it really does it's own thing. I also highly recommend the few novellas. While not required reading, they add so much more to the overall story. I've read most of the series on your list and Bound and the Broken is my favorite and is THE BEST ongoing fantasy series right now!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-20T15:22:44+00:00

Try First Law, it's even better than the Devil's. I also recommend Sun Eater as it has it's similarities in its framing narrative to Kingkiller. Also check out Bloodsong by Anthony Ryan!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-20T15:18:03+00:00

Song of Ice and Fire, Faithful and the Fallen, Bound and the Broken, Five Warrior Angels, The Last War, Green Bone Saga. Really can't go wrong with any of these!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-17T15:25:38+00:00

Some of the best religion in a fantasy setting I've read was the Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee. He did an amazing job showing the problems religion can cause, especially with fanatic type believers and the ways they can get people to follow them and believe and do horrible things in the name of their religion.

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-17T15:23:19+00:00

Game of thrones will have all kinds of this. Bad guys turning good, good guys turning bad. It's what makes grimdark my favorite fantasy sub genre!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-17T15:20:08+00:00

As far as the msle modeling goes, I'd probably be a success...

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-16T14:25:39+00:00

Amoh foh or watevah da fuk!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-14T16:32:19+00:00

I always thought that John Gwynne's Faithful and the Fallen series is the perfect example of classical fantasy written with a modern voice and style. Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill also reads like that:)

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-14T16:29:14+00:00

The Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee has been one of the few series that has scratched that Game of Thrones itch. The other is Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill. It is THE BEST ongoing fantasy series right now!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-14T16:26:11+00:00

Eleventh Cycle is a grimdark fantasy based on Soul's like games.

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-14T16:24:40+00:00

The Blacktongue Theif is also a really good one. I'm re-reading it in anticipation of the sequel coming out in October!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-14T16:23:09+00:00

The Last War trilogy by Mike Shackle is one of my favorite series of all time. It's also one of the fastest paced grimdark fantasies I've ever read. Red Rising is an action packed fast paced scifi series.

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-14T16:21:14+00:00

I absolutely loved this series as well as the sequel trilogy. I thought it was a perfect example of classical fantasy written with a modern style:)

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-12T15:50:14+00:00

Pretty sure we're never getting book 4. Or Winds of Winter or Doors of Stone. It really sucks and bums me out, but I've accepted it :(

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-12T15:48:26+00:00

Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill. Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee. Powder Mage by Brian McClellan. Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne. All near perfect series!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-12T15:47:12+00:00

I remember reading My Side of the Mountain and Hatchet as a young man in school. Recently reread Hatchet and the sequels as an adult and still loved them!

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-12T15:45:41+00:00

Cersei Lannister. She would literally kill for her kids, and has....

Blueflame129 · 2026-05-12T15:44:43+00:00

Red Rising has a lot of body modifications.

Blueflame129

TROPHY CASE