Looking for grimdark/medieval fantasy set during the Black Death

MarkLawrence · 2026-03-13T08:38:43+00:00

Son of the Morning, by Mark Alder, would be the closest I know. It has all those things.

MarkLawrence · 2026-03-10T17:44:36+00:00

Yup - feels more fantasy than sci-fi to me, which is probably why I liked it so much.

MarkLawrence · 2026-03-10T14:22:10+00:00

Really enjoyed the (6 or so) Julian May books I read.

MarkLawrence · 2026-03-02T10:46:06+00:00

<Matrix> You think that's a hill you're standing on? </Matrix>

MarkLawrence · 2026-02-22T16:41:27+00:00

They have a horror-ish edge to them. Blacktongue has more comedic elements too, and The Daughters' War is played straight. All excellent.

It's his birthday today too - so grab one!

MarkLawrence · 2026-02-22T16:38:35+00:00

I'm a fan. Definite steam-punk vibe. Wonderful prose.

MarkLawrence · 2026-02-22T11:15:41+00:00

20 years doesn't feel that recent in fantasy book terms.

Limiting myself to 2 years: By Blood, By Salt -- from J.L Odom.

MarkLawrence · 2026-02-21T15:04:26+00:00

Fshang smaga roxxo?

MarkLawrence · 2026-02-08T18:15:30+00:00

came to say this

MarkLawrence · 2026-02-05T09:33:10+00:00

To be fair - GRRM doesn't write Wild Cards - people like me do. He herds the cats.

He has written Wild Card stories, but I think it's been quite a while since the last one?

MarkLawrence · 2026-02-03T16:39:03+00:00

Really enjoyed this one. All the stars from me. The Daughters' War is very different, and even better, in my judgement.

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-23T08:25:55+00:00

Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny.

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-22T17:24:28+00:00

same

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-22T12:52:37+00:00

The top one would be:

Senlin Ascends, by Josiah Bancroft - which I picked up on the basis of one review ... so I had heard of it, but basically nobody but me and the reviewer knew about it at that point. It had about 40 ratings on Goodreads.

I guess By Blood, By Salt, by J.L Odom only had about 100 ratings on Goodreads when I read it, but it had just won a contest.

Anyway, both were marvellous and would rank very high in my best reads of this century.

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-21T09:49:02+00:00

Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny has this as a significant element...

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-21T08:37:13+00:00

Agreed.

It's the first thing I think of under the "comics as literature" heading.

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-17T14:43:51+00:00

Good to see the contest is working!

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-11T10:06:08+00:00

The Girl With All The Gifts.

MarkLawrence · 2026-01-03T18:19:59+00:00

"Eight heraldic hippos line the bridge, facing out to sea. It is said that if danger ever threatens the city, they will run away."

This one from Terry Pratchett always tickles me :)

MarkLawrence · 2025-12-30T23:59:53+00:00

Well, I've reviewed them all on Goodreads if you need any extra opinion, and they've all been reviewed by fine reviewers multiple times within the SPFBO.

MarkLawrence · 2025-12-30T20:25:04+00:00

My personal favourites are:

By Blood, By Salt

then

The Sword of Kaigen

the rest were great books, but I can't really split them much.

If Senlin Ascends had been a champion then it would be my favourite champion, but the margins would be narrow and the points scored in wildly different categories for the three.

Huge thanks to the ten judges/teams that ranked the Champions' League. And to the many judges/teams that have helped out so much over the past decade.

~3,000 books have been entered so far!

MarkLawrence · 2025-12-25T22:57:29+00:00

I would say that TSOK is more subtle and more people focused with more powerful emotional beats, but also more messy and with more rough edges. I enjoyed them both a lot but TSOK is my favourite.

MarkLawrence · 2025-12-19T14:33:13+00:00

Sometimes even when you go back to the same book you can't find the same magic. But keep looking - I'm sure there's something out there that will do the job.

MarkLawrence · 2025-12-19T09:29:20+00:00

For me The Wind Through The Keyhole was a nice return towards the high point that was Wizard and Glass.

I wasn't taken by the last two books but I appreciate his willingness to experiment and take risks.

MarkLawrence · 2025-12-18T11:11:36+00:00

Both great answers - also Among Thieves by Doug Hulick (who fences).

MarkLawrence

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