I wanna read something that’s fucking brutal with fighting and sex and all the things, but also WELL WRITTEN (so NOT George R.R. Martin, I can’t stand his shit). I want Lord of the Rings on crack and steroids.
Another vote for anything Steven Erikson or R Scott Bakker
The Poppy Wars which had an eastern theme.
The Prince of Nothing series which is quite grimdark in a fantasy setting.
The Crimson Empire series is a darkish revenge story.
The Covenant of Steel about a poor boy rising through the ranks.
The Rhenwar Saga involves more magic than the rest.
“Malazan: The Book of the Fallen” by Steven Erikson has probably got what you need.
The main series is 10 books long, and they are amongst the most violent, brutal, but ultimately very well-written series I’ve ever (so far) read (still on Book 5).
Books 2 and 3 were too dark for my tastes but I plugged on through and I’m loving it. Great characters, wonderful dialogue, and way less obsessed with Food as GRRM
I’ll definitely check it out! Sounds like what I’m looking for!
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie is a fine example of grimdark high fantasy. It isn’t overflowing with sex scenes, but carnal relationships are definitely in play.
I don’t like what he does with his characters. Poor characters of Joe Abercrombie’s world!
I’ll add it to the list! Thank you!
I loved this and the other trilogy of his that I’ve read, brutal and dark certainly, but his character writing is mint. I need to read more of his stuff!
And it definitely ticks the box for “fucking brutal.”
It’s not exactly R rated, but Gideon the Ninth (and its sequels) don’t shy away from gore and raunchy language.
Richard k. Morgan’s foray into to fantasy “the steel remains” trilogy might meet that requirement. He’s the guy who wrote the altered carbon books, so it’s basically hard-boiled pulp fiction applied to swords and sorcery fantasy. Similarly Joe Abercrombie’s books operate similarly. Genre is… Grimdark I think.
Steven Erickson’s “Malazan book of the fallen” series also would meet the definition, but watch out—there’s a ton of them, and they can be a bit narratively challenging sometimes.
I did really enjoy the Altered Carbon books, and others have mentioned the other 2 series you said, so those sound good. Thanks!
Man I got stuck on like book 4 of Malazan I think, it’s been a long time. Still have the books though, I should take another stab at it.
I’m still slowly working my way… think I’m in book 7 maybe? I sometimes find it hard with series where they change focuses and stories a lot, and malazan does that every book (the whole changing location every other book thing) and I also sometimes have trouble keeping track or who all the characters are, and who is dead, alive, or only sorta dead. But they are very high quality, even if I don’t always understand what is going on. Anyhow there’s so much of it I just dip in and out and will read other stuff for a while—definitely a marathon series haha
I guess T. Kingfisher’s Saint of Steel series. It may not hit the “fucking brutal” mark but it does cover a lot of dark themes like loss very well for a fantasy, also not afraid to get racy. I enjoy T. Kingfisher as an author so I highly recommend.
Sounds good! Thanks for the recommendation!
I remember a book series called “something of Krondor” or “Krondor the something” that was really violent and brutal. They made some RPGs based on it too, but I don’t think they were ever popular; I have never encountered anyone else who ever read the books or played the games.
Read 'em in highschool and I haven’t really thought about it since which is why I can’t really remember the complete title or who the author was.
Krondor the Betrayal by Raymond E Feist
All his books are great and most are connected in one big world (though you don’t have to read them as one epic series to enjoy them). Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master are commonly 2 of my top recommendations for people getting into fantasy.
A bunch are on sale on Kobo right now too.
I have never encountered anyone else who ever read the books or played the games.
Well now you have. I played (and finished) Betrayal at Krondor.
The Black Company by Glenn Cook is pretty dark. It’s about a band of mercenaries taking part in a world war where there are basically no good guys. The first book stands well on its own, but it is part of a trilogy.
The world and the story is interesting, but for some reason I didn’t like how the book is written. Have only read the first book though, got the whole trilogy as omnibus, so will eventually get to the next two books.
I’ll add it to the list!
Gods yes, awesome series for sure.
If you’d be up for modern fantasy you might enjoy Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, or American Gods.
For high fantasy, Brando Sando has violence aplenty but not sex. I really like the Stormlight Archives.
I also wouldn’t write off the Shattered Sea series by Joe Abercrombie. Yes, they’re labelled YA but it just makes them easier to binge.
Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant
Cenotaph Road series by Robert E. Vardeman. More sci fi than fantasy, but fantasy adjacent sci-fi.
I’ll look into it. I’m a little sc-fi’d out at the moment, but if it’s adjacent, it might do. Thanks for the recommendation!
Covenant is fantasy, so that might be the ticket
The Gap Cycle is SciFi, though. Its fairy fuckin dark.
I mean sounds like you want gore. if you wanted softcore porn piers anthony is the way to go but I can’t think of something more brutal than gore. going to be interesting to read replies and see what else is out there.
Check out James Enge. He wrote a series that I really enjoyed that sounds like just what you are looking for.
Do you like swords and sorcery? Sounds more like that genre than high fantasy. Not that I’m the genre police.
I didn’t even know that was a thing, so yes, I’ll take it!
Cool. It’s mostly older stuff but here’s some info: