Sebastien’s answer to “Hi, Sebastien! The Greatcoats tetralogy has often been discussed as part of the grimdark subgenre. …” > Likes and Comments
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Not at all, in fact I got the same feeling when I read Traitor's Blade, and especially Knight's Shadow. Thank you for the answer, it feels awesome to receive such a thought-out response.
For what it's worth, I see Greatcoats as the opposite of grimdark. There is true friendship, true valour, truly well-meaning leaders, true heroes, true hope for building a better world, and villains have a chance for redemption. It may be far on the scale of how much it's a struggle to be good and how difficult it is to improve things, but the way I see it, grimdark doesn't say it's very difficult but impossible.
@Nedam - I don't disagree with your definition of grimdark, but I have always felt like the subgenre carries undertones of hopefulness. As in, the hope of a better world and a just society running as a (very) hidden motivation for some characters. Granted, grimdark being grimdark, this rarely happens. But I think you will find out that by altogether removing hopefulness, many grimdark characters lose their sense of agency.
I think Abercrombie is especially good in this regard, as he often writes characters that WANT to be good, but are rarely allowed to be.
Abercrombie is overrated. The Greatcoats series are far better and Sebastien Castell is a far better writer.
@Hj Sterling Wasn't looking for a discussion on that point, but thank you for your input.
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The Ghoul
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Oct 08, 2022 04:16AM
Not at all, in fact I got the same feeling when I read Traitor's Blade, and especially Knight's Shadow. Thank you for the answer, it feels awesome to receive such a thought-out response.
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For what it's worth, I see Greatcoats as the opposite of grimdark. There is true friendship, true valour, truly well-meaning leaders, true heroes, true hope for building a better world, and villains have a chance for redemption. It may be far on the scale of how much it's a struggle to be good and how difficult it is to improve things, but the way I see it, grimdark doesn't say it's very difficult but impossible.
@Nedam - I don't disagree with your definition of grimdark, but I have always felt like the subgenre carries undertones of hopefulness. As in, the hope of a better world and a just society running as a (very) hidden motivation for some characters. Granted, grimdark being grimdark, this rarely happens. But I think you will find out that by altogether removing hopefulness, many grimdark characters lose their sense of agency.I think Abercrombie is especially good in this regard, as he often writes characters that WANT to be good, but are rarely allowed to be.
Abercrombie is overrated. The Greatcoats series are far better and Sebastien Castell is a far better writer.
@Hj Sterling Wasn't looking for a discussion on that point, but thank you for your input.
