Grimdark Fantasy discussion

I thought we could have a thread to gauge the interest for members to read certain grimdark books at the same time and make it a group read. Did this with a few groups as well.

So, let me start. These are the books I plan to read and need reading buddies:
- The Emperor's Blade (Brian Staveley)
- The God's War (Kameron Hurley) - well, okay, this is actually scifi. But it's grimdark!
- The City Stained Red (Sam Sykes)

Anyone up for one of those? I usually gather at least three to four really committed potential readers before starting a thread.

Your suggestions are also interesting. Let's see if we could gather more reading buddies.

And I am up for a re-read of Best Served Cold.

All of these authors mentioned so far and the majority of the books have been on my to read list. Low Town and The God's War are probably the most appealing to me even though neither are technically "fantasy". I agree with Silvana that Grimdark is more important than Fantasy in the selections.

I'd love to try anything new, with the proviso that it's well written and not young adult. (There are a lot of great young adult books, but I like my grimdark all grown up.)

I'm all for Promise of Blood.
Unfortunately, since I live in a third world country, we don't have a lot of translated fantasy books, at least not grimdark(only Abercrombie, Martin and a few others over here) so I have to buy the books through BookDepo or Amazon and that takes a while.
BUT, PoB is currently incoming so if anyone is interested in discussing/reading together, hit me up.

I'm currently reading Blood Song and I really like it so far (:
the others all sound interesting (:

Let me try to recap:
- The Emperor's Blades (Brian Staveley) - 2
- God's War (Kameron Hurley) - 3
- The City Stained Red (Sam Sykes) - 1
- Low Town (Daniel Polansky) - 2
- Blood Song (Anthony Ryan) - 2
- The Warrior Prophet (R. Scott Bakker) - 1
- Best Served Cold (Joe Abercrombie) - 2
- Promise of Blood (Brian McClellan) - 1
CMIIW
I will second another book but still thinking about it....that Promise of Blood looks promising though...

Let's see the result until the end of this month, then we can start a group read in September :)

I'm up for The City Stained Red. Will we be having a poll near the end of the month?

I would go with Low Town or Blood Song personally, as they are both finished series. I don't want to start a series and then be waiting a year for the next book. Thats just me though, I would be happy to vote and see what happens.

Tracey (Queen of Blades) wrote: "I'm up for The City Stained Red. Will we be having a poll near the end of the month?"

That's an option, like what they do in the scifi and fantasy group. Maybe top three?

Three sounds good as we are still quite a small group, we can always add more as the group grows.

I like the idea of the poll. I also share Kieron's sentiment. How many unfinished series can I possibly start? The answer seems to be a shit-load.

Should we give it til the 31st for nominations and throw the poll up that night?

I can set that up if you want and no one wants to do it.

Deborah wrote: "Should we give it til the 31st for nominations and throw the poll up that night?

I can set that up if you want and no one wants to do it."

Maybe a little earlier than the 31st, perhaps the 25th, we want the poll up for a few days to ensure everyone gets a chance to vote. Then begin the new read on the 1st.

I would like to throw Prince Of Thorns into the mix, although I realise I may be the only person on here who is yet to read this. Looking forward to the vote and seeing what comes out on top.

I also want to start with the prince of thorns. But most of the people already read the series.

I would like to read Prince of Thorns as well.

- The Emperor's Blades (Brian Staveley) - 2
- God's War (Kameron Hurley) - 3
- The City Stained Red (Sam Sykes) - 2
- Low Town (Daniel Polansky) - 2
- Blood Song (Anthony Ryan) - 2
- The Warrior Prophet (R. Scott Bakker) - 1
- Best Served Cold (Joe Abercrombie) - 2
- Promise of Blood (Brian McClellan) - 1
- Prince of Thorns (Mark Lawrence) - 4
- Prince of Fools (Mark Lawrence) - 2 (you know what, I'll give this guy another chance)

Let's wait for the top three.

Lots of suggestions. I'm shooting for tonight to post the poll. I'm sure we'll do this again, so if you think of more suggestions after the poll goes up hold on them for next time.

Thanks Deborah!!

Only one vote? Well in that case you might listen through my rant.

I would read Best Served Cold again. It's an awesome book. Joe can do no wrong. Only he can, because Half a World is half as good as Half a King and I can't seem to finish it. I just can't with teenager protagonists any more. Kvothe is giving me a hard time as is.

I wouldn't reread Prince of Thorns, thought it's the best book in the trilogy. For reasons unknown, I must be the only one who can't get into Mark Lawrence. I did like Prince of Fools more. Probably because it's a more linear narration.

Emperor's Blades is good, the Blood Song less so.

So, by process of elimination, I would vote for the Promise of Blood. Or The City Stained Red, if it has more votes to be chosen. Just not Mark Lawrence again :-)

My favorite of the three was King of Thorns. Unlike some, I'm a huge Lawrence fan.

Thanks putting up the poll, Deborah! Nice work.

Melina, wow, I also don't want to reread Prince of Thorns. And I am not impressed with Half the World. But you might want to give Kingkiller Chronicles a second chance, I think Kvothe gets better in Wise Men's Fear.

As for the poll, I changed my vote three times already. I might change it again. Too many options, I thought we only going to pick the top three for the polls haha

I'd be up for rereading Best Served Cold as that is leading last I checked.

I love having a lot of options. The only danger seems to be when we don't get many voters, but that has not been an issue so far.

Should we try a blind poll next time, where we can't see the votes till after?

Hmm... interesting thought. I'm not sure it is needed, but let's see what others say.

I like it not blind actually. So I can change my vote for the book I want that is most likely to win.

If I BSC wins, I'd be thrilled too. I miss Cosca.

Currently reading Best Served Cold, so I haven't voted for it. Although it would be a worthy winner of the 1st poll and is definitely grimdark.

Silvana wrote: "Melina, wow, I also don't want to reread Prince of Thorns. And I am not impressed with Half the World. But you might want to give Kingkiller Chronicles a second chance, I think Kvothe gets better i..."

Silvana, I am actually ~65% in Wise Man's Fear currently. I think I have read 5 books while I struggle with the guy :-) He is really good when you get into it, but some times, it is too long-winded. I was so happy when he left the university, even if it is a temporary relief. That first half of the book was identical to the first one. I liked the mercenaries plot. Too bad it was so short and the fay part so long (and unnecessary). And I want Denna to die. That's it. It just felt good to get this off my chest :-)

Haha i also stopped at 65%. I am very dissapointed when everyone is praising the book and i can't get through it. Is it really really worth to finish wise man's fear?

Did Prince Of Thorns win? When are we starting the groupread? I should be ready to start tomorrow.

Kieron wrote: "Did Prince Of Thorns win? When are we starting the groupread? I should be ready to start tomorrow."

According to the poll, it looks like it won.

I guess somebody needs to say "Go!".

"Go!"

Brittany wrote: "These all seem interesting and if I had to pick one I'd maybe go with The Emperor's blade b/c it is also on my to read!
In the past we have also mentioned:
Low Town -Daniel Polansky..."

Hello, Brittany

I am up for reading Joe Abercrombie. I haven't read any of his novels. I'll go buy one of his books tomorrow. Which one are you interested in reading first?

Also, I am currently reading Blood Song, and I am waiting for it to ramp up. I am currently on page 254. There's more to this story, right?