Grimdark Fantasy discussion

Gry's thread about "Why Fantasy?" got me to wondering.

Grimdark is a relatively new subgenre of fantasy. I'm sure all of us cut our teeth reading high fantasy first.

What book or books did you read early on that really turned you into a lover of the fantasy genre?

For me, like most I'm sure, the first fantasy book I read was "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings". They started to get me interested, but it wasn't until I read "The Sword of Shannara" (and original Shannara trilogy) in high school that I was truly hooked.

What about you?

After my Tolkien reading, I think the series that most influenced me were Roger Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber" and then David Eddings' "Belgariad". Amber was not your typical fantasy novel and I think that made it even better. The Beglariad is very typical on the other hand, but I loved it. The kid growing up as a pawn of prophecy trope hadn't worn thin yet.

I am not like most people! :-P

The first fantasy books I read was the Dark Elf trilogy by Bob Salvatore, back when. For quite some time I dabbed in D&D universe and met my love of Raislin Majere of Dragonlance. Only after 30 books or so, did I find the classics like Lord of the Rings and the Sword of Shannara and the likes. And then I was lost forever.

So, if you were to answer the question "what was your first grimdark book, which would it be?"

I'd never heard of "Chronicles of Amber" when I was young, but once I heard about it, the book/series has been on my list for a long time. I was holding out really hoping for a kindle version, but I don't think that's going to happen. I do have used paperback version of the "The Great book of Amber" (full series in one book).

I think it has moved to my short list. I'll probably start it by late this year, perhaps.

I read The Hobbit when I was in seventh grade but wasn't really someone that read for fun until high school. At that time, I was a little bit of a gamer, enamored with the Shadowrun and Battletech/Mechwarrior IPs so I devoured the novels written in those settings and then branched out to Dragonlance and RA Salvatore. After that, I hit upon Weis & Hickman's Deathgate Cycle and Robin Hobbs's Farseer books. Those were life changing and I could never go back even if I wanted to.

The Hobbit, but I didn't read it....I was too young so my dad read it to me.


Chris wrote: "I'd never heard of "Chronicles of Amber" when I was young, but once I heard about it, the book/series has been on my list for a long time. I was holding out really hoping for a kindle version, but ..."

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny is most likely my favorite series.
There are things (bits of history and such) hidden in it that I love discovering.

Though I read the Narnia and Tolkien books when I was younger, I didn't immediately continue reading fantasy, choosing techno-thrillers and scifi series like Dune instead. It wasn't until high school when someone recommended Stephen King's Dark Tower books (only 3 had been published at that time) that I got hooked.

First read the hobbit at school, when I was 10/11 years old, our English teacher choose it as our class read in my first year at comprehensive school.

But I had read british authors like C.S. Lewis and this might cause some talk, Enid Blyton children fantasy books.

The Box Of Delights anyone?

but modern stuff, same as chompa, The Belgariad, then Terry Brooks shannara books, the total awesomeness of terry pratchett and david gemmell. The first 3 pern books.

grimdark, has to be Karl Edward Wagner kane and Glen Cook

Hey All,

This is my first time posting in this group..

First time fantasy book was the Hobbit, like a lot of people I'm sure. After that was 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight' then a steady stream of dungeons and dragons novels, not to mention joining the local roleplaying group.

I have a tender place in my heart for the Dragonlance books.

first forgotten realms book for me was the Darkwalker on Moonshae book then the The Crystal Shard.

Lord of the Rings was my first, but the one that hooked me was Dave Duncan's The Reluctant Swordsman.

I'm loving this discussion. I also am happy to see so many roleplayers here. I am still into D&D at nearly 49 years old. So I've read a number of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realm books.

My first grimdark? I'm sure it was before the term was coined, but I'd have a hard time pinning it down. The Conan books are more Sword and Sorcery, but they certainly have grimdark aspects to them.

Doctor Dolittle (I tried to talk to my dog after reading it), then the Narnian Chronicles (my first epic fantasy) followed by Harry Potter.
My first grimdark is A Song of Ice and Fire.

I had forgotten about Narnia. That was very possibly my first dip into fantasy. The Hobbit came after that.

I got into fantasy after taking several Arthurian literature classes in university.

But what really got me into the typical fantasy was playing the D&D based games Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights.

Heather wrote: "I got into fantasy after taking several Arthurian literature classes in university.

But what really got me into the typical fantasy was playing the D&D based games Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights."
My love for King Arthur stories is probably what made me 'interested' in the first place. When I first started reading fantasy in earnest, in my early 20s, I read a number of Arthurian Fantasy novels/series.

It had nothing to do with my love for fantasy, but I also played and loved Neverwinter Nights, but the Elder Scrolls games have always been my true love. It's too bad I didn't discover them until the 3rd game, Morrowind.

Definitely the Narnia books got me started when I was a kid, but I didn't get back into the genre until I started reading ASOIAF as a college senior. Been quite a ride since then.

I'm having a hard time remembering which series. It was either the Dark Elf trilogy by Bob Salvatore, the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey, or the Xanth books by Piers Anthony.

I absolutely loved The Once and future King in High School and then liked the Mists of Avalon as well. After that Lord of the Rings and after a long break from reading I found ASOIAF and Goodreads. I have continued with fantasy & Grimdark as well but also like other genres so the last year has been a wide variety of books. Now I'm hoping to focus again on fantasy :-)

My first love was always sci-fi. Fantasy came much later (just after LotR was released). But I didn't start reading until about 5 years ago. It began after I watched GoT and then I just kept going! Grimdark is definitely my favourite sub-genre. It GRRM that got me back into reading, but it was because of Mark Lawrence (and Jorg) that I kept going.

Stereotypically my first fantasy outing was the Hobbit, followed by Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion. After that I think it was Terry Pratchett and R.A. Salvatore's books that got my attention.

Tim wrote: "Stereotypically my first fantasy outing was the Hobbit, followed by Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion. After that I think it was Terry Pratchett and R.A. Salvatore's books that got my attention."

I haven't read R.A. Salvatore either...another author to add to my TBR!

Tracey (Queen of Blades) wrote: "My first love was always sci-fi. Fantasy came much later (just after LotR was released). But I didn't start reading until about 5 years ago. It began after I watched GoT and then I just kept going!..."

Agree, GRRM also got me reading again!

Salvatore is worth reading.

The Magician - Raymond E Feist this was before the release of world of warcraft (haha) someone on a forum told me it was worrh reading before setting foot in the digital world. Quited long ago but never stopped reading

In my case, it wasn't books but films. Watching The Lord of The Rings, Merlin, and Legend of the Seeker got me hooked. I think I've always had a fascination for History and past ways of living. It's why I'm studying Archaeology!

Pisang wrote: "The Magician - Raymond E Feist this was before the release of world of warcraft (haha) someone on a forum told me it was worrh reading before setting foot in the digital world. Quited long ago but ..."

Magician by Feist is still one of my favorite all-time Fantasy stories. Pug's story is one of the best rags to riches or nobody to most powerful wizard ever stories ever written. One day I'll go back and reread the Riftwar Saga and the following books that came after.

I had read fantasy here and there throughout my life, but I have to confess that I jumped on the bandwagon with a lot of other people and became a full on fantasy junkie only when the Game of Thrones tv show came out.

The Hobbit and LOTR in 7th grade got it started but as an adult reading Pullman's dark materials trilogy pulled me back in. I stopped reading in general for a bit simply because between work and the kids I didn't have time and then Stormlight Archives got me going again.

Andy wrote: "I had read fantasy here and there throughout my life, but I have to confess that I jumped on the bandwagon with a lot of other people and became a full on fantasy junkie only when the Game of Thron..."

My path was exactly the same, read some fantasy like lotr, harry potter, narnia but mister Martin got me really hooked to reading. I thought i was being smart not having too wait for season 3 on hbo, that did not go as planned......

It started with watching the cartoon version of the lion the witch and wardrobe in the early 80s bookwise it was reading the hobbit as a class read, in 1981/82.

Then on to Eddings, brooks and the others who came after.

I had missed Tracey's earlier comment where she said basically the same thing I did - fantasy wasn't her primary genre preference until the GoT show came along. Before that, it was primarily horror for me. I read stuff like LOTR when I was young of course, but Stephen King is more responsible than anyone for my early love of reading. Then life got in the way, I was down to reading maybe a few books a year. Then 2 things happened around the same time: GoT season 1 came out, and I started a job with a train commute that gave me a lot of time to read. I still read plenty of horror, sci-fi, non-fiction, and other genres, but it's been mire fantasy than anything else since then.

Mmm, I must one of few fantasy readers who has never really bothered watching GoT on the tv since it started.

Like many others, it was Narnia, The Hobbit and Harry Potter that introduced me to fantasy. Also Redwall, but that was so long ago that I can hardly remember reading them. I also really liked Magyk when I was young because there was a main character with my name who had purple eyes which was pretty awesome.

Looks like very similar to others with the Lord of the Rings. Read it in Form 5 (Year 11) than The Hobbit, followed by David Eddings and then Raymond E. Feist. Before that I loved mystery books over reading fantasy.

Tolkien's LOTR & The Hobbit were my first, but it was GRRM's ASOIAF that really pulled me in.. Also really would like to start reading SciFi more (read Asimov's first book - amazing) but haven't gotten to it yet... There's just too much great fantasy out there :D

The Hobbit .....which I couldn't read on my own at the time. I remember my dad reading it to me, perhaps when I was 6.

Then I was ruined and didn't care to read a story unless it had a fantasy element.

Searching out fantasy in the 70's was more difficult, so I often turned to science fiction.

Brenda ╰☆╮ wrote: "The Hobbit .....which I couldn't read on my own at the time. I remember my dad reading it to me, perhaps when I was 6.

Then I was ruined and didn't care to read a story unless it had a fantasy ele..."

It was hard finding fantasy books in the uk, had to rely on us imports to specialist bookshops like timeslip in newcastle upon tyne.

Mark, what about David Gemmell?

Started David's work in the mid 80s, after I left school and he kicked started my fantasy book collecting addiction current have around 1500 books.

Okay. So you got started way back too.

It was the other way around with Gemmell books. UK got them first and we (US) picked them up later.

Was given the first david eddings to read by elder sister(not given, allowed to read it only in her presence) in 82.

Then I used the local library to find what fantasy they had on the shelves to read, like the Pern books, and the katherine kurtz books.

The library didn't even have separate bookcase for it like they do today. Had to seach from A to Z looking for the books I wanted.

Pat, I'm a Star Wars nut and read the majority of the New Jedi Order books. I loved the Expanded Universe and am saddened to see it discarded by Disney. However, I will say Disney is doing a solid job so far.

I had forgotten that in Elementary School I found the novelizations of the Star Trek (TOS) episodes in the school library. I never got to see enough of the series as it was always on at the same time as the news where I grew up and only caught it when my father wasn't home. Those and the Narnia books were huge for my early years.

Josh wrote: "Definitely the Narnia books got me started when I was a kid, but I didn't get back into the genre until I started reading ASOIAF as a college senior. Been quite a ride since then."

I've read through Narnia with my daughter a few times now. Hope the fantasy bug sticks. :) Not that I should care one way or the other, but I guess we all want our kids to gravitate to the same things we like and to re-live our childhood obsessions vicariously through them. I am beyond thrilled that both of my kids love Star Wars.

The Chronicles of Narnia was my first introduction to fantasy, probably around 6th grade or maybe junior high. Puddleglum was my favorite character. Following that was The Hobbit. I didn't read The Lord of the Rings trilogy until I was an adult. My first more serious fantasy novel, probably in high school, was Hiero's Journey by Sterling E. Lanier.

I got interested in fantasy via an Arthurian mythology university class - reading Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table, The Once and Future King and others.

Yes I went though the Arthurian phase as well read those and some of historical based reads over the years like The Road to Avalon

going to mention david gemmell again his arthur books are worth a read.

I haven't read The Road to Avalon or any Gemmell! Looks like I will have to pick some of those up. I definitely went through a phase where I read a lot of Arthurian novels as well as some historical pieces that had Arthur as a general.

I read Arthurian legend books also.
: D
There are many books in my library that involve Arthur.
The Dark is Rising
Hawk of May
The Chronicles of Amber kinda sorta.


And ... when I couldn't get fantasy books.....Greek and Roman mythology was a staple. I would need a refresher if anyone wanted to test me though. Been since the early 80's since I've delved into those...or maybe 70's.
Oh .... dear....

Heather wrote: "I haven't read The Road to Avalon or any Gemmell! Looks like I will have to pick some of those up. I definitely went through a phase where I read a lot of Arthurian novels as well as some historica..."

Same here on both accounts. I was very "into" Arthurian legend "back in the day".