The Rise of Grimdark

[Bookish Ian]

Grimdark has been appearing in Fantasy fiction from all sides recently, most noticeably since HBO picked up GRRM's Song of Fire and Ice Saga. But its been around since forever, Robin Hobb's Farseer books played around with the grittier stuff (he was an assassin, who himself got tortured, for heavens sake) and before that you even had Thomas Covenant with its - well, its less salubrious moments... But since about 2000 we saw Abercrombie, Lawrence, Stover, and a host of other young authors hit the big time with their gritty, dark, realistic, often gory take on fantasy.

What do you guys think of that? I love Grimdark myself as a subgenre, but I also like the more mythic and inspiring stuff. Ursula Le Guin for example, although her stories had dark moment was essentially very life-affirming. Neil Gaiman too, (although not trad fantasy), he can spin a creepy horror story - but you are always left feeling more emotionally uplifted, dare-I-say-it, hopeful at the end!

What do you guys like about Grimdark? What do you hate? Do you want to see more of it in Fantasy or less?

[Vimtuous]

I like when there is a kind of creepy unsettling aspect for the most part. A lot of stories I've read kind of shy away from more brutal aspects in favor of toning them down. Having that unsettling macabre aspect makes it seem more realistic in a ways(Kind of how everyone pretty much dies in A Song of Fire and Ice. You would expect everyone to die in war).
On the other hand I don't like it when there's just gore for gores sake. It should be in there for a reason, either because it's relevant to the story or the world the story is taking place in.

[fitzyfool1]

Thank you I've been reading these books for years and never heard of a name for the subgenre finally i have something to google when im after new books *** Grimdark***