04-25-2022, 09:05 AM | #16 | |
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The term "grimdark" started out as a pejorative, and then fans reclaimed it. However, it's hard to tell what is grimdark and what is not. Even the writers and fans don't agree. On top of that, many fans complain that people publish standard military fantasy novels and now call them "grimdark" even when they are not. It's a weird term that is hard to define. But so is hopepunk. Let alone noblebright. (I'm not making those terms up!) |
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04-25-2022, 10:41 AM | #17 | |
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04-25-2022, 10:45 AM | #18 | |
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04-25-2022, 12:00 PM | #19 |
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04-25-2022, 01:48 PM | #20 |
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I like this kind of subgenres and subsubgenres. Sure, the definitions won't be very clear cut, but they work fine as rough indicators. Thanks for the hopepunk link Critteranne, I'll check out those books!
I usually avoid grimdark, but you might try "Grunts" by Mary Gentle. "The usual last battle of Good against Evil is about to begin. Orc Captain Ashnak and his war-band know exactly what they can expect. The forces of Light are outnumbered, full of headstrong heroes devoid of tactics - but the Light's still going to win. Orcs - the sword fodder in the front line - will die by the thousands. Life's a bitch." Games Workshop is annoyingly greedy when it comes to pricing and new editions for their games, so it's no surprise that they are greedy when pricing their books as well. |
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04-25-2022, 04:37 PM | #21 | |
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I have no idea how many books they sell, but I have bought zero, though I have several in paper (where they cost about the same as other books). |
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04-25-2022, 11:27 PM | #22 |
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These other sub genres are also silly and the terms used should just go away.
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04-26-2022, 10:24 AM | #23 |
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Of course if you comb through the history of this forum you will see a thread I started looking for Sword and Sorcery recs. See, because my subgenres are valid. But ones I'm not interested in are not
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04-27-2022, 05:30 AM | #24 |
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I recently read Snakewood by Adrian Selby, which I liked a lot. I think it would count as grimdark. It has that brutality and amorality, and you don't really sympathise with most of the people on either side, while also being able to understand how they got there. It's about a group of mercenaries in a world where soldiers make heavy use of "plant" - performance-enhancing drugs and poisons - so your druids ("drudha") are among most important people on your team.
It seems there are two more books in the same world, which I'll have to look into. |
04-27-2022, 12:37 PM | #25 | |
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I don't mind unsympathetic characters (now and then) as long as we can understand why they act like that. |
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05-07-2022, 08:58 AM | #26 |
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05-08-2022, 10:51 PM | #27 |
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There are only two genres. Fiction and Non Fiction. And books from the latter may find themselves being sorted to the former and vice versa as knowledge is gained.
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05-08-2022, 11:32 PM | #28 | |
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fiction_novel |
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05-14-2022, 08:42 PM | #29 |
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Grimdark, hopepunk and a lot of these other silly genres are meaningless and really do need to go away.
There's only one genre that should matter to us all. Genre: I like this book |
05-15-2022, 02:44 PM | #30 |
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