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Looking for "R-rated", gritty, gorey high fantasy books (self.books)

submitted 1 month ago by grasshopper_mouse to c/books

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I wanna read something that's fucking brutal with fighting and sex and all the things, but also WELL WRITTEN (so NOT George R.R. Martin, I can't stand his shit). I want Lord of the Rings on crack and steroids.

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[–] kat_angstrom 34 points 1 month ago (3 children)

"Malazan: The Book of the Fallen" by Steven Erikson has probably got what you need.

The main series is 10 books long, and they are amongst the most violent, brutal, but ultimately very well-written series I've ever (so far) read (still on Book 5).

Books 2 and 3 were too dark for my tastes but I plugged on through and I'm loving it. Great characters, wonderful dialogue, and way less obsessed with Food as GRRM

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I listen to audio books while I work and have been hunting for new long stories to listen to. I'll definitely be grabbing this one.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Saving this for future references as well

[–] grasshopper_mouse 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I'll definitely check it out! Sounds like what I'm looking for!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I bounced off of book 1 multiple times but just finished it last week and it is fantastic. The book just drops you in the middle of everything and largely lets you piece it together rather than give you a fresh faced character that everyone explains everything to. 50-150 pages was when I started to feel grounded and like I understood the world well enough to say I liked it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Malazan is my favorite fantasy series but it ruined other fantasy for me. I've found nothing else that can compare in the scope, breadth, world building, and detail.

The world was developed by these guys as their tabletop rpg setting in college. The series takes place over hundreds of thousands of years but is written with the density of a short story.

I'd recommend keeping Tor's re-read blog handy if you start getting lost. There are chapter summaries and discussions by both a first time reader and a rereader which are spoiler free but include foreshadowing and things to pay attention to. The user discussion below each post could contain spoilers though.

https://reactormag.com/columns/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen/?WT_mc.id=10586