Browsing all articles tagged with dark fantasy.
Spire – Role-playing Game Review Part One: Core Rulebook
What is Spire? Created by Rowan, Rook and Decard, it’s a weird, dark fantasy RPG about waging a morally grey war of resistance against an oppressive and demented regime. It’s a game of espionage, horror and impossible choices. It’s a bubbling stew of fantasy, steampunk, pulp and sci-fi. Most importantly, it’s bold, bloody and beautiful. […]
Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko – Translated by Julia Meitov Hersey
Readers who enjoyed The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins must read Vita Nostra—the first book in the Metamorphosis series. If not, then they are missing out on this mind-bending, anti-Hogwarts, Russian import! We must show our appreciation to Julia Meitov Hersey as well, for translating the […]
The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan
Every once in a while, a book is released and it’s all everyone talks about. How great the story is, how rich the characters are, how the worldbuilding matched the dark tones and the originality of the story, etc. And, it was the author’s debut book! When I finally read (or, more accurately, listened) to […]
Smoke and Stone by Michael R. Fletcher
Smoke and Stone is a grimdark story about two young people who live at opposite ends of their caste system. Both believe one of the gods has chosen them to carry out their desires to improve life in their city. What ensues is not only the beginning of rebellion amongst each caste, but also the […]
Jesse Teller Interview – Onslaught of Madness
Today we are happy to welcome author Jesse Teller to Fantasy-Faction! Teller’s writing is the definition of epic fantasy. The stories are comparable to Steven Erikson’s Malazan in scope and scale, and likewise could be classified as “high grimdark” fantasy. So far, Teller has published eight books set on the continent of Perilisc, with plans […]
A Ritual of Bone by Lee C. Conley
The land of Arnar is menaced by a vicious plague, a tribe of savage cannibals and a growing tide of the living dead summoned by a dark ritual. Warriors, hunters, nobles and ordinary folk will all have to become heroes if their home is to be saved from the cursed hordes. That’s A Ritual of […]
The Red Plains by G. R. Matthews
Spoiler Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for The Red Plains. “Listen, Jiin-Wei, Taiji, I do not ask you what you can do or tell you what you cannot. Do not presume you know the same about me. I have lived more years than you can imagine and seen more of the world than you […]
The Long War by A. J. Smith – Series Review
Introduction The Long War series is an epic fantasy/dark fantasy quadrilogy which deals with courtroom intrigue, politics, magic and gods in a world similar to ours but set during the medieval period. It consists of the following books: The Black Guard, The Dark Blood, The Red Prince and The World Raven. These four books have […]
Aching God by Mike Shel – SPFBO #4 Finals Review
* Disclaimer * Writing and reading are subjective arts. What some folks will absolutely love, others will dislike. It is a bit like Marmite in the UK—normal people dislike it intensely, but some weird folks actually enjoy the taste of warm road surface with fresh roadkill upon their tongue. To each their own, I suppose. […]
The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee
Spoiler Warning: Minor spoilers for The Forgetting Moon and The Blackest Heart. “It is what we do with our own selves that defines us. Not where we came from. Or who gave us birth.” The singular image that drew me into Brian Lee Durfee’s The Five Warrior Angels series was the German edition of The […]
The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee
Spoilers Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for The Forgetting Moon. Please read with caution if you have yet to finish the book. “Bloodwood assassins have hunted us your entire life, boy!” Brian Lee Durfee is an epic new force in the dark fantasy genre and one I feel that can stand alongside the likes […]
The Blighted City by Scott Kaelen
The Blighted City begins with a quest and ends with a beautiful contemplation of filial love, loyalty, duty, and grief in a story that blazes a trail out of standard epic fantasy into a really fresh, original science fantasy narrative. The novel starts with an engaging first chapter in which Maros, a retired mercenary and […]
