The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley is a grimdark fantasy novel with monks, soldiers, assassins, friendships, and betrayals, set in a cruel and brutal world where you don’t know who you can trust.
The Cover: The cover version on my copy of this book is a shade of blue and depicts a man’s hand clasped around the blade of a sword. The hilt is fashioned with gold with two serpentine creatures that form the guard. It clearly presents as a book in the fantasy genre. The title font is a clear, simple, gold text that is in good contrast with the background. The author’s name is of similarly good contrast, in a clean white font. I like this cover. It is the sort of design that captures my attention when looking for a fantasy novel to read.
The Good Stuff: This author is new to me, a recommendation from a grimdark readers group I am a member of, and I am very grateful this author was made known to me. From page one, this book carried me through the story seamlessly, turning pages until I had to put the book down, not because I wanted to, but because if I didn’t I wasn’t going to be up in time for work the next day. I loved this story, the characters, the world, and the writing style.
The Bad Stuff: Okay, I do have a bit of a couple of niggles with this story. Nothing that would deter me from reading more of this author, but firstly, I hate the term ‘Kent-kissing’. Why? Just why? Why use this lame term as a cuss. It was very frustrating as it is used way too often in my opinion. Secondly, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t see more fighting and protagonist use of learned skills. One of the main protagonists has been training for 8 years to be an elite fighter. Yet, every time he gets in a scrap or a sticky situation, I’m let down by his lack of skill. I admit he is up against other elite fighters most of the time, but there just wasn’t enough demonstration of skills in these encounters that justify the 8 years’ worth of training for me.
Overall, the cover is strong for the genre. Despite the afore-mentioned niggles, I really loved this book. The story is interesting and kept me tuning the pages. I also found he characters interesting. I have a soft spot for assassin/elite fighters in my fantasy reads. The world is cruel and unforgiving, like any good grimdark world should be, and the author is not afraid to kill off a character or two. I’m compelled to give this one a mind-sensing, muscle-straining, pain-enduring, 5 out of 5 golden bookmarks.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
I originally completed this post in March 2020 and it has turned out to be one of my most popular blog posts. At the time I made the list below I had not read all the authors, I still haven’t read them all, but I have been able to get through a few more. So, I thought I would update the original post to include them.
Here it is, the original post, updated to include the additional authors on the list that I have now had the pleasure to read (and a few additional details).
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I know I harp on about Joe Abercrombie (JA) being my favourite author, and that’s because he is, but I have been trying to find some new favourite authors to add to the list. So, I put a call out through some of my groups on social media to find similar authors to JA, and this is what my contacts came back with:-
Anthony Ryan
Luke Scull
Daniel Polansky
Mark Lawrence
Scott Lynch
Brian McClellan
Richard Kadrey
Charlie Huston
Peter Newman
Ed McDonald
Steven Erikson
Jonathon French
Brian Staveley
Michael R Fletcher
Richard Morgan
Anna Smith Spark
Stephen Donaldson
A Z Anthony
Glen Cook
Jay Kristoff
I haven’t read all these authors yet, but I have added them to my list of authors to try. Of those I have checked out, I offer my opinions below:
Anthony Ryan – I love this author and have added him to my favourites. I read his novel ‘Blood Song’ and while I don’t get a JA vibe from his work, I really enjoyed the book. Anthony has his own style and tells a great story. I highly recommend checking him out.
Update: I have now read ‘The Waking Fire’. This is another great story with some interesting characters in an unforgiving world. I did enjoy this book, though my personal preference is for ‘Blood Song’.
Luke Scull – This is another great author that I have added to my list of favourites. I read his ‘Grim Company’ novel and I found his world and characters to be very similar to JA. In fact I constantly found myself thinking this guy is so like 9 fingers, or I love these Northmen. Luke does have a style of his own and tells a unique story that is interesting and pulled me through the book. I highly recommend giving him a go.
Daniel Polansky – I read the novel ‘She Who Waits’ by this author. I can’t say that I see any resemblance to JA other than the world is really gritty. I didn’t love this author, I enjoyed the book enough to finish it, but I doubt I will read anymore of his work. The world was not quite what I expected or wanted and it threw me off a little right from the start. If you like Grimdark that isn’t your typical medieval world, don’t discount this author. His style is sound, his characters are well rounded, and his writing is solid, his world just wasn’t what I was looking for and I don’t particularly like 1st person POV. If however you are chasing an author similar to JA, I’d give this one a miss.
Mark Lawrence – When I saw a copy of ‘Grey Sister’ at a local bookstore and grabbed it. I must say, I really enjoyed this book. The story is good, I liked the characters, and while the author’s style is different to J.A. it is still a good writing style. I do wish I had started with the first book in the series, but it didn’t stop me enjoying this title. There is plenty of magic, action, blood, and gore. What more could I ask for?
Scott Lynch –Scott was on my list for a long time having been recommended to me by a friend long before I put this list together. I picked up a copy of ‘The Lies of Loche Lamora’ with high expectations. I enjoyed the story, it had a solid plot with great characters, and a suitably gritty world. However, I was a little disappointed. It was too slow to get started for me and I didn’t love the author’s style. While I do think he is a sound fantasy author, he is no J.A. in my opinion.
Brian McClellan – I read ‘Wrath of Empire’ from this author, and I loved it so much that I have also added Brian to my list of favourite authors. I didn’t draw any similarities between his work and JA’s. Brian has his own style, a great world, great characters, and a good storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed his work and would definitely recommend him, just don’t expect his work to remind you of JA.
Richard Kadrey – I didn’t actually read this authors work, I picked up one of his books and read the first few pages. It didn’t grab me because it seemed to be more of a western world and I was after good old medieval fantasy. So, I can’t really make any comparisons to JA for this author, nor recommend/criticise his work.
Peter Newman – I tried to read ‘The Vagrant’ by this author and it’s the one book on my DNF list. I didn’t like the author’s style or the world the story was set in. I certainly wouldn’t compare this author to JA. I do not recommend reading this authors work if you’re looking for something similar to JA. I’m not saying don’t give him a try, I’m just saying this author isn’t for me and I can’t see any similarity to JA’s work. I do know people who have read and enjoyed this author, so make your own mind up on this one.
Ed McDonald – My first encounter with Ed’s writing was through is novel ‘Blackwing’. This is some real dark shit and a true ‘Grimdark’ work in my opinion. I loved it! If you have read many of my book reviews, you will know that I don’t like first person POV. This book is written in first person POV and I still loved it. Ed’s writing style differs from Abercrombie’s, but he is a great writer in his own right. If you like the Grimdark genre, I strongly recommend this author.
Steven Erikson – I selected ‘Gardens of the Moon’, the first book in ‘The Malazan Book of the Fallen’ series. I have to say, I absolutely loved this book! The author’s style is more from the old school fantasy in my opinion, and does not compare to J.A. But, he has certainly got what it takes to satisfy my fantasy cravings. I would recommend this author any day of the week.
Well, I’m still working through the list myself and this is as far as I’ve gotten. I’m keen to give Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch, Steve Erikson, Brian Staveley and Ed McDonald a go. So I’ll probably prioritise these above the others, but hopefully I will find a few more gems on this list that will be added to my favourite authors list.
Happy Reading!
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan is a Grimdark/fantasy novel with adventure, war, spies, pirates, and assassins, set in a world shaped by dragons.
The Cover: The cover on the version I have is a good fit with the fantasy genre. It depicts a black dragon, broken chains flailing about its body as it rises up before a cloaked man. The font is simple, with both the white title and the red author’s name, clearly visible against the black background occupying the lower half of the cover.
The Good Stuff: I like this author and he didn’t let me down with this book. It reminded me of ‘Blackwing’ by Ed McDonald, but with dragons. The story line is solid, the characters are interesting, the world is well established, and all is suitably dark/gritty. Just the way I like it. I also liked the writing technique employed for the chapter structure, assigning individual chapters to each of the main characters. The author left some good cliff-hangers at the end of the chapters, which kept me wanting to read on to find out what was going to happen next along each of the character paths.
The Bad Stuff: While I enjoyed this story, I didn’t enjoy it as much as his other work ‘Blood Song’. The magic system in ‘The Waking Fire’ revolves around dragon blood, with a number of different coloured dragons within the world. There were a lot of references to the colour types, which I found quite repetitive and a distraction at times. Overall, the cover is nice and is the sort of cover that would draw my attention when seeking out a fantasy novel. The story is good and there are plenty of interesting characters, in a world that mixes magic and technology successfully. I’m giving this one a wrench-turning, blood-mingling, fire-breathing, 3.5 out of 5 golden bookmarks.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
Blackwing by Ed McDonald is a story set in a wasteland, where war has been waged for lifetimes between magical beings who live longer than can be imagined. Humans are their pawns, used and discarded in a long-game plan, known only to them.
The Cover: I love this cover and it’ simplicity. The version I have has the image of a black raven on a greyish-white background. The title is in big, bold letters, contracted against the background, and uses an easy to read font. It stands out for all to see. The authors name and an accompanying quote from a review also seem to be black, but are in fact a purple foil that glistens when the light strikes at the right angle. Flecks of the same purple foil are scattered across the image of the raven. The cover fits the Grimdark/Fantasy genre well, and overall I think it is one of my favourite covers ever.
The Good Stuff: Wow! What a story. I loved it. The overall plot has a solid grounding in the genre, which is a good thing, especially when you don’t foresee the details of how that plot would unfold, and there were certainly twists I had not expected. The world is cruel, unforgiving, and gritty, with characters to match and an unfortunate love story thrown in for good measure. This is everything a Grimdark novel should be.
The Bad Stuff: Arghhh… Why did it have to written in first person POV! I hate first person POV. But once I got over the shock of it, I got sucked into the story big time. If you are like me and don’t like first person POV, don’t let that stop you from reading this. It is worth pushing through. Yeah, every now and then it will jump out at you, and you’ll shake your head and cuss, but then you’ll dive right back in and keep reading. What can I say…? It was part of a Grimdark experience for me, but I got over it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I love the cover. I’m giving this one a mind-worming, Phos crackling 5 out of 5 golden bookmarks (and that’s with my hatred of first person POV).
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch tells the tale of an orphan who falls into a life of thieving. Locke’s mischief pushes him into a small gang of ‘Gentlemen Bastards’ run by a false priest, who trains him in a variety of aspects, honing his skills. When the priest passes away, Locke becomes the brains of the operation, and his scheming leads them all into a dangerous game of life and death.
The Cover: The cover is fairly simple, depicting the silhouette of a man perched on a boat mooring pole, in the canals of a great, Venetian-style city, looming in the background. The title font is a golden/copper foil, sitting on the lower half of the cover, and is set on a plain green background. The title stands out well when the light hits the foil, but is quite dark when not reflecting the light. The image and text combined lean towards a fantasy novel and overall I like the cover. I feel it fits well with the story.
The Good Stuff: I enjoyed this story. The plot has been well thought out with and the plot devices have been prepositioned so things fall into place as the story unfolds. The world building conjures a cruel and dirty city with clearly defined class distinctions. The characters are likeable and for the most, have their own goals and personalities.
The Bad Stuff: It took a long time to tweak my interest in this story. I have had it on my ‘to read’ list for a long time and I was really looking forward to reading it, but I didn’t really commit to this book until around page 190. It was a slow burn for me as the author laid down the foundations of the story. The main character is not introduced until page 9, and I don’t feel his goals were made clear at the start, only developing over time as the tale progressed. I found a lot of the description was dumped onto the pages in bulk, rather than being fed into the story as it unravelled. I also feel that the fight scenes had unnecessary prose that slowed them down, with details that could have been provided at a more suitable time.
Overall, after a slow start, I enjoyed this book. I’m not a great fan of the authors writing style, but the plot, the characters, and the world building were good. Once I committed to the story it held my interest and for that, I’m giving this one a cash grabbing, sword slashing, 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
This was a re-read for me, below is my original review with a few added comments:
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie is the story of a boy with his life planned out, suddenly forced to become a king, only to thrown from grace to the depths of depravity where he strives to take back his life and his rightful place among his people. More so, it is a story of greed and betrayal, friendship and loyalty, but most of all… Vengeance.
The Cover: I like the cover for this book. The image on my copy is that of a party of six figures walking past a twisted tree on a rocky outcrop. It is clearly a fantasy novel with both picture and font lending themselves to the genre.
The Good Stuff: I have been trying to read a wider variety of authors over the last year, but I was only a few pages into this story when I thought to myself – ‘Damn, I’ve missed the quality of Joe’s writing’. This is another great book, which I must say is without doubt, written by my favourite author. This title has the same amazing character development, great description, and everything else I love about Joe’s work. Maybe not as gory or bloodthirsty as his First Law Trilogy, and certainly less coarse, making it more suitable for a broader audience. I am a big fan and with quality writing such as this, who wouldn’t be?
On re-reading, I found that I had forgotten so much of the detail within this story that it almost seemed like I was reading it for the first time again, and I loved it! The way Abercrombie weaves and twists his plot, building character depth with so many great characters (such as Yarvi, Sumael, Nothing, and Shadikshirram to name a few) with a thoroughly engaging story, is masterful in my opinion. This title is a pleasure to read and makes me want to re-read Half a World and Half a War now.
The Bad Stuff: (Insert the sound of Crickets chirping here). On re-reading once again… (Crickets chirping) Overall, this really is a great fantasy novel with all the elements I love – good world building, great characters, and a solid story line with twists and turns you will… and won’t, see coming. I’m giving this one a whip lashing 5 out of 5 golden bookmarks.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here.
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Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence is the second book in The Ancestor Series.
The Cover: The version I have has a grey background of cloud with a lone female figure holding a sword, walking amongst a number of spears and blades. The title is in a silver font with slender curved edges that flow into points, resembling scimitars in my opinion. I like it and think it fits the genre well.
The Good Stuff: This is the first book I’ve read by Mark Lawrence and I was not disappointed. This author knows how to write a good fantasy. I only wish I had started with the first book in the series. Having said that, it wasn’t hard to pick up and read this book out of sequence. The writing style is good and the story pulled me in. There is also plenty of magic, plenty of action, and plenty of blood and gore.
The Bad Stuff: There were a couple of times when I felt things were over explained, mostly near the end of the book where the action really picks up. I didn’t like the prologue either and was relieved that the style it was written in did not carry across the whole book. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, it has everything I like in my fantasy reads. I will definitely be reading more from this author. It gets a thread weaving, path blazing 5 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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It is no surprise to my regular followers when I say that my favourite author is Joe Abercrombie. If you follow my blog you will hear me mention him frequently. So, I must say that I am super excited about, and eagerly awaiting to read, the new trilogy he is working on ‘The Devils’. Unfortunately, it is not scheduled for publication until 2025, so we have a bit of a wait. If you haven’t heard/read about it, here is the blurb:
The Devils begins a series which fuses the best of fantasy with the most gripping elements of heist, spy and thriller fiction. In a magic-riddled Europe under constant threat of elf invasion, the ten year old Pope occasionally needs services that cannot be performed by the righteous. And so, sealed deep beneath the catacombs, cathedrals and relic stalls of the Sacred City lies the secret Chapel of the Holy Expediency. For its highly disposable congregation—including a self-serving magician, a self-satisfied vampire, an oversexed werewolf, and a knight cursed with immortality—there is no mission that cannot be turned into a calamitous bloodbath…
A must-read, this is accessible fantasy fiction with the addictive Abercrombie twist which has seen his novels hit bestseller lists around the world, delight millions of readers, and cemented his position as one of the leading fantasy writers of his generation.
Let’s hope he finishes it a little sooner than expected. Happy Reading!
Half a War by Joe Abercrombie is the third book in the Shattered Sea Series.
The Cover: The cover version I have is mainly black and white with figures on the attack, fighting their way up a hill. It seems to me that defenders sit behind a shield wall with the prow beast of their ship at there backs; a scene from the story itself. The artwork is split across the middle by a mirror image in inverted tones. The title sits in the middle within a circle of scrolling waves and stands out in large red letters. I’m not a fan of font used for the title, but overall it is a nice cover in my opinion and fits the genre.
The Good Stuff: Once again, Abercrombie delivers some solid characters in a grim world. The plot has all the twists and betrayals I have come to expect from this author. My favourite character in this one would have to be Raith, followed by Koll, Rin, and Blue Jenner.
The Bad Stuff: I would like to have seen more of Rin in this story, and I actually expected to see a lot more of Thorn Bathu. In fact I was looking forwards to seeing more of Thorn, but I was left a little disappointed that she didn’t play a bigger part. I suppose her story had been told in the previous book. The elf ruins/relics/weapons also didn’t really work for me, it is clear what they represent and brings reality into the fantasy world, but I want my fantasy to be just that… fantasy.
Overall, I enjoyed this story, but not as much as the previous two in the series. This one gets a sword hammering, shield banging 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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As it Seems by Eric Lewis is a collection of short stories by a single author. The collection comprises mostly grimdark/fantasy, and a few stories that probably fit better into sci-fi.
The Cover: There seems to be a couple of covers for this book, I have the one with a robed figure striding forwards, face hidden beneath a hood, sword rested on his right shoulder and an axe hanging from his left hand. Both the image and the font are presented well and fit with the genre.
The Good Stuff: I liked the writing style, the world building, and the tone. I enjoyed that most of the stories were set in the same world; a dark, gritty, grim world. I quite like a bit of grimdark and this didn’t disappoint. The author certainly doesn’t buy into happy endings. One of the most notable things for me is that when it comes to anthologies, I’m usually only taken by a few stories. But, I also enjoyed every story in this book, and that is a big achievement by the author in my opinion.
The Bad Stuff: Okay, so this title is not without its faults. There are a few more typo’s than I would normally see in a book of this length. There are also some things that didn’t really gel for me. Things like a slave ship allowed to dock in a place where slavery is illegal, plumbers in a fantasy world, and modern terms like apartment, startup, and coffee break, that for me just don’t seem to fit with the world the author has created. This encroached on my enjoyment and held me back from fully immersing myself in some of the stories.
Overall, I can easily forgive the few typos and words/terms that I felt were out of place, simply because I really enjoyed this book. If you’re into slightly darker short stories by a single author, you should give this one a go. This one gets a back-stabbing, alchemical blasting, 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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