The Tyranny Of The Night

Another entry from the always awesome Glen Cook, a new almost mystical figure in the fantasy world with his genre defining work The Black Company which pretty much helped birth the entire grimdark movement and inspired a generation of the best authors in the genre.His newer work The Tyranny of the Night is a lot more 'epic' in scope than The Black Company and I would say quit a bit darker. It's through and through grimdark and even merges strong elements of horror. The story is basically about a world infested by 'The Dark' creatures and monsters of myth that haunt the shadowy places of the world. One man, a soldier, proves these immortal creatures can be killed and this sets off a chain of events that has the kingdom's of the world uniting to fight The Dark.As a whole, this tale reminds me quite a bit of Scott R Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before. If you like dark, gritty military fantasy, you'll very much enjoy The Tyranny of the Night series. My major complaint with this series is the weakness of the characters -- there are for the most part not very complex and you never really get to know them or relate to them, only 'read about' their exploits, almost from a third person narrative. It's not a character-driven fantasy but more of an event-driven one. And the series has gotten confusing as hell with all the different kingdoms, empires, jaw-breaking names, and obtuse plots within plots; if you can understand where it's all going, you are a smarter man then me.Still, if you want some serious military fantasy soaked in grimdark, this is a series to read.

Books in Instrumentalities Of The Night Series (3)

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The Warded Man -- a world haunted by creatures of the night, until one man proves you can fight back. Awesome, dark, and violent. Defiently some similar elements to The Tyranny of the Night

The Black Company -- by the same author; also grimdark military fantasy

The Red Knight -- gritty medieval fantasy where human's fight against 'The Wild', monsters and inhuman creatures that live in wide swaths of un-tamable forests on the borders of human kingdoms.

The Darkness That Comes Before -- absolute dark epic fantasy that is pretty much the current definition of what grimdark is.

The Coldfire Trilogy -- a world where you imagination manifests into actual reality. It's a dark place where nightmares roam the landscape, preying on humans. Similar elements but much more character-driven than Cook's work.

A Land Fit for Heroes -- one of the darkest fantasy series I've read. This is anti-fantasy -- a complete subversion of the epic fantasy tropes. But it's exciting as hell to read.

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Best Grimdark Fantasy Books

One of the more popular subgenres of Fantasy now (there’s debate as to whether it’s a legit subgenre or just an artistic category) but one can hardly argue its prevalence... Read more

The Tyranny Of The Night

Books in Instrumentalities Of The Night Series (3)

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