R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy might be worth a try for you. It's definitely dark and violent, and if you like sorcery I think Bakker's magic system is second to none. He does a great job juggling religion, sorcery, politics and regular people's lives too. Life is hard in his world, and he isn't shy about showing it.
Damn, how did I forget about that? That one's good!Originally Posted by Imrannan
I may have been a bit harsh on Morgan, to be fair it isn't half porn (I chalk that statement up to posting whilst pissed, sorry!) but it does have more graphic sex scenes than the majority of fantasy books do. Humble pie duly eaten.
I still didn't like it though...
Last edited by PeteMC; September 14th, 2012 at 11:49 AM.
I found it quite obscene. Perhaps more due to his sexuality, enough anyway that I haven't bothered with the sequel. I'm not a prude, I just didn't enjoy it.
That said if I recall, there is a decent amount of action sequences throughout.
I think you'll love ASOIAF, especially the gray characters and seeing the story from mutiple viewpoints. Don't freak about the sex, there really isn't that much and its not that graphic most of the time, the TV series has really amped that aspect up. Fairly gory and graphic at times too and I feel like people who like The First Law like it and vice versa.
Yeah I've come across a bit of sex already and it's not bad, the TV series has definitely amped it up. Just tits everywhere in that. I was really prepared to hate Tyrion from the getgo just because he's tiny and you can't trust the tiny, but I really love him.
Also, I haven't started Lies of Locke Lamora but I've heard the first half is incredibly boring. I'm still going to read it regardless, but how was your view on it?
And I'll be fine with inferred sex or rape, I just don't want to read it directly how it's going down. Afterwards hearing the character describe it, fine, but reading it directly I just don't like it. If Morgans books had more inferred sex or it wasn't so descriptively graphic, I'd be fine with it.
You weren't really *supposed* to "enjoy" it. It isn't porn, after all.
I just have to roll my eyes at all the homophobic men in this world....
Seriously, though, for possible future readers -- there *are* a few graphic scenes in each of Morgan's books, both heterosexual and homosexual. But just like people who say that Mark's books are "full of rape", the sexual content of Morgan's books are also commonly exaggerated.
i didn't find it bad. the main character is gay. it only makes sense he's going to be, well, gay. i agree the sexual content is very exaggerated. goodkind, to me, was much more like erotic fiction/porn.
i love morgan's works. they push boundaries in many ways.
It's the rape that bothers me more than anything. I don't like much sex scenes either way, gay or straight, just because I don't like to imagine all of it going on. I always think about the author writing it and it just throws me off. I'm a weirdo. But the sex in ASoIaF isn't bad. As long as its not weird like "he thrusts his penis in and out of her to the rhythm of his heart and lust" then I can handle it. It's that extra bit of description I can't handle.
Having recently read through all Joe's books and adored them I think you are definitely on the right track with GRRM and Mark, you will love both series, both are full of great characters, tons of violence, humour and of course very well written.
To stray onto the sex subject, I don't think I've read a single fantasy book that has more than 1 or 2% sex content, as I recall from Joe's 2nd book on (def the 2nd book in the trilogy and best served cold) there are some pretty graphic sex scenes, very similar in style to the ones in AsoIaF so I don't think they will bother you much in GRRMs series.
I personally do not mind reading stuff I find un-comfortable/disturbing/flat out disgusting, after all a lot of the books I read are about pretty unsavoury characters, I liken it to watching a good horror movie, I'm not enjoying it in a traditional sense but it makes me feel alive and gets the blood flowing (perhaps an unfortunate choice of words here). I've often found myself glued to the page reading about some horrible torture or rape etc. (just recently during King of Thorns I actually was wincing in Starbucks) but I agree it's a tough line for an author to tread before a reader considers it has descended into a smut novel.
None of the books you are interested in get remotely near a smut novel, and if you have to skip a couple of paragraphs here and there it's worth it to read an amazing book.
It's always a little surprising to me, reading threads like these, how many people are perfectly fine with violence, gore and torture but are uncomfortable with sex. I always get the impression that people just haven't seen actual violence very much, because of the two, it's a hell of a lot more unsettling. Seeing people get stabbed or beat unconscious has been far more disturbing than any sex I've ever had or seen in my life, even the most embarrassing instances. But to each their own, I guess.
But for some books with a healthy dose of violence (and not too much sex that I remember):
Matthew Stover -- Acts of Caine
Brom - The Child Thief
Scott Lynch - Gentleman Bastards
Joe Abercrombie - Best Served Cold
My thoughts exactly. This whole thread is disturbing, to me.
Hey, come now, I'm not that bad
I enjoyed the Lies of Locke Lamora, though I wouldn't say I loved it. Still have the 2nd book on my list to read but haven't got to it yet.
Read some old school Sword & Sorcery and see where most of the authors got their inspiration. Many of the battles in Robert E. Howard's barbarian epics are as gory as anything you could read today, and written much better. Same goes for Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series.
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