The Fantasy Review’s list of 8 Dark Fantasy Books with Dark Humor.
The Grim Company (The Grim Company, #1) by Luke Scull
From the blurb:
It is a time of darkness. The last magic of the dead gods is on the wane. Demons and half-formed monsters plague the land as the final barriers between the realms begin to fail. The jealous Magelords of three great cities sit in their towers of stone and brood over the scant power that remains…
It is not a time of heroes. Their songs are long forgotten, their deeds go unwritten…
City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett
From the blurb:
The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy…
Gods of the Wyrdwood (Forsaken, #1) by R.J. Barker
From the blurb:
Cahan is known as a Forester—a man capable of navigating the dangerous forests of Crua like no one else. But once he was more. Once he was a warrior.
Udinny serves the goddess of the lost, a keeper of the small and helpless. When Udinny needs to venture into the Wyrdwood to find a missing child, she asks Cahan to be her guide…
The Pariah (Covenant of Steel, #1) by Anthony Ryan
From the blurb:
Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves. But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path – one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier’s life in the king’s army…
The Justice of Kings (Empire of the Wolf, #1) by Richard Swan
From the blurb:
The Empire of the Wolf simmers with unrest. Rebels, heretics, and powerful patricians all challenge the power of the Imperial throne.
Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is the most feared Justice of all, upholding the law by way of his sharp mind, arcane powers, and skill as a swordsman. At his side stands Helena Sedanka, his talented protégé, orphaned by the wars that forged the Empire. ..
A Dance of Cloaks (Shadowdance, #1) by David Dalglish
From the blurb:
Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. All the thieves’ guilds of the city are under his unflinching control. If he has his way, death will soon spill out from the shadows and into the streets.
Aaron is Thren’s son, trained to be heir to his father’s criminal empire. He’s cold, ruthless – everything an assassin should be. But when Aaron risks his life to protect a priest’s daughter from his own guild, he glimpses a world beyond poison, daggers and the iron rule of his father…
Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle, #1) by Jay Kristoff
From the blurb:
In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.
Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined…
King of the Dark (The Prince’s Assassin #1) by Ariana Nash
From the blurb:
When King Talos Caville surrendered the war to the elves, soldier Nikolas Yazdan vowed never to serve the royals again. He said the same to the prince who tried to buy his loyalty, and learned that the Caville princes don’t take no for an answer. Whipped for his insolence, Nikolas is also forced into slavery in a palace full of vicious, brutal royals. Prince Vasili is the worst Caville of all…
