Looking Backward in Darkness: Tales of Fantasy and Horror

Tales of Fantasy and Horror Electronic book text. Description Details Customer Reviews These nineteen intriguing fantasy and horror tales challenge the very heart and soul of the reader. From unhappy husbands and beleaguered wives, to those individuals living completely on their own, these hard-edged and gritty psychological gems present life--and death--on the edge. Whatever the outcome, there's always a price to be paid Among the stories included are: Electronic book text - Windows Pages: Review This Product No reviews yet - be the first to create one! While this trilogy and the Broken Empire trilogy are set concurrently in the same world, the protagonist of this book, Prince Jalan, lacks the ruthless competence of the Broken Empire 's Jorg, and as such, the true horror of the undead that run rampant in the world are revealed.

Beyond ravenous zombies and recently reanimated corpses, far more personal and monstrous creatures appear to plague Jalan, and it becomes genuinely upsetting and emotional for reasons deeper than mere horror. Mark Lawrence is a master at drawing you inside the heads of his characters, and at times, Jalan's mind is a genuinely unsettling place to be. The prose is superb, and Lawrence has no equal when it comes to intimately personal, first-person fantasy.

The Night Angel trilogy is the story of a young, abused street-thief's transformation into a badass, magically-enhanced assassin. As one might expect from a story about learning to kill people for a living, it's more than a little dark. Beyond the grit, moral ambiguity and violence, the Night Angel books have gut-wrenchingly horrifying sections, such as a gigantic magical monstrosity that incorporates the flesh of its victims into itself, or a cannibal with a noose made from the tendons of his victims who drags people into a stinking pit.

These things aren't the exception in these books. Somehow, Weeks also manages to make the books fun and action-packed, and some of the scenes feel like they would belong in a Hollywood action movie. The action is exquisitely written, and the stealth scenes are particularly tense. The book opens on the protagonist rooting around through mud, afraid from his ife and well, somehow, things manage to go downhill. Or if you like reading sweet action scenes, I guess. In a world where belief defines reality, the world could be a paradise, right?

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Not in Fletcher's world of Manifest Delusions, where corpses line the streets and narcissists spawn false gods from the beliefs of the gullible masses. Beyond Redemption is dripping with filthy darkness, as evidenced by the fact that its main protagonists are a brutally violent warrior with a killer sinus infection, a horribly ugly kleptomaniac, and a self-absorbed swordsman. And those are the 'good guys', if such a term even means anything in this context. In Fletcher's world, where belief defines reality, the insane are the magic-users, since they believe falsehoods so strongly that they become true.

Looking Backward in Darkness: Tales of Fantasy and Horror (Electronic book text)

If someone genuinely believes that that everyone loves them, those around them have no choice but to do so. The monsters between these pages are all human, or at least they once were, and they include walking corpses, a dude who turns into a swarm of scorpions, a morbidly obese mind-controller, and more. The violence is constant and unrelenting, and I think that technically reading this book counts as a war-crime. The despair and cynical attitude towards humanity are almost too much to bear.

But you're not here to find light and fluffy books, are you? This one is an odd, deeply philosophical tale about gods who walk among normal Americans, stripped of most of their powers because of their lack of worship, and their conflict with the new avatars of idolization, like technology and television. It's a weird concept, but oh man does Gaiman make it work.

There's plenty of darkness, violence and sex in this novel, but it never feels as if it's placed there for shock value, or to make the book edgy. Rather, these things are inextricable aspects of humankind and the gods they worship. The writing is beautiful and complex, weaving in age-old tales of myth into a modern narrative about an ex-con being swept into this world of blood and worship. The characters of the gods are decidedly human, and when the supernatural occurs, Gaiman makes it feel natural.

The darkness is less pronounced than in something like Prince of Thorns, but the content and tone still firmly places it within the dark fantasy genre. American Gods is currently being made into a TV show on Starz, and the adaptation is great. They are the "Others," an ancient race of supernatural beingsmagicians, shape-shifters, vampires, and healerswho live among us. Human born, they must choose a side to swear allegiance tothe Dark or the Lightwhen they come of age. For a millennium, these opponents have coexisted in an uneasy peace, enforced by defenders like the Night Watch, forces of the Light who guard against the Dark.

But prophecy decrees that one supreme "Other" will arise to spark a cataclysmic war. Anton Gorodetsky, an untested mid-level Light magician with the Night Watch, discovers a cursed young womanan Other of tremendous potential unallied with either sidewho can shift the balance of power. With the battle lines between Light and Dark drawn, the magician must move carefully, for one wrong step could mean the beginning of annihilation.

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror Edition: Paula Guran: www.newyorkethnicfood.com: Books

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Lord Foul's Bane begins the epic Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever , a series in which a leprosy-stricken man in the real world is transported to a stereotypical fantasy world. However, what ensues isn't a cutesy Narnia -like adventure, but something far less cutesy.

To say the least. The darkness in this book isn't primarily in the world, or the action, but in what an utter son of a bitch the protagonist it. Thomas Covenant isn't like other anti-heroes in that he's a bastard with a heart of gold.

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He's a bastard through and through, and utterly unlikeable. Despite this, he's a well-drawn character grappling with the crippling disease of leprosy, refusing to believe that the fantasy world he's found himself in is even real. Covenant is so despicable at times, that on my first read of the book, I found myself doing something that I haven't done before or since; putting the book down because I was too appalled to continue.

Offsetting this is the flowery, poetic, old-fashioned way in which the book is written. Lord Foul's Bane isn't fun to read, nor will it probably be your favourite book, but it's an experience important to fantasy as a genre. Or even protagonists that aren't complete assholes. This book is about the titular vagrant, who is a mute, and his journey across a desolate, demon-ravaged world with a baby and a goat.

It sounds pretty weird and it is, but in a good way. As you might imagine, a world overrun by demons is more than a little dark. Demons have swept into the world and are basically fucking everything up, and seeing the journey of such interesting, yet opaque protagonist play out is interesting. We're not given access to the Vagrant's direct point of view, so it's a slow reveal of character, backstory and purpose.

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The Vagrant literally never speaks, which gives him a 'Man With No Name' cool-factor, and while this would be annoying if every book did it, it works as something different. The book is certainly unique, and odd, but it's actually quite a quick read, and the weird elements all come together well to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The setting is very unique and compellingly dark, and beyond the monstrous creatures, even normal people are generally corrupted. Low Town titled the Straight-Razor Cure in the UK , is the first instalment in the Low Town series, and is a gritty noir crime story that just happens to be set in a fantasy world.

The fact that the word 'noir' is French for 'dark' is, alone, a compelling argument for Low Town 's place on this list. It's the tale of a drug-dealer in the slums of a fantasy city, and his journey to solve a murder that the police can't be bothered with. The darkness of Low Town is integral in the setting, the characters, and the underlying nihilistic view of humanity.

The horrors and monsters here are the people, and Polansky proves that people can be far more terrifying than any zombie, werewolf or vampire. The characterization of 'the Warden', the drug-addicted, world-weary investigator protagonist is one of the highlights of the book, and is enhanced by the close first-person narration.

You can almost taste the puke, drugs and shit on the streets of Low Town , yet somehow Polansky turns that into a pleasurable experience. The titular 'witcher' mutated, sorcerously-powered professional monster hunter cool, I know is Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf, lover of women, slayer of monsters, and kicker of asses.

He's just about the coolest protagonist a reader could ask for, and the stories he finds himself in are as horrifying as you'd expect from books based on eastern European fairytales and monster legends. The monsters Geralt hunts are the real deal. These are the sorts of nightmare-fuel that could only be generated from hundreds of years of stories told by the fire in Sapkowski's native Eastern Europe.

Forget Sleeping Beauty, the princess Geralt encounters turns into a flesh-eating horror every night. Despite this, the true monsters Geralt encounters are always human ones, and he considers his mission of 'killing monsters' to include the all-too human variation. He fights with a combination of swords, potions and sorcery, and he's just plain cool.

I feel like I'm gushing, am I gushing? This book and the rest of the Wardstone Chronicles genuinely scared the absolute shit out of me when I first read it. It's a YA book, but still worth reading for anyone older.

It's such a small-scale, folksy story. There's no 'fate of the kingdom' battle, and the protagonist remains a young, terrified boy, and that's the charm of the book. It's like a fairy tale gone wrong, and a single witch provides enough scares to keep a dozen kids under their covers for a year.

Rather than relying on violence and gore, Delaney succeeds in getting inside your head and reminding you why you were once afraid of the dark. I think that letting younger teenagers read this technically qualifies as child abuse in seven states. Spooks Apprentice leans more towards horror than a lot of other entries on this list, and it features staples of that genre like a haunted house.

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Nevertheless, it's still definitely a coming of age fantasy tale. Or read it yourself if you like fast-paced YA dark fantasy. Gaiman's work is perfect for anyone who's after stories with 'mundane' protagonists from the real world who are pulled into worlds of unsettling dark fantasy. His stories have worth not only as entertainment, but as deeply contemplative and philosophical works. Neverwhere is about a Londoner who finds himself, due to an act of kindness, drawn into an unsettling magical world beneath London.

It's like Alice in Wonderland ramped up for adults, but still with all the charm. Somehow Gaiman manages to blend the darkness of adult urban fantasy with the charm and whimsy of an old-fashioned fairytale, and his villains dress like gentlemen, his protagonist is bumbling and well-meaning and the denizens of his magical world are ancient and dark. Confessions of a Falling Woman.

2016 in Review: SciFi, Fantasy, and Horror

Thank You Very Much. Noises from Under the Rug. Call of the Beguiled. The Doctor and the Clown. Janie Moss and the Other Point-oh-Two. A Vision for the Future. How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel. Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events. The Year of Endless Sorrows. The Summer That Never Was. The Third Cat Story Megapack. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long. Your display name should be at least 2 characters long. At Kobo, we try to ensure that published reviews do not contain rude or profane language, spoilers, or any of our reviewer's personal information.

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