Books like 'Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery'
Readers who enjoyed Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery by Jonathan Strahan, Lou Anders, Steven Erikson, Glen Cook, Gene Wolfe, James Enge, C.J. Cherryh, K.J. Parker, Garth Nix, Michael Moorcock, Tim Lebbon, Robert Silverberg, Greg Keyes, Michael Shea, Scott Lynch, Tanith Lee, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Bill Willingham & Joe Abercrombie also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
fantasy dark fantasy high fantasy grimdark heroic-fantasy sword-sorcery dark epic magic
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The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie
Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsConspiracy. Betrayal. Rebellion.Peace is just another kind of battlefield...Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation in tatters. But she still has all her ambitions, and no scruple will be permitted to stand in her way... -
The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThe Bonehunters march for Kolanse, led by Adjunct Tavore. This woman with no gifts of magic, deemed plain, unprepossessing, displaying nothing to instill loyalty or confidence, will challenge the gods - if her own mutinous troops don't kill her first.Her enemy, the Forkrul Assail, seek to cleanse the world, to annihilate everything... -
Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsAll is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor, while the Letherii secret police conduct a campaign of terror against its own people. The Errant, once a farseeing god, is suddenly blind to the future... -
The Light of All That Falls by James Islington
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe Light of All That Falls concludes the epic adventure that began in The Shadow of What Was Lost, the acclaimed fantasy blockbuster from James Islington.The Boundary is whole once again, but it may be too late.Banes now stalk Andarra, while in Ilin Illan, the political machinations of a generation come to a head as Wirr's newfound ability forces his family's old enemies into action... -
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Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow... -
Deadhouse Landing by Ian C. Esslemont
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsAfter the disappointments of Li Heng, Dancer and Kellanved wash up on a small insignificant island named Malaz. Immediately, of course, Kellanved plans to take it over. To do so they join forces with a small band of Napans who have fled a civil war on their own home island... -
A Time of Courage by John Gwynne
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsBattle the darkReclaim the worldThe Demon-King of the Otherworld is finally free. And armed with mighty new starstone weapons, Asroth prepares to lead his demonic war-host south. With the help of his dark bride Fritha, he plans to crush the warrior-angels and their allies.In the shadows of Forn Forest, Riv and the surviving Ben-Elim hold a war council... -
Overworld by Rohan M. Vider
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA magic apocalypse. Refugees from Earth. A new world. Elves, orcs, and dragons!Portals from Overworld have appeared on Earth, and beings intent on conscripting humanity into the mysterious Trials have invaded.Earth is doomed. Humanity has been exiled... -
The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsHe was known as Druss. The Deathwalker. Though the blood of merciless butchers coursed through his veins, he had found a fragile peace through his love for beautiful, mystical Rowena. Then came the day when Druss returned to their village and found everyone dead--massacred by slavers who had stolen the women to sell for gold. Rowena was among the missing... -
Path to the Unknown by Kirill Klevanski
Rated: 4.68 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsNot everyone managed to survive the bloody battle. The strong, the brave, the courageous, and the good all fell with honor. The war spared few and took away many of the best...Hadjar Darkhan was one of the few who survived and is now ready to continue his journey. The battle is over, and the dead have been sent on their last journey...Categorized as:
epic heroic-fantasy magic sword-sorcery action-adventure adult ancient-china ancient-civilization -
Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIn war everyone loses. This brutal truth can be seen in the eyes of every soldier in every world…In Letherii, the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen.And in these same Wastelands, others gather to confront their destinies... -
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsThey say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud... -
Dancer's Lament by Ian C. Esslemont
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsTaking Malazan fans back to that troubled continent's turbulent early history. The opening chapter in Ian C. Esslemont's epic new fantasy sequence, the Path to Ascendancy trilogy.For ages warfare has crippled the continent as minor city states, baronies, and principalities fought in an endless round of hostilities... -
The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsEven in death, Skilgannon the Damned's name lives on. Now, as an ancient evil threatens to flood the Drenai heartlands in a tide of blood, he returns...A thousand years after they fell in battle, two heroes - Druss and Skilgannon - are revered throughout the war-torn lands of the Dernai, where men and women live in abject fear of the dark sorceress known as the Eternal.. -
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A Time of Blood by John Gwynne
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsDefy the darkness. Defend the light.Drem and his friends are haunted by the horrors they witnessed at the battle at Starstone Lake: the screams of men being warped into beasts and the sight of a demon rising from the dead. But worse than any memory is Fritha, the demons' deadly high priestess. And she is hunting them... -
Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAs the final battle approaches a sellsword, a spy, and a general must find unlikely and dangerous allies in order to turn the tides of war in this epic fantasy tale of magic and gunpowder by acclaimed author Brian McClellan... -
The Empire's Ruin by Brian Staveley
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsOne soldier will bear the hopes of an empireThe Kettral were the glory and despair of the Annurian Empire – elite soldiers who rode war hawks into battle. Now the Kettral’s numbers have dwindled and the great empire is dying. Its grip is further weakened by the failure of the kenta gates, which granted instantaneous access to its vast lands... -
So You Want to Be a Villain? by ErraticErrata
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCatherine Foundling has a plan.She'll join the Legions of Terror that occupy her homeland and work her way up the ladder until she can effect the kind of changes the former Kingdom of Callow so badly needs... -
The Wolf's Call by Anthony Ryan
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAnthony Ryan's debut novel Blood Song - book one of the Raven's Shadow series - took the fantasy world by storm. The sequels, Tower Lord and Queen of Fire were both New York Times bestsellers. Now, Anthony Ryan returns to the world of this acclaimed fantasy series with The Wolf's Call, which begins a thrilling new story of razor-sharp action and epic adventure... -
The Fall of Dragons by Miles Cameron
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe blood-thirsty, epic Traitor Son Cycle comes to its gripping conclusion in this fifth and final book.In the climax of the Traitor Son Cycle, the allied armies of the Wild and the Kingdoms of men and women must face Ash for control of the gates to the hermetical universe, and for control of their own destinies. But exhaustion, treachery and time may all prove deadlier enemies... -
The Warring Son by Bryce O'Connor
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 24 ratings**Book 2 in the Top 10 Bestselling Epic Fantasy series on Amazon** Raz i'Syul Arro is a hunted man. To the south, the Mahsadën of Miropa are gone. The šef lay dead, slain at Raz's own hands, their cruel will ripped from the shadows of the city... -
Dawn of the Exile by Mitchell Hogan
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFor the damned, redemption may be just a mad dream…Years have passed since the demon Tarrik and his master, the sorcerer Ren, destroyed the servants of Samal and suppressed the very essence of the vile lord. The cost was greater than even a demon could have imagined. But in the realms of demons and humans, no evil can be fully controlled, and no one’s true fate can be foretold. Including Tarrik’s... -
The Hindering Ones by Mike Truk
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMy name's Noah Kilmartin. I'm from Ruddock, Ohio, and I'm about 85% unqualified to save the universe from the slavering demonic hordes of the super evil bitch queen Lilith.But I haven't failed yet.Somehow I've passed the five trials, accumulated a team of powerful companions, and made it through the portal into Ghogiel... -
The Free Bastards by Jonathan French
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe long-awaited war has come in the sweeping conclusion to the Lot Lands trilogy--another irresistibly swashbuckling, swaggering, foul-mouthed fantasy.The long-awaited war has come in the sweeping conclusion to the Lot Lands trilogy--another irresistibly swashbuckling, swaggering, foul-mouthed fantasy... -
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God of Broken Things by Cameron Johnston
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn outcast magician must risk his body and mind to save the world from horrifying demons, in the heart-pounding epic fantasy sequel to The Traitor God.Tyrant magus Edrin Walker destroyed the monster sent by the Skallgrim, but not before it laid waste to Setharis, and infested their magical elite with mind-controlling parasites... -
To Blackfyre Keep by Anthony Ryan
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGUYIME—DEMON CURSED WIELDER OF THE NAMELESS BLADE—FOLLOWS THE TRAIL OF THE FABLED SEVEN SWORDS INTO THE TROUBLED NORTHLANDS, A REALM WHERE HE WAS ONCE CALLED KING…AND RAVAGER.Magically guided to enlist in the retinue of a lovesick knight, Guyime and his companions journey to the haunted ruin of Blackfyre Keep, a castle legend tells cannot be held. But a far deadlier threat than mere ghosts awaits... -
The Thief Who Knocked on Sorrow's Gate by Michael McClung
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.The third installment in the Amra Thetys series:After surviving Thagoth and returning rich to Lucernis, Amra and Holgren have settled down to a very comfortable, if decidedly unexciting life -- until the night Amra receives an old enemy's head in a box... -
Soldiers Live by Glen Cook
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen sorcerers and demigods go to war, those wars are fought by mercenaries, "dog soldiers," grunts in the trenches. And the stories of those soldiers are the stories of Glen Cook's hugely popular "Black Company" novels. If the Joseph Heller of Catch-22 were to tell the story of The Lord of the Rings, it might read like the Black Company books. There is nothing else in fantasy like them... -
Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus by William King
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsGotrek the dwarf trollslayer and his companion Felix are Black Library's most popular fantasy duo. This omnibus edition gives readers a unique opportunity to enjoy their first three adventures through the haunted forests, mountains and castles of the grim Warhammer world...Categorized as:
dark epic heroic-fantasy sword-sorcery action-adventure adult anthologies cannibalism -
Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratings10 short stories from the lives of Jorg and his Road Brothers. Contains spoilers for the Broken Empire trilogy. 5 of the stories have previously been published in anthologies, Contains the short story 'Sleeping Beauty' that is also sold separately. A total of 43.000 words or just over half the length of Prince of Thorns.Cover by Pen Astridge...Categorized as:
dark epic heroic-fantasy sword-sorcery action-adventure adult anthologies apocalyptic -
Assassin by Andy Peloquin
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAll in Voramis know the legend of the Hunter. Relentless. Immortal. Death walking. The greatest assassin who ever lived. Pay the master killer his due and the Hunter will execute any target, carry out any contract, no matter how impossible.But when the Bloody Hand crime syndicate harms the innocents under his protection, they foolishly make an enemy of the one man they can’t afford to anger... -
The Black Song by Anthony Ryan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA matchless warrior is pitted against a near-God in the second epic installment of the Raven's Blade series. It has long been our lot in life, brother, to do what others can't.Vaelin Al Sorna was known across the realm as the greatest of warriors, but he thought battles were behind him. He was wrong... -
The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsA century has passed since the heroic defence of Dros Delnoch. But the people of the Drenai face a new terror: a mad emperor kept in power by two forces of unsurpassed evil. The Joinings are werebeasts of awesome power. The Dark Templars are warrior-priests whose fighting skills are without equal. Against them, the Drenai face certain defeat... -
Crowfall by Ed McDonald
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsCrowfall is a gritty epic fantasy for fans of Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch and Daniel Polansky.'Dark, twisty and excellent . . . Grimdark with heart' Mark LawrenceA sorceress cataclysm has hit the Range, the final defensive line between the Republic and the immortal Deep Kings... -
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The Errantry of Bantam Flyn by Jonathan French
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Coburn. Rooster-Men of the Tin Isles. Proud and combative by nature, the coburn are an imposing race. The males, ever protective of their mates, fight to the death if threatened, especially against their own kind. Some, however, pursue a chaste life of chivalry and join the Valiant Spur, an order of coburn knights... -
Thief of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe impossible becomes inevitable with the fate of her loved ones hanging in the balance…A cunning thief of unrivaled ingenuity, Ilanna is determined to secure her freedom at any cost. No price is too high to break the shackles of the Night Guild's callous cruelty.With her future on the line, nothing will stand in her way, not even the most powerful man in Praamis, Duke Phonnis... -
Legacy of Light by Matthew Ward
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWarfare, myth and magic collide in Legacy of Light, the spectacular conclusion to Matthew Ward's acclaimed Legacy trilogy.For the first time in many years, the Tressian Republic and the Hadari Empire are at peace. But war never sleeps.In Tregard, Empress Melanna Saranal struggles to protect a throne won at great cost... -
Where Gods Fear to Go by Angus Watson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe third and final novel in this sharp and original action-adventure fantasy trilogy for fans of Joe Abercrombie and HBO's Game of Thrones... -
Legacy of Ghosts by Alicia Wanstall-Burke
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFour years have passed since Lidan’s world was ripped apart, and time is running out to change her father’s mind about the succession before the bargain with her mother expires... -
Vigor Mortis: Volume 1 by Natalie Maher
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCasting necromancy without ever learning how isn't supposed to be possible. A starving orphan girl named Vita is somehow managing it anyway, and she's not sure if this is going to be the solution to her life's problems or a horrifying, spiraling mess into problems she can't even conceive... -
Child of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey killed her family. They ripped apart her home. But to repay her debts, she'll have to sacrifice her innocence. Robbed of everything she loves, Viola mourns the sudden loss of her mother. Now burdened with an impossible debt to the Night Guild, she’s forced to train as a cunning thief... -
Legacy of Steel by Matthew Ward
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWarfare, myth and magic collide in Legacy of Steel, the spectacular sequel to Matthew Ward's acclaimed fantasy debut Legacy of Ash. A year has passed since an unlikely alliance saved the Tressian Republic from fire and darkness, at great cost. Thousands perished, and Viktor Akadra - the Republic's champion - has disappeared... -
The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGladiator. Assassin. Thief. Princess. And the Slave. The Five Warrior Angels have been revealed, one by one the mystical weapons they once wielded are being found, and an ancient prophecy is finally being fulfilled. Or is it? For when it comes to recorded history, much is intended to manipulate and deceive... -
Crown of Shadows by C.S. Friedman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsMore than a millennium after the human race forges an uneasy stalemate against the demonic human-psyche feeders known as the fae, a pain-hungry demon called Calesta declares war on all living beings. Reprint... -
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Desolation by Megg Jensen
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTressa's army won the battle, but at a terrible cost. So many lives lost. So many lovers torn asunder. And that was just the beginning. An ancient beast rumbles beneath the Dragonlands, thirsting for blood. Dragon blood. Setting aside her heartbreak, Tressa ventures beyond the Dragonlands to the mysterious realm of Desolation, searching for allies and answers... -
The True Bastards by Jonathan French
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe sequel to The Grey Bastards--another irresistibly swashbuckling, swaggering, foul-mouthed adventure fantasy.Fetching was once the only female rider in the Lot Lands. Now she is the leader of her own hoof, a band of loyal half-orcs sworn to her command. But in the year since she took power, the True Bastards have struggled to survive... -
Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsSharp Ends is the ultimate collection of award winning tales and exclusive new short stories from the master of grimdark fantasy, Joe Abercrombie.Violence explodes, treachery abounds, and the words are as deadly as the weapons in this rogue's gallery of side-shows, back-stories, and sharp endings from the world of the First Law... -
Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsNow is the time to tell the story of an ancient realm, a tragic tale that sets the stage for all the tales yet to come and all those already told...It's a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, the realm of Darkness, where Mother Dark reigns. But this ancient land was once home to many a power. and even death is not quite eternal... -
Fall of Light by Steven Erikson
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIt is a bitter winter and civil war now ravages Kurald Galain, as Urusander's Legion prepares to march upon the city of Kharkanas.The rebels' only opposition lies scattered, bereft of a leader since Anomander's departure in search of his estranged brother, Andarist. The last brother remaining, Silchas Ruin, rules in Anomander's stead... -
Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA volume of short stories by the bestselling author of THE BROKEN EMPIRE series, Mark Lawrence.An extended version of the earlier collection of the same title - 50% longer.This is a collection of fourteen stories of murder, mayhem, pathos, and philosophy, all set in the world of the Broken Empire...
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