Best Grimdark Books to Start With

Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, is the most feared mercenary general in the Styrian wars. When she is betrayed by the Grand Duke she serves and left for dead, she begins a ruthless campaign of revenge—one where the line between justice and monstrosity is dangerously thin.

Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. Prince Jorg of Ancrath leads a band of bloodthirsty outlaws through a fractured empire in pursuit of vengeance—and a throne.

Prince Yarvi, second-born and half-handed, has no interest in ruling. But when his father and brother are murdered, he is thrust onto the throne—then betrayed into slavery. His path to freedom and revenge will teach him that to win you must be willing to use every tool at your disposal.

When Rin aced the imperial examinations she earned a place at the elite Sinegard military academy. There she discovers she has a talent for shamanism — the ability to commune with gods. But the divine power she awakens is a curse that will plunge her and her empire into war.

Logen Ninefingers, a scarred barbarian. Jezal dan Luthar, a vain young officer angling for glory. Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled torturer who once endured the same. Three very different people are drawn together by the First of the Magi as a dark power stirs in the North.

At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In some few children the old bloods show, gifting rare talents that can be honed to deadly or mystic effect. But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don't truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls. A bloodstained child of nine falsely accused of murder, guilty of worse, Nona is stolen from the shadow of the noose. It takes ten years to educate a Red Sister in the ways of blade and fist, but under Abbess Glass's care there is much more to learn than the arts of death. Among her class Nona finds a new family--and new enemies. Despite the security and isolation of the convent, Nona's secret and violent past finds her out, drawing with it the tangled politics of a crumbling empire. Her arrival sparks old feuds to life, igniting vicious struggles within the church and even drawing the eye of the emperor himself. Beneath a dying sun, Nona Grey must master her inner demons, then loose them on those who stand in her way.

Mia Corvere is barely sixteen years old when she is given a chance to train at a secret school for killers. She has spent years preparing for this, fueled by a thirst for revenge against the men who destroyed her family. But the Red Church is no place for the faint of heart—and the competition is deadly.

Clay Cooper and his band were once the greatest mercenary company in the world. Now middle-aged and out of shape, they must get the band back together for one last tour — not to play music, but to fight through a monster-filled wilderness to rescue their old leader's daughter from a city under siege.

'The Age of Kings is dead. And I have killed it.' Field Marshal Tamas's coup against his king sends corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brings bread to the starving. But it also provokes war in the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics and greedy scrambling for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers' unions and mercenary forces. Stretched to his limit, Tamas relies heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be Tamas's estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty will be tested to its limit. Now, amid the chaos, a whispered rumour is spreading. A rumour about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods returning to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing ...But perhaps they should.

Azoth is a street urchin surviving in the slums of the city of Cenaria. He dreams of apprenticing to Durzo Blint, the city's most legendary assassin. To gain that apprenticeship, he must complete an impossible task—and in doing so, begin a journey that will cost him everything he cares about.

A century has passed since the gods fought and drove themselves to extinction. Now only their bones remain, promising great power to those brave enough to seek them out. As whispers of war echo cross the land of Vigrið, fate follows in the footsteps of three warriors: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a noblewoman pursuing battle fame and a thrall seeking vengeance among the mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn. All three will shape the fate of the world as it once more falls under the shadow of the gods.

In a famine-stricken village in 14th-century China, a girl disguises herself as her dead brother to claim his fate—greatness—and survive. Masquerading as a monk, she must rise through the ranks of a rebellion against the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty to become the person destiny intended her brother to be.

The Omehi people have been at war for two hundred years. Every generation, a handful of women are chosen as Gifted—able to call down dragons during battle. Tau knows exactly what he wants: to fight in the war to avenge his father's death, no matter the cost to himself or those around him.

Born to sacrifice herself to the Primal of Death, Sera has trained her entire life for one purpose: to make the feared Nyktos fall in love with her, become his weakness, and then destroy him. As ancient realms teeter on the brink of war, Sera must navigate a treacherous court filled with political intrigue while battling her own growing feelings for the very being she is sworn to eradicate. The fate of their world rests on her deception, but a fated connection threatens to unravel her mission and unleash an even greater darkness.

The emperor rules with a magic built of stolen children's memories. His palace is filled with constructs—part animal, part human—powered by bone shards from living subjects who weaken and die as the magic drains them. His daughter Lin must find the secrets of the bone shard magic before a rebellion tears their empire apart.

On the island of Kekon, jade is a magical resource that gives warriors enhanced speed, strength, and perception. Two rival clans—the No Peak and the Mountain—have controlled jade for generations. When a new drug threatens to democratize jade's power, an old feud erupts into all-out war.

In the aftermath of the battle of Golyn Niis, Rin is stranded, broken, and alone. She's lost everything—her home, her mentor, her people. The Republican forces offer her a chance to join their cause and fight the Mugenese Empire. But as Rin discovers what the Republic really wants from her, she must decide how far she'll go in pursuit of vengeance.

'Robert Jackson Bennett deserves a huge audience' - Brent Weeks, New York Times bestselling author of The Black Prism In the city of stairs, nothing is as it seems. You've got to be careful when you're chasing a murderer through Bulikov, for the world is not as it should be in that city. When the gods were destroyed and all worship of them banned by the Polis, reality folded; now stairs lead to nowhere, alleyways have become portals to the past, and criminals disappear into thin air. The murder of Dr Efrem Pangyui, the Polis diplomat researching the Continent's past, has begun something and now whispers of an uprising flutter out from invisible corners. Only one woman may be willing to pursue the truth - but it is likely to cost her everything. 'Truly refreshing' - New York Times Book Review

This boxed set includes bestselling author Michael J. Sullivan's complete Riyria Revelations, an epic tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend. "Good old-fashioned escapist fun." -Publishers Weekly Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles - until they become the unwitting scapegoats in a plot to murder the king. Sentenced to death, their only hope is to unravel an ancient mystery before it's too late. The Riyria RevelationsTheft of SwordsRise of EmpireHeir of Novron For more from Michael J. Sullivan, check out: The Riyria ChroniclesThe Crown TowerThe Rose and the Thorn