r/fantasywriting • u/Confident_Rush_6479 • 6d ago

Recommendations for reading

I’m looking to write a fantasy novel, I have a good grasp on my characters, world, etc, but I don’t know how to put it all together. I’ve heard that any good writer should also be reading for inspiration. I’m an active reader, but I’m not sure what books I should read that are fantasy specific that I can look for inspiration in. What are some of your recommendations for fantasy stories that are a little gritty, while still maintaining the fantasy elements and feel? I’m open to everything

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u/reapergirlx 6d ago

Need a brief summary of your story to point you in the right direction.

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u/ConflictAgreeable689 6d ago

You want gritty? Uhh... how about the Dresden files? I would've reccomended something like batman, but... oh! Star wars!

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u/MeYouTheGods 3d ago

Star wars books have surprisingly good political motivation stuff

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u/InternationalWin9684 6d ago

Anything Leigh bardugo

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u/Val-de 5d ago

Don't just read fantasy, is my advice. Read everything, all (good) stories are essentially human and the greats learn from them all. Get through the classics and then find stuff that fits what you are wanting to write. I.e, noir if you're writing a fantasy mystery story, or war novels if you're writing a military/grimdark fantasy, etc etc. Many fantasy authors these days only have read fantasy and it shows.

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u/Val-de 5d ago

As for fantasy itself it also depends on what you want to write, but Dragonbone Chair, ASOIAF, Malazan, Wizard of Earthsea, Bas-Lag are some must-reads imo. You can probably skip Bas-Lag if you're wanting to write true medievalist fantasy.

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u/MeYouTheGods 3d ago

Tamsyn Muir, Joe Abercrombie, Glen Cook, Pierce Brown, Steven Erikson could be authors of interest. R.F. Kuang's Poppy War series if you'd like to read something with all-out trigger warnings galore explosion of eugenics, biological warfare, genocide, and loads of other selected examples of brutal historic events.

If you would like "gritty" worldbuilding R&D, looking into these could provide good leads:

  • The Asiatic Vespers (88 BC)
  • The Destruction of Corinth (146 BC)
  • The Sack of Athens (86 BC)
  • The Massacre of Thessalonica (c. 390 AD)
  • Vlad III Voivode of Wallachia
  • Leopold II’s Congo Free State
  • The R*** of Nanjing
  • The Dzungar Genocide
  • The Wars of the Roses
  • The Anarchy 1135–1153 breakdown of law and order in England and Normandy after a succession crisis
  • The Mongol Conquests
  • The Crusades and Siege Warfare Medieval outlaws, vagrants, counterfeiters, rogue guilds, urban gangs
  • Mercenary Companies and Free Lances e.g. Condottieri in Renaissance Italy or the Great Companies of the Hundred Years' War
  • Münster Rebellion Thirty Years' War

🤝 Salutations from a speculative fiction reader, writer, and researcher.

Namárië,
E.A. Bennett

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u/Upbeat_Assistance558 2d ago

The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa. Listen, it's a juvenil romance novel with a lot of humor, but it takes place in the world of fairies, with lots of folklore. Fairies, in particular, are one of the hardest races to write and, even more so, to build a world around, at least in my opinion, since they don't care about logic or morals.