If someone is trying to get into the first law books but maybe doesn't have that much time to read, I highly recommend the audiobook is narrated by Steven Pacey and is superb, it's on audible and youtube as well.

I try to avoid using the term because it sounds so silly. I get the impression it was coined by a 16 year old.

First law trilogy was my introduction to Grimdark. Unlike most people, I didn’t love it. I liked it ,but the writing itself left much to be desired. As well as I can’t stand Logen Ninefingers. So, I read the Broken Empire trilogy and I loved it. Everything Joe Abercrombie is praised for I found it in Mark Lawrence’s writing. That being said I do plan to read the second trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Simply, out of curiousity and its likely he has improved the execution a bit.

Ok, honestly. Poppy War and Empire of the Vampire are not Grim Dark, they are edgy YA. First law is technically Grimdark, I mean Mr Abercrombie even has "LordofGrimdark" as his twitter handle. Today when people say grimdark they talk about ASOIAF, First Law, Witcher, Malazan etc. Now these are definitely darker than the average fantasy. But that's only true because most fantasy is very black and white and very tame. To me these books fall under "realistic fantasy" or "adult fantasy" When I hear Grimdark, I think of "in the grim darkness of the far future" .. I think of Warhammer 40k and fantasy/sci fi settings like that. Where people eat crpse grease and even the good guys are satirically over the top fascistic zealots. To me, the First Law is just more adult fantasy. A world where characters are more realistic (aka grey). Most people in the world are grey. A lot of fantasy readers want to be cuddled and never feel uncomfortable ever. But that's not how life works. The world is a dark place where being at the wrong place at the wrong time can result in horrific things happening to you, done to you by other people. Now imagine a world where there is no police, there is no internet, there is no 9/11 etc. You can't hop into your car and visit the opposite side of the country, you have to travel by foot or horse or caravan and hope you don't get robbed, attacked or much, much worse. E.g. In the American wild west, this family started a small store. This was on the road that all the pilgrims / settlers took. So a lot of settlers would stop and buy some supplies. These people, would lure unsuspecting travelers to their store, then end them and steal all their belongings. That's the reality of our world. It's not all sunshine and "the one evil wizard / group / dictator / mosnster" that the "perfect good guys take out at the end of the story". Go watch a few "true crime documentaries" and tell me more about how "grey characters are edgy" for example (not that you did that, but some do, some really want every book to be a cuddle fest). So anyway, I don't consider any of this grimdark. But if we're going to use grimdark for First law and stuff. Then please don't also use it for stuff like Empire of the Vampire.

Definitely checking out the vampire novel.

GRIMDERP!

Just discovered this channel!

I can’t see the titles because you wave the books around so much and you don’t speak very clearly. Sorry

Hope u continue 🎉

Been reading Garden Of The Moon, the firs book of the Mazalan series. Great read and not sure if you've gone over it.

This is a great video, thank you now I have to had a whole bunch of new books to my TBR haha! But already wanted to read the Poppy War trilogy it looks so good! Also, I've read volume 1 of Game of thrones and its absolutely dark as heck

Maan, Empire of the Vampire sounds and looks awesome 😮😁

Todd here. Nice review I've been wanting to pick this book up for my aunt as a gift.

Are you okay? Where is one piece.

I don't think the villian is evil to be evil. It's subtle but you notice later that he said he gave up the pirate life due to HOW dangerous it was. Oda didnt want to hint more as later people will say ugh so telegraphed so he loses no matter what. But the point is he's so strong yet in reality the world has pirates that can rock oceans and throw houses etc...He and other pirates in the series gave up and luffy keeps trying is the point you learn later. Its how in real life you settle but others say no and keep up their dream. your damned if you do or don't since making a deeper character early and fast would need lots of fast tropes, making a good one would need more time which you dont get for readers...hype matters. Less back then since sales of 10,000 were good back in the day now if you come out and don't make everyone think your story is the best ever made it's trash...

Hey, I just want to say that it's totally okay if you're not obsessed or frankly just not that into it. Speaking as a huge One Piece fan, I wouldn't want you to feel pressured to read or cover it if you don't feel like it. Do your own thing and live your own life without regrets. Peace and love.

First grimdark series I read was the broken empire series (prince, king and empower of thorns) and loved it. Set the bar high though and can't seem to find a series more brutal and dark. I'm on the last of the first law trilogy and am gonna read the eleventh cycle after so maybe those will scratch my itch mark lawrence left lol

My Top 4: •KINGDOM •VINDLAND SAGA •BERSERK •VAGABOND

just found your channel and im sad this is your last upload 😭

I overall liked it. Though I'd rather have read Amina's adventures of becoming the feared pirate than what was in this book.

One Piece!!!!

The Annals of the Black Company. It follows the exploits of a mercenary company working for evil sorcerers that are taking over the world. It’s so bleak they manage to still come off as almost good guys.

<3 My favourite <3

Where have you gone???

Oh dear.. Those glasses aren't doing you any favors, sweetie. Very unflattering. You have a small head; giant glasses make you look scrunchy and weird. It's unfortunate because you're otherwise very pretty.

The one piece fandom just keeps on growing and growing.

hope you continue!

Big fan of grimdark here! Looove all that Abercrombie touches. The guy is really good at giving motives and building up characters. By the other hand, I didn't like the Prince of Thorns trilogy. I found Jorg a masculine version of your average Mary Sue, very edgy without a good cause, and full of plot armor. The story is crowded with really hollow characters, bad story, and an ending you can see coming a mile away. I personally find Mark Lawrence a mediocre writer, and I don't understand all the hype with his books. If I could give a grimdark recommendation with sci-fi, read the Red Rising double trilogy. It starts very Hunger Games, but it catches up very fast, and by the 5th book, oh oh oh, that's pure bleakness

Perfect! I am obsessed with this these kind of books! I had know idea what this genre was called but good to know that I’m not alone in my love for this genre 😅

impressed, your delivery is great. Donaldsons covenant... was my first grim dark at a time fantasy was still holiday...today grimdark is a morticians fantasy with bent balls..

The Fifth Season is so good! I also have yet to read The Stone Sky but I'm ready to be destroyed :) Locke Lamora is one of my all time favorites! I'd say it almost borders on Grimheart because of the stellar friendship between the two main characters. If you want another suggestion I would HIGHLY recommend Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar. It's a middle eastern based world in the middle of a holy war. You want morally gray characters? Look no further!

Hope you’re doing well. If you ever have time I highly recommend Sousou No Frieren which is like one of the highest rated fantasy manga series and it’s getting a super high quality anime production starting tomorrow

Come back and make a video we need you!

I hope you keep reading and am curious if you'll be watching the One Piece Live Action when it premieres on August 31st? It'll cover the entirety of the East Blue Saga so even if you haven't read any further you won't get any spoilers from watching it.

Prince of Thorns was my intro to grimdark and became one of my favourite series of books. Did tou get round to reading them?

"Why do I still live? What more do you want from me? I gave everything I had to you, to them. Look what they've made of our dream. This bloated, rotting carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope but by fear, hate and ignorance. Better that we had all burned in the fires of Horus' ambition than live to see this." -Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines, reflecting upon the state of the Imperium of the late 41st Millennium and his devotion to the Emperor of Mankind

If you don't shy away from psychological horror Blood on the tracks is a manga that has a lot of panels that are just pictures sometimes.

Yay more onepiece

Love the videos, hope to see you continue reading. One piece is a intense and amazi g journey

I love your reviews here and I hope all is well. I'll keep checking back in for future updates but thank you for sharing your thoughts and journey so far!

Im a massive Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fan and I cannot recommend these books enough! Biggest stain on its legacy is that it's not finished yet.

I felt the same way about this book… 😢 too much telling not showing in the exposition of the main character. I was so hyped about it, but this ended up being my most disappointing book in my mid-year book tag.

Welcome to the crew! Yeah, there are very few deaths in One Piece. A lot of the time characters who really should be dead turn out to have survived even, so when someone ACTUALLY dies it's a bit of a shock. The Marine is full of knobs, no question. Especially in the weaker divisions. Poor Zoro has so many fights where he starts out severely wounded from earlier fights! I think different arcs/sagas will need different lengths, you'll notice as you go along. You could probably combine Loguetown, Reverse Mountain and Whiskey Peak, for example. Also, I don't think anyone will complain about longer videos, so don't worry.

The start, and Syrup Village especially, is a bit slow, yeah. I still love parts of it, like for example when you find out the reason for why Usopp yells about pirates every morning, though. Baratie is honestly good, IMO, even though it's so short and simple. It works best that way. (The enemy captain's name is pronounced more like Kreeg, like the word for "war" in many Germanic languages.) Oh yeah, and Usopp's name is pronounced with a u-sound that I don't think exists in English, more akin to the double "o" (like in pool), except short. Not that it really matters, just in case you wanted to know. It's derived from the Japanese word for "lie", which is "uso". It's takes a LOT to bring someone down completely in a One Piece fight, usually. People will keep getting up long after you'd think they'd be dead. I love it, but I'm also used to it at this point, lol.

It's not precisely that Luffy doesn't know what he's doing. I's more that he's the kind of character who moves straightforwardly through a crooked world, really, haha.

Great to discover your channel! I love horror and I was thinking of branching out a bit, Grimdark sounds like the perfect fit. Thanks for the recommendations. The Poppy War and Empire of the Vampire sounds right up my alley. Maybe you should dip your toes into some horror! 😀

After reading Juniper & Thorn, i just cant stop thinking about it- and decided to delve on the gothic-fantasy genre. Though, Juniper & Thorn is considered Gothic-Horror, but after seeing the elements of GDF. It checked all the box. Though the world is not apocalyptic but the setting is like the mc's father enslaves his children and has no freedom so thats that. I love also raw scenes here and there. You convinced me to read the poppy war tbh

hope your doing well. You seem like such a lovely spirit, and with great content. Seems like this channel is offline, so would just like to wish you the best, wherever you are in life right now.

Nami and Usopp are my favorite crew members, after this next arc you'll understand why Nami is but Usopp usually takes awhile to grow on people

Please continue with these videos, i loved them ❤ greetings from Spain