Winter Fantasy

Dark Fantasy Series To Read While Waiting for George R.R. Martin's "Winds of Winter"

Although we all hoped that George R.R. Martin would publish The Winds of Winter before the new season of Game of Thrones begins, this was not meant to be. Looking at his track record - with a six-year gap between A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons, we can't know for sure when we will finally get to read The Winds of Winter. To help our readers out, we have decided to do a round-up of other epic fantasy series. All of these are complete - so you don't have to worry that you will be left hanging, waiting for yet another author to finish the next book. Enjoy!

Malazan series
Malazan Book of the Fallen is a ten-book epic fantasy series by Steven Erikson. Then there is also The Malazan Empire, written by Ian Cameron Esslemont that is set in the same universe. The two authors are anthropologists and archaeologists and came up with the Malazan world together in the early 80s. The world served as a backdrop for their GURPS roleplaying game that they would play when they weren't out and about in the field. According to the authors, two of their greatest influences when creating the world was The Black Company and A Song of Fire and Ice. This means you can expect them to be grim, dark, gritty but also with a healthy dose of

Although the world is very much what you would expect to get in most fantasy books, the way Abercrombie portrays the characters is refreshing. Instead of striving to gallantly save the world from an evil overlord, the characters in The First Law are very self-absorbed and are more caught up in their own plots to survive or get into power. If you are looking for perfect, self-sacrificing heroes with impeccable morals, you won't find them in these books. There is very little compassion and the whole story is an intriguing, twisted