Dark Fantasy - Recommendations?

[Sigillimus]

So I haven't read fantasy in a while. It's been at least six to seven months since I last picked up a fantasy book, and now that I'm getting back into it, I'd like to take a look at some good examples of Dark Fantasy. It's something that really intrigues me, and I'd love to write it myself someday.

 

[Steerpike]

Caitlin Kiernan's "Threshold" is dark fantasy in a modern setting, if you like that.

 

[GeekDavid]

I gotta gotta recommend Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy. Magically enhanced assassins in a very dark world. Child rape and abuse is depicted early in the first book, and one of the main characters is tossed into an incredibly bad prison later in the series.

You don't get much darker than that, but Weeks manages to pull it off anyway.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I usually play rather than read my dark fantasy--perpetual grimness is more tolerable when you can attack the source of that grimness with a battleaxe. However, I've previously given a ringing endorsement of James Clemens. In addition, some works I haven't read, but have heard good things about:

The Acts of Caine

Requiem: Vampire Knight

Berserk

 

[Darkblade]

Hexslinger trilogy by Gemma Files: A dark fantasy western where magic is dark, twisted and parasitic. A fallen preacher manifests his magical potential after falling in love with a ruthless gay gunslinger. Pacts with dead Gods, human sacrifice, and many other horrific incidents ensue.

Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama: For over a century humanity has been hunted by a race of giants that they named Titans until the remnants of humanity were forced to hide behind a series of great walls. The series follows a bunch of new recruits for the military designed to keep order within the walls, protect the walls from Titans and explore the outside world to try and learn about the Titans. Notable in that every little step forward they take in unravelling the mysteries of the Titans costs many lives.

The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett: Similar to Attack on Titan humanity is being hunted by horrible monsters (this time called Demons or Corelings) that are barely kept away by magical wards. While it is similar execution is so very different they can't really be compared but in the broadest sense.