I’m looking for books about swords and sorcery or whatever that really have some hard hitting moments. I don’t like drama for the purpose of drama, so not a story where nothing ever goes well, but a story with brief respites, happy moments with the eventual despair.
Preferably medieval fantasy, as I’m not generally a fan of really high fantasy or aci-fi, but if you know a great one that is one of these, it’s fine to mention it.
Bonus points if the protagonist is good at what he does as that is always very satisfying to see, whether it is at magic, combat, tactics or even just cooking or whatever.
Bonus points if the despair moments end on a satisfying note (think of revenge, a misunderstanding, or something else. Just a nice conclusion)
And lastly, bonus points if there’s romance involved
Thanks
by Neka_JP
1 Comment
I’m going to assume you don’t mean the actual sword & sorcery sub-genre (as in the genre of Conan, Elric, etc.) so much as just medieval-ish fantasy books that include magic and medieval weapons.
If I were to recommend something solely based on the title of your post alone, I would recommend the **Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb**, especially the Fitz books. Those definitely got emotional. But reading the rest of your post, I’m not sure you’d get the kind of satisfaction you’re looking for. Fitz does get some happy moments, but it only makes the tragedy hit all the harder. It’s medieval fantasy that does involve magic. There is romance involved, but it’s not the focus.
**Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden** might be worth trying. It’s based on Russian folklore and follows a young woman named Vasya who discovers that she is able to see and talk to house spirits from Slavic mythology. I found the third and final book to be quite emotional. It’s not relentless tragedy and I do think there is satisfaction.
I wonder if you might also want to try something like **Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay**, but it might be easier to give recommendations if you give us an idea of the kinds of fantasy books you normally like?