So what's the definition of "grimdark" in fiction for you? We're listening to The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (whose Twitter handle is 'lordgrimdark', IIRC) on the commute right now, and today ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
myrialux said to me, "This is less grimdark than The Black Company." Which led me to wonder exactly what it is that makes something grimdark.
For me, I guess it's a sense of no hope through the narrative, along with a lack of leavening humor. So it's more of the effect on the reader, rather than the effect on the characters. So far, about a third of the way through The Blade Itself, there's been plenty of humor--although it is by no means a comedy--and while each character is more or less cynical about their personal circumstances, I don't really get the sense that their lives are just grim slogs while they wait to die. So it doesn't feel grimdark to me.
I may have an unusual perspective on this sort of thing, though.
edit: Asrachelmanija reminds me with my Newbery Award-winning Title and Plot Generator, many, many non-fantasy YA books could be classified as grimdark...
myrialux said to me, "This is less grimdark than The Black Company." Which led me to wonder exactly what it is that makes something grimdark.For me, I guess it's a sense of no hope through the narrative, along with a lack of leavening humor. So it's more of the effect on the reader, rather than the effect on the characters. So far, about a third of the way through The Blade Itself, there's been plenty of humor--although it is by no means a comedy--and while each character is more or less cynical about their personal circumstances, I don't really get the sense that their lives are just grim slogs while they wait to die. So it doesn't feel grimdark to me.
I may have an unusual perspective on this sort of thing, though.
edit: As
rachelmanija reminds me with my Newbery Award-winning Title and Plot Generator, many, many non-fantasy YA books could be classified as grimdark...
