I Thought Fantasy Books Were Total Trash—Until One Gritty Mercenary Saga Completely Blew My Mind

For decades, high-fantasy book covers have suffered from a branding problem. Swole barbarian warriors posing in leather harnesses, neon-glowing wizard staves, and airbrushed dragons across metallic foil titles have scared off legions of potential readers. To the uninitiated, these absurdly dramatic covers suggest that the contents inside are nothing more than predictable, cheesy pulp.

One lifelong gamer recently confessed to harboring that exact prejudice. Having spent thousands of hours running Dungeons & Dragons campaigns and exploring digital fantasy realms, they routinely turned their nose up at fantasy literature. They assumed the books were unreadable slop written for teenagers and chose to avoid the bookstore aisles entirely.

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That all changed the moment they finally decided to crack open Glen Cook’s 1984 classic, The Black Company.

Within fifty pages, their snobbery evaporated. Instead of a shiny chosen prince embarking on a quest to save a gleaming realm, Cook’s narrative drops readers straight into the mud alongside a band of tired, cynical, and morally ambiguous mercenary soldiers. They aren't heroes out to save the world; they are working stiffs taking paychecks from questionable employers while trying to survive a brutal war between terrifying, godlike sorcerers.

The reader was instantly captivated by the story's primary engine: aggressive, mundane mortals relying on military discipline, plain grit, and dark humor to outsmart cosmic horrors. There is a raw, intoxicating appeal in watching completely un-magical humans look an immortal deity in the eye and figure out how to survive the encounter.

However, after devouring six full books in the saga, the reader hit a wall midway through the seventh novel. Burned out on the specific arc but desperately craving the low-magic, soldier-level vibe, they reached out to the reading community to ask a crucial question: where does a reader go when they fall in love with ordinary mortals confronting the supernatural?

The response sparked a passionate debate among dark fantasy fans, splitting readers into two distinct camps on how to curate the ultimate post-Black Company reading list.

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On one side, champions of grand scope argued that the only proper move is to escalate into massive, sprawling dark fantasy epics. One commenter strongly recommended Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, highlighting how iconic military squads like the Bridgeburners and Bonehunters carry the exact spiritual bloodline of Cook’s mercenary crew. Another reader went further, calling Malazan a bigger, grander, and ultimate evolution of the same themes. Others suggested crossing formats into dark manga like Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, where ordinary mercenaries face terrifying demonic apostles, or picking up modern grimdark offerings like Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils and Miles Cameron’s The Traitor Son Cycle.

On the opposing side, fantasy purists issued a firm warning: jumping directly from Glen Cook to a massive ten-book epic like Malazan is a massive mistake. One reader pointed out that while Malazan was inspired by Cook, its dense writing style and staggering multi-POV structure feel completely different from Cook’s intimate, fast-paced journal format. Instead, this camp insisted that readers stick closer to Cook’s broader bibliography. They urged exploring Cook’s Garrett P.I. series—a hardboiled detective fantasy featuring a powerless protagonist solving crimes in a magical metropolis—or his Instrumentalities of the Night series, where a mundane lead uses realistic medieval warfare and gunpowder tactics to teach eldritch gods that lead hurts. Others championed classic low-fantasy works like Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser or William King’s The Kormak Saga, arguing that keeping the scale grounded and human is far more important than ballooning into sprawling world-building.

Ultimately, whether a reader craves cosmic scale or tight hardboiled grit, the consensus is clear: judging a fantasy book by its cheesy 1980s cover might be the biggest mistake a reader can make.

On the latest episode of Plot Twist, our hosts go head-to-head over whether dark fantasy fans should level up to massive epics or stay grounded in low-magic grit.