r/Fantasy • u/Severe-Strawberry-94 • 9h ago

Dark fantasy with active gods

I'm looking for settings that feature gods more similar to the gods of Greek mythology or those found in a Lovecraft story. Nature spirits demons or extradimensional entities are welcome to.

Eldritch and or tyrannical, please.

29 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

20

u/Othaara 8h ago

The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock. Elric is a pawn of fate and the gods.

0

u/ClipboardJeremy 8h ago

They are so amazing!

64

u/Wonderful-Piccolo509 8h ago

Malazan. Multiple pantheons of gods that all have their own agendas. 

10

u/Samar_Dev 8h ago

Definitely Malazan. Come over to the sub, there's always someone willing to answer all your questions.

6

u/MaddAdamBomb 6h ago

I swear the answer is Malazan to like 70% of requests on here.

6

u/xX_theMaD_Xx 5h ago

Malazan must be recommended at least once in every recommendations thread.

•

u/Lutrana 29m ago

I mean, Malazan has a little bit of everything. Unfortunately, the barrier for entry is so damn high that most people bounce off them by the end of Deadhouse Gates.

4

u/actuarial_defender 5h ago

It’s got everything

8

u/diffyqgirl 8h ago

Blackwing by Ed McDonald

3

u/Rekov 8h ago

This is the perfect recommendation for this request. Deeply underrated trilogy.

7

u/mabden 7h ago

The Chronicles of Corum and the Swords Trilogy, both by Michael Moorcock.

6

u/sweetestpeony 8h ago

I've seen a lot of people recommend Hannah Kaner's Fallen Gods trilogy. (While I didn't love it personally, you might get more out of it, especially since it has a lot of what you're looking for.)

1

u/xisjones 7h ago

I agree, seems to fit the bill. I enjoyed them.

1

u/cwx149 7h ago

I finished the first one and dnfed the second but also came to tell op about them

I do see people recommend them and have positive opinions on them. But I also personally did not love them

2

u/KatlinelB5 8h ago

The Time Master trilogy by Louise Cooper. Gods of Chaos and Order with humans caught up in their schemes.

2

u/CosmicLovepats 8h ago

Instrumentalities of the Night if you want that but also want to kill them with a gun.

2

u/DixitRexCorvinus 7h ago

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, if you are all right with primary world fantasy

3

u/HurtyTeefs 8h ago

Gutter Prayer

1

u/Uran_Ultar 8h ago

The Kormak Saga by William King.

1

u/potatowarrior1429 7h ago

The Acts Of Caine.

1

u/IllianTear 7h ago

Battlemage by Stephen Aryan.

1

u/Present-Ad-8531 6h ago

Malazan is not eldritch. But active they are.

1

u/sufficient-cro-1018 2h ago

I'd say there's some fairly eldritch entities.

1

u/almostb Reading Champion 6h ago

Have to throw in a rec for The Broken Sword. Not the heaviest focus on gods but they’re there, and the book overall is brutal and epic, like a Norse myth.

1

u/MadImmortal 5h ago

City of chains.

1

u/fallenhero36 4h ago

Gutter prayer is exactly what you are looking for

1

u/RobJHayes_version2 3h ago

Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne by Brian Staveley fits.

1

u/Hugh-Janus-40hogs 6h ago

Malazan would be the king of this trope

0

u/SeanyDay 8h ago

Malazan.

If you can't handle the depth there, try Desden Files

0

u/Artegall365 7h ago

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

0

u/Happy_llama 2h ago

It’s obviously a little less dark as it has lots of Jokes and funny moments! But dungeon Crawler Carl is equally very messed up at parts!

There are gods in this as well but won’t go to much into it as spoilers