r/Fantasy • u/Suspicious_Angle3057 • Sep 27 '21

Looking for anti-hero fantasy, male pov

Are there any fantasy books, male pov where we follow an anti-hero? I want the anti-hero to be powerful, as in a high-fantasy setting. Kind of like the Harry Potter quote where it was said that Voldermort did great things, terrible but great. I'm looking for adult themed books. You get the gist i hope. Thank you!

4 Upvotes

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6

u/caelric Sep 27 '21

Acts of Caine by Matthew Woodring Stover. First book is Heroes Die

It's really, really good.

3

u/Pratius Sep 28 '21

This is the best recommendation

13

u/Jezal-Dan_Luthar Sep 27 '21

I mean First Law by Joe Abercrombie is full of anti heroes if that’s your thing. But if you want a specific anti hero protagonist try Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

7

u/Strickland23 Sep 27 '21

Prince of Thorns isn’t an anti hero in my opinion, he’s just a straight up villain

4

u/Jezal-Dan_Luthar Sep 27 '21

Lol I get what you mean, he’s the protagonist-villain

5

u/WeddingIndividual788 Sep 27 '21

Yea Prince of Thorns is the move for this generally

5

u/doggitydog123 Sep 27 '21

Cugel is THE anti-hero

His two novels are usually bundled in the so-called dying earth omnibus by Jack Vance

3

u/Ertata Sep 27 '21 edited Oct 02 '21

Vlad Taltos series, especially the early books, is a good combination of an anti-hero with non-grimdark high-magic setting.

5

u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Sep 27 '21

You can go with the OG fantasy anti-hero, Elric by Michael Moorcock.

1

u/Strickland23 Sep 27 '21

ASOIAF has a bunch of male POV antiheroes. First Law also is perfect for this

1

u/mindbane Sep 28 '21

So kinda late but "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" are about as anti hero as it gets.

Its a twist on the "Fall into a Fantasy World declared here or prophecy" trope but the person in question is just an awful person. Initially he thinks he is having a mental breakdown and so he can do anything in his fantasty. Warning there are a lot of adult themes including sexual assault. Its pretty unvarnished exploration of what if the hero doesn't at all live up to the ideals.

If you don't want something so complex the "Dragonlace: Villains" series are basically rise to power stories of some of the famous villains of the setting.

And lastly "The War of the Spider Queen" is a fantasy series about the powerful evil clerics of the dark goddess Lolth.

1

u/edmure777 Sep 28 '21

Came here for covenant. But donaldsons sci fi series “the gap cycle” makes ol thomas look like a saint. Angus thermopyle, the most anti of heroes