70 Books Like The Time of the Dark

I never thought I’d cheer for a crippled torturer, but somehow Abercrombie makes me do it.

The characters in The Blade Itself feel raw and jagged, like real people rather than fantasy archetypes. What I loved most was how no one is truly heroic—everyone’s broken, desperate, or scheming, yet still magnetic. The dialogue crackles with wit, and the shifting perspectives kept me hooked.

It’s grimdark, yes, but never bleak for the sake of it. Instead, it reveals how ugly and fascinating people can be when survival and ambition collide.

This isn’t a typical murder story, but it has it all: personal dilemmas, paranormal lines, and killings wrapped around a dystopian world where good and evil are on a collision course. This is, perhaps my favorite book.

It was King’s gold standard for decades. The traveling east to west, the sages met, the people killed. Those turned against their friends. Twists galore. It is a long read, a bit over 1,100 pages. Don’t let that scare you, it is a page turner from start to finish. 

I first encountered Douglas Adams when I caught The Hitchhiker’s Guide on late-night radio, and I was hooked. The novel is slightly different, with Adams giving a bit more consideration to plot and logic, but it has the same wonderful, rapid-fire dialogue style, which has seldom been replicated.

I absolutely love Arthur Dent’s ludicrous accidental odyssey, meeting characters like Zaphod Beeblebrox and the wonderfully named Slartibartfast. The Guide sits in the background, popping up to provide superbly funny explanations of the history of the universe, humanity’s obsession with money, and a lot more.

For me, the thing that sets this apart from a lot of SFF humor is its ‘Britishness’—there’s a distinct feel of the surreal comic legacy of, for example, Monty Python and The Goon Show.

Yarrow by Charles de Lint (okay, pretty much anything by Charles de Lint, my introduction to urban fantasy. This was the first of his books I read, about Cat Midhair, a writer whose inspiration comes from her very vivid dreams, and who is suddenly cut off from those dreams by a “vampire” who feeds on them. I love de Lint’s writing style, the combination of the real world and fantasy, and some horrific elements that raise the stakes for the characters.  

Ooooh, my goodness. Kane is possibly the best anti-hero ever created, and the combination of cosmic horror, swords, sorcery, action, and awesome storytelling make these books/story collections stand out for me. Kane is an immortal, cursed by a mad god to wander the Earth “until he is destroyed by the violence that he himself has created,” and is a take on the biblical Cain, but a lot more fun. Kane inspired one of the characters in my book series and he may just edge out Conan as my favorite lead in the sword & sorcery genre.

They’re the fictionalized account of the author’s childhood growing up in Deep Valley, Minnesota, and my mom introduced me to these books when I was about nine or so. She’d read them growing up and I reread them constantly into my teens and then every few years as an adult whenever I needed the literary equivalent of hot chocolate and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. I realize these books are not in the genres I write, but inspiration doesn’t always come from obvious places. 

I love listening to Evanovich’s hilarious tales of Stephanie Plum’s misadventures as a wannabe bail/bondsman. These books are my wife’s and my favorite distraction on long road trips. While her mysteries may be thin, her characters are so real and her stories so crazy, I didn’t miss the whodunit. I included her in this August list because she captures the seedy side of Trenton, New Jersey, with amazing clarity, even while laughing at the place.

I picture myself riding in one of her cars—which she destroys regularly—along with her friend, the former ho, LuLu, hair flowing in the stinky wind blowing off deserted warehouses, sleezy girl joints and questionable car repair shops. This is the first in a series that is now at 31.

Remember A-ha’s video for Take on Me? In it, a man in a comic book pulls a woman into that two-dimensional world, and in a moment of desperation, he sends her back to save her. But true love prevails, and she pulls him into a three-dimensional life. I loved this video far more than the song, and I think I know why.

I have long been fascinated by interdimensional travel, and Donaldson’s book might be the root of the reason. A young woman, dissatisfied and disillusioned with everyday life, is offered an opportunity to escape and she takes it by following a man who crashed through her mirror. She becomes the unlikeliest of heroes as she navigates enemies and intrigue in a world she knows nothing about. The escapist in me relished the thought of finding another world and slipping away. Not knowing if the return was possibly teased out… show more.

Tad Williams has many acclaimed series, but this stand-alone novel is my favorite. The protagonist is pulled into another realm where magic reigns supreme. The protagonist must uncover his past while learning about his place in the magical realm before both worlds are destroyed. The way Williams has connected up the two worlds is unique, and the world-building alone gets this story on my must-read list.

Yes, I’m back with another Hambly recommendation. The Windrose Chronicles is my next favorite that makes it onto this list. A programmer pulled out of her cube by the spells of a wizard… as much as I like programming, I can’t think of a day I wish that wouldn’t happen. While I enjoy the world-building, it is once again the relationships that make Hambly’s stories my favorites. The powerful and presumably mad wizard, Antryg Windrose, is one of my all-time favorite characters.