Leading the charge of dark, gritty fantasy along with Glen Cook and George RR Martin.
Finally, I'm going to discuss an actual fantasy book series. And man, this is a good one. Before I read Gardens of the Moon, I had never experienced one of the truly dark fantasy novels (most people credit Glen Cook and his The Black Company as the catalyst of this new wave of fantasy). I was missing out.
While you can make the claim that series like The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings have their share of dark moments, they're easily accessible and enjoyable to younger audiences. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, along with The Black Company and A Song of Ice and Fire, are strictly adults-only. They delve into the brutal realities of life and human nature, from vivid descriptions of violence to young children forced into sexual situations, from rape to the agonizing lives of slaves and common people displaced by war. It's unlikely that someone who isn't old enough to have experienced the world for themselves will understand this series and empathize with the masses of people trapped in the most squalid of conditions.
It's obvious from the very beginning that The Malazan Book of the Fallen isn't your typical fantasy. While Gardens of the Moon is widely considered the weakest book in the series (it's also the shortest), it still provides us with deep political intrigue, epic battles, and a massive storyline loaded with interesting characters. Thousands upon thousands of people are slaughtered within the first one hundred pages of this book. It's a hook unlike any other, and it's very likely you'll be instantly addicted. Steven Erikson is almost unique in that he doesn't need a big buildup before the action; he's not afraid to throw you right into the middle of the action, often with little background information, forcing you to piece together what's going on for yourself. While this can make the early books a struggle, stick with it and you'll experience fantasy like you've never read it before.
If you can make it to book 2, Deadhouse Gates, you're probably not going to turn back. Almost the entire story is one enormous battle, only occasionally interrupted by some adventuring. It's easily one of the most epic fantasy books ever created. Still confusing, perhaps, but I promise you'll have a hard time putting it down. At this point, you'll also realize just how massive this series is in scope. The series takes place over the span of several huge continents, with hundreds of characters for their own unique cause. You won't find a bigger series than The Malazan Book of the Fallen.
As great as Deadhouse Gates is, I thought Memories of Ice actually trumped it. The interweaving plot-lines are better than ever, the battles somehow more epic, and the pace never dropping despite being a longer book. Memories of Ice is my favorite book in the series and quite possibly the greatest fantasy book ever written. But it doesn't really go downhill from there, as I've currently read through book 9, Dust of Dreams. They're all incredible for the same reasons mentioned above, and while Midnight Tides in particular gets slow, there are few series that exude that feeling of "epicness" like The Malazan. Toll the Hounds got a fuzzy reception from fans, but I personally found the politics in it to be more interesting than any other fantasy book I've read. The ending is also heart-wrenching, and it's not a cliffhanger like in Dust of Dreams.
It's been too long for me to give a detailed review of each of these books (except Dust of Dreams, which is coming up), but the bottom line is that you need to read this series. It's definitely one of the top 3 fantasy series out there. When The Crippled God comes out in paperback (soon), I'll get right on that one as well, along with the Esslemont novels.
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