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My novels are dark fantasy thrillers, so I thought I'd make a list with quality dark fiction, particularly dark genre fiction and include books that have appealed to me or that have inspired my writing over the years.
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25

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4.06 avg rating — 376,846 ratings
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4.05 avg rating — 158,376 ratings
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29

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3.71 avg rating — 46,417 ratings
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30

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31

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32

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3.83 avg rating — 1,183,059 ratings
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33

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4.35 avg rating — 9,815,557 ratings
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34

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3.89 avg rating — 562,417 ratings
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35

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36

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4.26 avg rating — 586,328 ratings
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37

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38

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4.13 avg rating — 777,991 ratings
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39

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40

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41

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42

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43

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44

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45

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46

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47

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4.11 avg rating — 178,112 ratings
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48

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49

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50

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4.11 avg rating — 64,816 ratings
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51

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52

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53

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54

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55

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56

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57

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58

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59

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60

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4.18 avg rating — 3,428,267 ratings
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61

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62

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3.38 avg rating — 178,853 ratings
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63

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64

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65

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66

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67

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4.21 avg rating — 269,827 ratings
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68

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4.23 avg rating — 841,077 ratings
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75

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76

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77

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4.36 avg rating — 235,088 ratings
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78

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80

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81

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82

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83

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4.09 avg rating — 922,370 ratings
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84

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85

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3.83 avg rating — 347,992 ratings
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86

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4.15 avg rating — 216,974 ratings
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87

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,091,867 ratings
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88

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4.42 avg rating — 2,382 ratings
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89

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4.10 avg rating — 655,399 ratings
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90

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3.96 avg rating — 275,395 ratings
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91

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4.23 avg rating — 759 ratings
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92

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3.98 avg rating — 75,120 ratings
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92

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4.02 avg rating — 268,063 ratings
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4.11 avg rating — 140,813 ratings
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95

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3.98 avg rating — 487,666 ratings
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96

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4.02 avg rating — 564,889 ratings
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98

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4.14 avg rating — 45,176 ratings
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99

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3.78 avg rating — 3,822 ratings
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100

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4.26 avg rating — 6,723 ratings
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2,509 books · 3,223 voters · list created August 23rd, 2009 by Alan Baxter (votes) .
978 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Alan 883 books
379 friends
Greyweather 2660 books
65 friends
Annie 128 books
470 friends
John 857 books
53 friends
Oscar 98 books
4 friends
Kgb 38 books
9 friends
Paul 364 books
281 friends
Belinda 816 books
30 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Greyweather (new)

Greyweather I Am Legend is a science fiction novel, not a fantasy novel.

And Replay? Dark? I strongly disagree.


message 2: by Alan (new)

Alan Baxter Maybe the list should have been called Quality Dark Genre Fiction instead. As I said in the description, "I thought I'd make a list with quality dark fiction, particularly dark genre fiction..." I don't necessarily draw a big distinction between fantasy and sci fi. I Am Legend, a sci fi book with vampires - is it sci fi or horror? Or horror sci fi? Or fantasy sci fi? It's all speculative fiction. Beyond that I don't really care.

I think there is an underlying darkness to Replay, given that what's happening to the MC is pretty horrible, at least initially.



message 3: by John (new)

John Burns I have to agree with greayweather, i find your definition of "dark" pretty confusing. Replay feels a little out of place here.


message 4: by Alan (new)

Alan Baxter Fair enough. It's certainly the least dark given the rest of the list. Perhaps it's something to do with when I read it! :)

Vote for others that you do agree with and add some more to help refine the definition.


message 5: by Oscar (new)

Oscar Gormenghast deserves a place at the top.


message 6: by Elina (new)

Elina I am interested... I will read this whole list and give my feedback. How exciting, Red Dragon however not that dark to me. Its strange what I find dark, Interview with the vampire was dark, beautiful but dark. So lets see your list chamep... I'm excited.


Loveliest Evaris God this whole list is just what I'm looking for. All I need is one similar to this, but with some twisted romance and I am set. A hundred thank yous to whoever made this list!


message 8: by Ava (new)

Ava Amazing list. I'm glad I already have a few of these down. Excited to run through its entirety.


message 9: by Madly Jane (new)

Madly Jane Very mixed list, but I've read a lot of them and Gormenghast the big edition of all three deserves to be at the top! Agree!


message 10: by Jessica (new)

Jessica Anathem isn't dark! A lot of these are just books where yes, there might be a death, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's "dark." The term "dark fiction" usually denotes a story that revolves around death or horror. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time? Moby-Dick?


message 11: by Jessica (new)

Jessica A Christmas Carol?!


message 12: by Raman (new)

Raman Kumar good book


message 13: by Donna (last edited Nov 08, 2015 04:56PM) (new)

Donna Davis System found and removed one duplicate.

Removed from page 9 for being nonfiction: Helter Skelter
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Also, I want to advocate for one of the books I have added. If you think that Fannie Farmer's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe deserves to be higher on this list, go to the back page and vote for it. Thanks.


message 14: by Karin (new)

Karin This is practically my tbr list.


message 15: by Greg (new)

Greg WOW! I've read 42 of the top 100 on this list and have never thought that I particularly liked "dark fiction"! I'm very stingy with my five star ratings, but two of the most beautiful books I've ever read appear here: Lolita and Titus Groan, both of which I rated 5 stars.


message 16: by Janet (new)

Janet Numan I second Karin - this is my most want to read list!


message 17: by Donna (last edited Jan 24, 2018 03:43PM) (new)

Donna Davis The system found and removed 3 duplicates.

I really like this list also. If you see a title that plainly does not belong--nonfiction, or something sunny and joyous--please indicate the page number it's on, and if you can include a link, that's the best. Thus far however, it looks great.


message 18: by Rachel Adiyah (new)

Rachel Adiyah I think that the problem with this list is that many of the titles on it are simply science-fiction, which often appears "dark" to those unfamiliar with the genre. There is very little to none "sunny" sci-fi. Then there are dark fantasy books listed like The Gunslinger, and truly dark fiction novels such as Lolita and Breakfast of Champions mixed in with the science-fiction, making it the smoothie book list from hell. Personally, I would not put all of these books together on the same list. Yes, I voted, but honestly they really don't all fit together.


message 19: by Donna (new)

Donna Davis Rachel Adiyah wrote: "I think that the problem with this list is that many of the titles on it are simply science-fiction, which often appears "dark" to those unfamiliar with the genre. There is very little to none "sun..."

The list maker included fantasy with the tags, so as far as intent, The Gunslingers are legit. Sounds like you don't care for mixed genre lists.

The system found and removed 3 duplicates. Whatever other problems may or may not exist with this list, having a working duplicate link is a huge win.


message 20: by Vicki (last edited Jul 25, 2020 05:15PM) (new)

Vicki #8 and #48 also #466 = Fahrenheit 451


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Vicki wrote: "#8 and #48 also #466 = Fahrenheit 451"

Should be solved now, as I had the system perform another duplicate check.


message 22: by The Cheshire (new)

The Cheshire Cat Really interesting list - thank you! Food for thought :-)


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