,

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.
1

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,528,384 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,490,664 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.53 avg rating — 21,289 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.28 avg rating — 1,721,197 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.02 avg rating — 654,087 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,905,004 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.10 avg rating — 993,731 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.40 avg rating — 297,190 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,917,949 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.97 avg rating — 2,869,815 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.80 avg rating — 366,238 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,047,567 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.02 avg rating — 4,606,754 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,223,480 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.98 avg rating — 2,093,346 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 774,744 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.18 avg rating — 647,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.20 avg rating — 783,494 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.04 avg rating — 560,412 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.25 avg rating — 729,728 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.11 avg rating — 436 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.26 avg rating — 326,109 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.80 avg rating — 277,461 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.65 avg rating — 31,001 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.87 avg rating — 952,936 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,453,693 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.06 avg rating — 380,740 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.06 avg rating — 160,736 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.55 avg rating — 25,718 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.72 avg rating — 46,905 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.03 avg rating — 110,998 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,203,905 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,990,881 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.89 avg rating — 568,600 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.01 avg rating — 119,842 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.26 avg rating — 590,963 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.09 avg rating — 517,289 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.35 avg rating — 840,859 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.13 avg rating — 786,910 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.81 avg rating — 400,298 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,096,529 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,156,196 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.16 avg rating — 563,284 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,452,079 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.75 avg rating — 110,518 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.83 avg rating — 671,690 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.11 avg rating — 180,696 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 136,685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.99 avg rating — 152,121 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.11 avg rating — 66,556 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.92 avg rating — 76,381 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.07 avg rating — 375,643 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.25 avg rating — 274,367 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,492,129 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.15 avg rating — 3,470,451 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.04 avg rating — 121,517 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.86 avg rating — 2,468,115 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.07 avg rating — 17,986 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.43 avg rating — 562,091 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,465,219 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.89 avg rating — 155,022 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.38 avg rating — 181,840 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.85 avg rating — 866,186 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.26 avg rating — 86,363 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,425,616 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.09 avg rating — 203,012 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.21 avg rating — 273,808 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 289,086 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.23 avg rating — 858,405 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.97 avg rating — 45,308 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.05 avg rating — 154,516 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.50 avg rating — 349,737 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.92 avg rating — 23,986 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.25 avg rating — 828,871 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.09 avg rating — 507,539 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.36 avg rating — 237,391 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.73 avg rating — 136,226 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
3.94 avg rating — 400,747 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,240,781 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.90 avg rating — 65,742 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.32 avg rating — 6,534 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.92 avg rating — 83,511 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.09 avg rating — 945,450 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.10 avg rating — 665,659 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.83 avg rating — 351,970 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.15 avg rating — 225,219 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
4.01 avg rating — 659,465 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,106,377 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.96 avg rating — 280,065 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.23 avg rating — 770 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.43 avg rating — 2,463 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.98 avg rating — 75,773 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 284,930 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.10 avg rating — 142,486 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
4.02 avg rating — 570,023 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.98 avg rating — 495,137 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.78 avg rating — 3,942 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.24 avg rating — 7,714 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.91 avg rating — 667,555 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.94 avg rating — 7,772 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2,550 books · 3,267 voters · list created August 23rd, 2009 by Alan Baxter (votes) .
984 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Alan 895 books
379 friends
Greyweather 2660 books
65 friends
Annie 128 books
469 friends
John 868 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 :-)


back to top



Related News

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...

Anyone can add books to this list.