Wholesome grimdark and The Vagrant Trilogy

I don’t really get grimdark fantasy. Cold heroes, hopeless worlds, cynicism as a shorthand for meaning and optimism for foolishness—it depresses and bores me to death. I’m much more of a Tolkien gal myself. The two philosophies could not be more different, blood and guts on the one hand and stupidly joyful eucatastrophe on the other—yet somehow, Peter Newman’s debut Vagrant Trilogy manages to straddle both to become one of my favourite series of all time.

But how? Is it possible? Is it even good? Oh, I am so very glad you asked. I kind of hate to get into it because it was such a delight to read with no expectations, but I’ve also wanted to talk about this for a while so I’ve kept it as spoiler-free as possible. You’re welcome.