History DarkerAndEdgier / Literature

* A number of later takes on the Literature/CthulhuMythos suffer from this. Granted, [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft]]'s original work is already not exactly kid-friendly...but it's certainly also not relentless doom and gloom about the imminent {{end of the world as we know it}}, and the number of characters who actually die or {{go mad from the revelation}} in his works (an aspect that's sometimes played up to the point of {{Flanderization}}) can be considered almost ''conservative'' by horror standards.

** Even more so, ''The Butter Battle Book'' is a parable about the nuclear arms race between the US and the USSR, represented by two tribes living on opposite sides of a wall analogous to the Berlin Wall.

** Even more so, ''The Butter Battle Book'' is a parable about the nuclear arms race between the US and the USSR, represented by two factions on opposite sides of a wall analogous to the Berlin Wall.

* A number of later takes on the Literature/CthulhuMythos suffer from this. Granted, [[HPLovecraft Lovecraft]]'s original work is already not exactly kid-friendly...but it's certainly also not relentless doom and gloom about the imminent {{end of the world as we know it}}, and the number of characters who actually die or {{go mad from the revelation}} in his works (an aspect that's sometimes played up to the point of {{Flanderization}}) can be considered almost ''conservative'' by horror standards.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. It was a DarkerAndEdgier sequel to ''TheHobbit'' due to a mixture of CerebusSyndrome, TheMoorcockEffect of retconning the Shire into ''TheSilmarillion'' setting, and Tolkien's increasing dissatisfaction with fantasy being marketed to children.

* The NancyDrew Files and HardyBoys Casefiles spin-offs weren't really an attempt to go Darker and Edgier, but a switch to a new publisher removed most of their previous roadblocks, namely NeverSayDie, NoHuggingNoKissing, and the like. In doing so, they also got better written as a side effect, and fans of both series consider them some of the better books in their respective franchises.

* A number of later takes on the Literature/CthulhuMythos suffer from this. Granted, [[HPLovecraft Lovecraft]]'s original work is already not exactly kid-friendly...but it's certainly also not relentless doom and gloom about the imminent {{end of the world as we know it}}, and the number of characters who actually die or {{go mad from the revelation}} in his works (an aspect that's often played up) can be considered almost ''conservative'' by horror standards.

* ''Cahills vs. Vespers'', the second series of ''The39Clues'', takes some noticeable liberties with language, violence, and romantic relationships as compared to its preceding series.

** Another Gregory Maguire novel, ''Mirror Mirror'', about Literature/SnowWhite has lots of kink. (Menstruation ''[[DidNotDoTheResearch does not work that way!]]'')

* ''WickedLovely'' was, on its own, dark, due to being an UrbanFantasy novel about TheFairFolk. Ink Exchange was [[RapeAsBackstory much]], [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence much]], ''[[DrugsAreBad much]]'' more so. Then came fragile eternity, the [[LighterAndSofter Lightest and Softest]] of the series. Then came Radiant Shadows, which was similar in tone to Ink Exchange, with the additions of [[spoiler:Tish]] being KilledOffForReal, and [[spoiler:Irial]] being wounded to the extent that he'll die within a fortnight. So, it's pretty much DarkerAndEdgier And Deader.

** Harry occasionally mentions this, either to the readers or to Ebenezer McCoy. It's part of how he reasons out that the Black Council has to exist.

** YourMileageMayVary on when the series begins growing up.

* Many of the original BrothersGrimm fairytales were this before {{Disneyfication}}.

* TheLorax is this compared to the other Dr. Seuss books. It teaches about the consequences of not acknowledging natural resources until they are gone.

** Another Gregory Maguire novel, ''Mirror Mirror'', about Literature/SnowWhite has lots of kink. (Menstruation ''DoesNotWorkThatWay!'')

* TheLorax is this compared to the other Dr. Seuss books. It teaches about the consequences of not acknowledging natural resources until they are gone.

** YourMileageMayVary on when the series begins growing up. Getting the HP fandom to agree on anything is BeyondTheImpossible.

* Being a Warhammer40k series, GauntsGhosts was never sunshine and rainbows, but starting with ''The Guns of Tanith'' things got noticeably more brutal and grim, with beloved characters dying off, the battles getting even more desperate. Compare series starter ''First & Only'' with book 8, ''Traitor General'', and you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were reading two entirely different series.

* A series of original novels based upon the ''Series/TombRaider'' games was published in the mid-2000s. While the games themselves had become darker and edgier over time, the novels fully recast Lara as a killer more than an explorer and archeologist. One novel, ''The Man of Bronze'', is particularly violent, with Lara describing in first person how she mercilessly kills a group of thugs (in the process recalling how she once killed a man [[KissOfDeath while kissing him]]). Later, she attempts to kill a man in cold blood for apparently no other reason than he was painting a sexy portrait of her (she is unsuccessful).

** Sometimes, oddly enough, ''justified in universe''. Harry's behavior for a few books was due to [[spoiler: him being possessed by a Fallen Angel]]. Molly's demeanor in Ghost Stories is actually an act that she's using [[spoiler: to try and be as scary to bad guys as Harry was]].

** Another Gregory Maguire novel, ''Mirror Mirror'', about SnowWhite has lots of kink. (Menstruation ''DoesNotWorkThatWay!'')
** NeilGaiman gave SnowWhite a similar treatment in his short story "Snow, Glass, Apples."

* Being a Warhammer40k series, GauntsGhhosts was never sunshine and rainbows, but starting with ''The Guns of Tanith'' things got noticeably more brutal and grim, with beloved characters dying off, the battles getting even more desperate. Compare series starter ''First & Only'' with book 8, ''Traitor General'', and you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were reading two entirely different series.

* ''Darke'' of the ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' series is noticeably darker than the preceding books, what with the existence of the Castle being on play and lots of people dying in the end.

* The NancyDrew Files and HardyBoys Casefiles spin-offs weren't really an attempt to go Darker and Edgier, but a switch to a new publisher removed most of their previous roadblocks, namely NeverSayDie, NoHuggingNoKissing, and the like. In doing so, they also got better written as a side effect, and fans of both series consider them some of the better books in their respective franchises.

* Many of the poems in ''[[SongsOfInnocenceAndOfExperience Songs of Experience]]'' are darker counterparts to poems in ''Songs of Innocence'', for example "THE Chimney Sweeper" to "The Chimney Sweeper", "Infant Sorrow" to "Infant Joy", and both "The Human Abstract" and the cut poem "A DIVINE IMAGE" to "The Divine Image".

* ''TheLordOfTheRings''. It was a DarkerAndEdgier sequel to ''TheHobbit'' due to a mixture of CerebusSyndrome, TheMoorcockEffect of retconning the Shire into ''TheSilmarillion'' setting, and Tolkien's increasing dissatisfaction with fantasy being marketed to children.
* Many of the original ''Brothers Grimm'' fairytales were this before {{Disneyfication}}.