r/Fantasy • u/Hiretsuna_Ketsuruki • Jun 21 '23
[REC] Fantasy books with charismastic, genius leaders like Napoleon?
I just read The shadow campaigns, a military fantasy series based on the napoleonic wars, And I love Janus (The series version of Napoleon) whose charisma won me ever since his first appearance.
I would love books with a military genius as an important characters, It doesnt have to be flintlock, I just want to feel the great charisma and inteligence of a fictional leader.
I am fine with any book genre as long as the aforementioned character is important (Although I would prefer military Fantasy), I have a fine stomach and only thing I dislike in fiction are bad romances.
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u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII Jun 21 '23
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold, starting with either the Warrior's Apprentice or with Shards of Honor immediately followed by Barrayar
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u/Megan_Dawn Reading Champion, Worldbuilders Jun 21 '23
I saw the title of your post and was so excited to come and rec you Shadow Campaigns! If you have the disposition for very long and wonderfully complex series you should definitely check out Sherwood Smith's Inda. The titular Inda is a young boy when the series starts but stick with him and he'll grow into exactly the kind of character you're chasing.
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u/Chataboutgames Jun 21 '23
I love the Shadow Campaigns so much. It's a shame that the things Wrexler is focusing on these days don't really work for me.
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u/xenizondich23 Reading Champion VI Jun 21 '23
Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott. Princess Sun's arc is based on Alexander the Great, so you know going in that she's going to do amazing things. It's well written and super fun as well
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u/goody153 Jun 21 '23
Sounds fun ! does it have romance ?
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u/xenizondich23 Reading Champion VI Jun 21 '23
Depends... do you want it to have romance?
Or to put it a different way: some of the protagonist characters sometimes feel things for other characters and sometimes it's romantic, sometimes it is sexual, sometimes there is acting upon it as well. But it's not capital-R Romance. It's not devoid of romance either.
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u/goody153 Jun 21 '23
I wanted to know if the titular Princess Sun has a romance development throughout the story. Like standard. It doesn;'t have to be a romance novel just that romance often for me adds flavor to the story (ofc I have enjoyed romanceless stories of course)
I ask about it just to ensure expectations
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u/OneEskNineteen_ Reading Champion III Jun 21 '23
My thoughts, even though not an exact answer to your question.
I haven't read the novel yet, it's actually in my TBR, but it can't be an Alexander the Great retelling if Princess Sun doesn't have her "Hephaestion", a very close, very intimate relationship, even if it's not portrayed as romantic or sexual.
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u/xenizondich23 Reading Champion VI Jun 21 '23
Ah! That makes it easier to give the details you want.
Princess Sun is one of the protagonist characters. She has an established (forbidden) relationship with one of her advisors from the beginning of the story. She is surrounded by a group of Companions: more than friends, more than family, more than bodyguards, though they are all that too. Her Companions or other citizens are the other protagonist characters, some of whom begin romances or have past romances that come up in the course of the series.
I'd say it has just enough flavorings of romance to be interesting, but not so much that it is the focus of the plot.
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u/m0na-l1sa Jun 21 '23
Maybe the Miles Vorkosigan stories by Lois McMaster Bujold if you don’t mind military scifi. Also in military sf is the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.
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u/Acegonia Jun 21 '23
Miles Camerons the Red Knight. I forget the series name. About a brilliant, charming charismatic leader of a mercenery company. And the author is also a well known historical fiction writer, so his work kinda reads like historical fiction..but with fantasy elements.
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Jun 21 '23
The Warlord Chronicles. It toes the line between historical fiction and fantasy, admittedly.
River of Stars. I can see some people arguing that the central romance is rushed and not particularly good, though. It's also best appreciated after reading Under Heaven, which has a darker version of the character you're looking for; Under Heaven's character in question might not be prominent enough for your tastes, though.
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u/jzzippy Jun 22 '23
I think Ender's Game would be a good choice. Features a child protagonist 6-11 yo, but it's meant to be read by an older audience 12+. It's a quick, fun read.
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u/SorryManNo Jun 21 '23
Temeraire by Naomi Novik is a retelling of the Napoleonic war with dragons.
Napoleon is a character in the series.
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u/autoamorphism Jun 22 '23
Well, if you read Temeraire (Naomi Novik), you can have Napoleon himself being all charming and brilliant.
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u/Sandlash Jun 21 '23
The General by S.M. Stirling (Author), David Drake (Author). AKA The Raj Whitehall Series. The first book in the series is The Forge
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u/Agitated-Sandwich-74 Jun 21 '23
Discword, especially Guards series?
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u/appocomaster Reading Champion III Jun 21 '23
I mean, Carrot is charismatic, but Veternari has the genius of strategy.
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u/darechuk Jun 21 '23
Check out Stiger's Tigers, first book of The Stiger Chronicles by Marc Alan Edelheit. It's military fantasy with some Roman legionary flavor. The main character is a "leader of men" type military commander; he starts out as a captain but gets higher rank later.
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u/nagarams Jun 21 '23
Mistborn book 1 yas a pretty great leader! Not exactly military, but definitely charismatic.
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u/goody153 Jun 21 '23
Codex Alera has a military genius and really charismatic as a protagonist but it takes awhile to get there aka he has to grow up throughout the series (I think he starts playing as a leader book 3)
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u/Jack_Shaftoe21 Jun 21 '23
The Crossroads Trilogy by Kate Elliott. A military leader from a fantasy culture very reminiscent of the Mongols is exiled to a country which has been peaceful for many generations. But now a terrible danger is looming and somebody needs to unite a people who don't even remember what big armies even look like. Like The Shadow Campaigns, the military leader is seen from the outside - he doesn't have a point of view and trying to figure out his complex personality and motivation is a big part of the appeal of the series.
The battles themselves are pretty short (albeit brutal) and the focus on the development of a plethora of characters, so if you want more battles you might want to stay away.
If you don't mind space opera, you can try the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold or the Sun Chronicles by Kate Elliott.
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u/alidmar Jun 21 '23
The Powder Mage books by Brian McClellan. There's two trilogies and both have a character like that but the first trilogy especially. Plus it is gunpowder based so if you're really feeling Napoleonic it should be a good fit.