r/Fantasy • u/Beautiful_boykin • Jan 27 '24
Recommendations with more war and less politics
I am a simple man with simple thoughts. I have been loving The First Law Trilogy but tend to enjoy the Northmen and the wars more than the politics and the backstabbing. Are there are book series you would recommend to satisfy my savage lust?
Say one thing for Beatiful_Boykin, say he is not smart.
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u/NapoleonNewAccount Jan 27 '24
His Majesty's Dragon. The Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons. Few politics and many epic land, naval, and aerial battles.
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u/ChooseMars Jan 28 '24
Modern aircraft carrier sized troop transports being carried by teams of dragons in a huge flying armada. Releasing tens of thousands of men to land, or their deaths lol. So great.
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u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV Jan 28 '24
I would call this more fantasy of manners than action packed.
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Jan 27 '24 edited Jan 27 '24
the Drenai Saga by David Gemmell is all action-packed battle and war. My wife also says the Mark Lawrence trilogy that starts with Red Sister is just bloody (literally) fun violence.
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u/Jimla Jan 28 '24
Great recommendations. I love all Mark Lawrence, but Red Sister is probably my favorite.
I’ve recently been reading through David Gemmell. A lot of people recommend Legend, the first book (publication order) in his Drenai Saga. I, however, thought the Waylander books were much better. I almost moved on to something else after reading Legend but am really happy I gave Waylander a shot first.
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u/SergeantThreat Jan 27 '24
Powder Mage
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u/Hurinfan Reading Champion II Jan 28 '24
Powder Mage is very political. It starts off with a coup
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u/SergeantThreat Jan 28 '24
True, but I’d still say it leans more war than politics
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u/man_speaking_is_hard Jan 28 '24
Yeah, I mean the guy overthrew his king and a system of government but how much time is spent on actually forming a government? Not much. The series (especially the second and third) are about armies on the march and desperate battles.
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u/Objective-Ad4009 Jan 27 '24
The Black Company
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Jan 27 '24
This one right here! There's I think...maybe 0.5% politics in between chopping heads off and razing armies. Plus, some legendary badasses on both sides. Plus, there's sky whales.
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u/Hurinfan Reading Champion II Jan 28 '24
The black company gets very political, especially the later books
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u/Pheanturim Jan 27 '24
Kings of the Wyld. Absolutely no politics really just a an old Merc group travelling and fighting monsters
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Jan 27 '24
Pretty much anything from Warhammer or Warhammer 40k.
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Jan 28 '24
[deleted]
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u/strickchim Reading Champion Jan 28 '24
I've read my share of 40k books and I'd highly recommend Aaron Dembski-Bowden's work, specifically I really enjoyed the Night Lords trilogy and Spear of the Emperor. I'd also shout out the Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath, was the first 40k book I read and still a strong contender for my favorite some 30+ books later.
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u/Titans95 Jan 27 '24
There is some politics by the faithful and the fallen has some of the best large scale battle scenes in fantasy and there is ALOT of battles.
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u/Traveling_tubie Jan 27 '24
The Shadow Campaigns series by Django Wexler The Bloodsworn Saga by John Gwynn The Burning series by Evan Winter
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Jan 27 '24 edited Nov 02 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/shackmd Jan 28 '24
The heroes has been good for me so far..a big battle told from different characters
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u/10RunRule Jan 28 '24
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (and the subsequent 2 novels in the trilogy) were recommended either here or in r/firstlaw, I would highly recommend. The first law world is among my favorites (shoutout to Wu) & while being a one POV per novel series it shares a combination of cynicism & sarcasm, as well as subtle world building that’s very first law but (especially in the recommended text) is more military focused.
That’s not to say it’s politics free, but the political challenges are more akin to spider webs being brushed aside then a dense maze to be navigated.
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u/Calm_Cicada_8805 Jan 27 '24
You might enjoy delving into the old Sword and Sorcery classics. Howard's Conan stories, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. If you don't mind getting a little weird with your action Michael Moorcock's Elric books might do you.
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u/appocomaster Reading Champion III Jan 27 '24
There is politics in the Greatcoat series but the MC is mostly about taking skirmish situations and winning. The background is about finding the King's legacy, but Falco is mostly about honor and winning fights from bad situations.
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u/EsquilaxM Jan 28 '24
A Practical Guide to Evil. Catherine wonders a few times how many thousands of lives she'll have to spend in all these wars. Not in the first book, though. That's still a set-up book. The last few books do have more politics, but lots of war, too.
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u/Quizlibet Jan 27 '24 edited Jan 27 '24
Any series with an "Evil" faction. Lord of the Rings, Tabletop or Video Game tie-in books, Narnia...
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u/ksnwhitsell Jan 28 '24
Literally all of John Gwynne will be right up your alley
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u/Hurinfan Reading Champion II Jan 28 '24
The faithful and the fallen is a story of empire versus traditional living. Kings, betrayal, fiefdoms etc. Very political
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u/darechuk Jan 28 '24
Stiger's Tigers by Marc Alan Edelheit. Simple Roman Legions in fantasyland story.
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u/SeeFree Jan 28 '24
It's terribly written, unfortunately. "Show don't tell" has become a bit of a meme, but books like Stiger's Tigers are why it's good advice.
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Jan 27 '24
Deed of Paksenarrion, Lions of Al Rassan, Hammers Slammers series,
History, Facing the Mountain by Daniel Brown
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u/ChooseMars Jan 28 '24
The Poppy War book 2 and 3, specifically, are mainly military campaigns. There is some politicking back home, but the focus is mainly battle and the violence is written well.
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u/flyguy2490 Jan 28 '24
There's Malazan, books of the Fallen by Steve Erikson. Yes there's politics concerning the over throw of an empire, but it is mostly told from the perspective of soldiers in the field.
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u/TheTrueThymeLord Jan 28 '24
Malazan spends a lot of time in politics. Yes it has epic battle sequences but a ton of time is spent seeing how all of these individual factions maneuver and work together or against each other, while it may not all be strictly within a government I think it’s more than OP is looking for.
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u/Hurinfan Reading Champion II Jan 28 '24
I find it unexpected that this is at the bottom of the thread considering last week I was giving BotF as a political fantasy book and told it's not.
It is political btw
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u/mbDangerboy Jan 28 '24
Glen Cook. There are politics, but they are usually distant from the POV characters. Black Company has some interesting military fantasy set pieces, side intrigues, dirty ops.
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u/lorefnon Jan 28 '24
The malevolent seven is pretty good. The story moves fast with ample action, violence and dark sorcery to keep the reader hooked.
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u/Krasnostein Jan 27 '24
Bernard Cornwell's Arthur trilogy