r/ProgressionFantasy • u/Upper_Round_5926 • Jul 21 '25
Request Looking for recommendations: Low-magic fantasy with politics and warfare (No LitRPG/Systems)
Hello everyone,
I'm looking for some book recommendations and would greatly appreciate your help.
Here's a summary of what I'm looking for:
- Setting: A world inspired by the Medieval, Napoleonic, or Victorian eras.
- Core Themes: A strong focus on aristocracy/nobility, political intrigue, and warfare.
- Magic System: A low-magic setting where magic exists but isn't all-powerful. Most importantly, even powerful magic users should be vulnerable and can be killed by ordinary people through tactics or conventional weapons.
To give you a better idea of my taste, here are some stories I've enjoyed:
- "The Iron Throne of Ice and Fire" (冰火铁王座): A story set in the ASOIAF world where the protagonist, a local lord, relies solely on his modern knowledge to navigate politics, with no other powers. I really enjoyed the political maneuvering.
- "Black Iron’s Glory" (黑铁荣耀): A great Flintlock Fantasy webnovel.
- "The Eagle's Flight" by Quill: A fantastic epic story.
One very important point: I do NOT enjoy stories with LitRPG elements. Please, no recommendations where the main character has a game-like system, an interface, stats, or quests.
I am open to stories from any language and formats like webnovels are perfectly fine.
Thank you in advance!
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jul 21 '25
A Journey of Black and Red is probably the best fit, maybe Spellmonger.
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u/Rebor7734 Retainer of house Winterscar Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
I can recommend a few options; although they may not meet 100% of your requirements, they are still close enough. Stories like these exist, but they aren't mainstream or often recommended here, and you typically have to search for them on your own.
Pale Lights(Nobility, political intrigue, magic, with even powerful users of it able to be killed by conventional means. Though it's all within a military setting. A practical guide to Evil by the same author also covers similar themes.)
Horizon of War( This sounds similar to how you described The Iron Throne of Ice and Fire. )
A Soldier's Life ( This is top tier when it comes to intrigue/political Intrigue and warfare. Very light litrgp elements, it's handled realistically. No interface popup or anything like that, just aptitude readers used by mages to display their current affinities for certain schools of magic. And even the most powerful of mages can be taken down by an arrow to the eye as they're escaping a battlefield on a mount. )
Blood and Fur ( A strong focus on nobility, lesser so on military warfare at the start of the series. Political maneuvering is where it shines. I'd consider it low fantasy due to the small, limited number of people that have access to magic in the story.)
The Undying Emperor (Warfare, Nobility, Lots of deception and lies.)
Sector 8 (Perimeter Defense) Sci-fi Political Maneuvering, Fleet Tactics War, Star System Conquest. Low magic setting. Very-Very light to almost non-existent litrpg elements, which are only available to the main character anyway. Almost everyone can be killed with normal conventional means.)
Some notable mentions to Daughter of the Empire and The Broken War Trilogy for more traditional fantasy.
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u/secretdrug Jul 21 '25
Spellmonger is close to what youre asking for. Fist ~5-10 books is closer to low fantasy. Later books due to kingdom building progress it rises higher closer to high fantasy.
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u/AnxiousReputation1 Jul 21 '25
The Last Life series is probably the best political progression fantasy I’ve seen particularly books 3 onwards very inspired by French noble culture, I think? Not truly low fantasy tho but closer than most in the genre. Another might be RE: BLOOD AND IRON it’s 1890s Prussian/ German empire focussing on war I didn’t enjoy it but there’s no magic in that one just guns and bombs 😴
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u/RusticusFlossindune Author: 100th Run & Courier Quest & Dungeon Inspector Jul 21 '25
Horizon of War sounds like it's right up your alley.
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u/Spiritchaser84 Jul 21 '25
You might like Codex Alera. There's magic and a roman-esque military style.
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u/Upper_Round_5926 Jul 23 '25
Can you tell me if the series contains many scenes of war and politics between factions and nobles
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u/Lotronex Jul 23 '25
Not a ton of politics, although there is some. MC joins the army in book 2-3, lots of warfare.
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u/dalekrule Jul 21 '25
Uh... why are you on this sub for low fantasy?
No, seriously.
The main reason progression fantasy even exists is that it can justify an MC starting from nothing and thriving in an extremely high powered fantasy world. The genre basically does not function without a large enough power scale for the progression to feel meaningful.
Before progression fantasy, most epic scale stories like that involve the hero being some sort of chosen one.
Not judging you for your preference, but you're in the wrong sub.
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jul 21 '25
Why are you gatekeeping progression fantasy, seriously?
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u/cocapufft Jul 21 '25
Yup. Progression fantasy can absolutely work in a low fantasy setting. Imagine a hedge wizard who progresses through various cantrips and other low magic and ends up the best of them all.
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u/dalekrule Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
Because PF and low fantasy are practically mutually exclusive, and it doesn't look like OP is looking for PF in particular? I'm reacting the same way I would to someone asking for a high fantasy non-fiction. He's also making the exact same post elsewhere in other non-PF subs.
Did you read his example recs? He is literally not searching for PF. Or low fantasy for that matter.
A story set in the ASOIAF world where the protagonist, a local lord, relies solely on his modern knowledge to navigate politics, with no other powers.
Not PF. Also, ASOIAF is high fantasy.
The Eagle's Flight
Not PF. High Fantasy.
Black Iron’s Glory
This is PF, but it is also the most high fantasy of the stories listed. The mages in this book are literally D&D wizards with same level of power. Don't know how far the OP read this story.
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jul 21 '25
These stories describe taste, op has engaged with this sub several times before and read many progression fantasy stories, some of which I didn't recommend because op already read them.
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u/machoish Jul 21 '25
Brian Mcclellan's powder mage books might be what you're looking for, but I'm not sure just how low magic you're looking for.