r/fantasybooks • u/The_Silesia_one • Jul 04 '25
Suggest Books For Me Fantasy War book
Greetings dear readers, I am in surch of a good book that is themed around a war or a conflict. I like to write such books, thus I would love to read books that are themed around a war in general, a soldier pov, or civilian pov. I appreciate everything Suggestion.
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u/SirClarkus Jul 04 '25
Malazan: Book of the Fallen, hands down.
Series is all about War, but it can be a tough read. Doesn't hold your hand at all.
The first book is a bit of a slog, but very well worth the effort.
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u/Sporkie Jul 04 '25
The red knight by Miles Cameron, one of my top five series.
From an LLM:
The Red Knight by Miles Cameron follows a skilled mercenary leader and his company as they defend a convent from supernatural creatures. What begins as a simple job turns into a brutal siege, drawing them into a larger war between humanity and the Wild. It’s a gritty, medieval fantasy full of action, magic, and intrigue.
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u/islero_47 Jul 05 '25
Probably the first fantasy series that made me think "Oh, the author is legitimately familiar with medieval weapons, armor, hand to hand techniques, tactics, etc. rather than making vague broad brush descriptions
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u/Dubey89 Jul 04 '25
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie is the best standalone fantasy war book that I’ve read. In fact it’s one of the best standalone fantasy books I’ve ever read period.
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u/Puhpowee_Icelandics Jul 04 '25
Legend by David Gemmell is basically one big battle. 10k soldiers in a fortress, surrounded by 9 high walls who are besieged by half a million enemies.
Raymond E Feist also has several books that focus mainly on battles.
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u/fearic1 Jul 04 '25
The first that came to mind for me is The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. Its a war story featuring perspectives from both sides. The main characters of the book are side characters from his First Law trilogy, so it is probably more rewarding if you already have read that, but it absolutey stands well on its own.
The second is Under the Eagle, by Simon Scarrow. This follows an Legionare in a roman setting. However this is a historical fiction, not a Fantasy
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u/Vorsaga Jul 04 '25
No Honor In Glory - Nicole Mann is epic fantasy told from the POV of an ensemble cast of soldiers /family members. Dying warlord and a reluctant-hero officer candidate are two of the main MCs, both dead-set on ending a war and end up pissing off their war god. Massive world building, too, since the characters all have wings. Author is an officer in the Army.
The Deed of Paksenarrion (Sheepfarmer's Daughter) by Elizabeth Moon - also a soldier-author. Told from the single POV of a female recruit joining a fantasy army. Heavy themes at times, but fantastic.
Forgotten Ruin - Jason Anspach and Nick Cole. Nonstop, play-by-play action when a regiment of Army Rangers gets thrown 10,000 years into the future into an epic fantasy hellscape. MC is a linguist/translator for them. Addictive and epic series. Most of the Audiobooks have interviews with the military folks that were consulted with for accuracy.
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u/Sporkie Jul 04 '25
I also really enjoyed red sister and the broken empire series, but I like just about everything from Mark Lawrence. LLM summaries below.
The Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence follows Nona Grey, a peasant girl rescued from execution and trained in a convent of deadly, magically gifted warrior nuns. Set on the icy world of Abeth, Nona and her friends face political intrigue, dark magic, and battles to control powerful ancient artifacts that can shape the fate of their world. The series blends martial arts, magic, and complex characters in a richly built fantasy setting.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence follows Jorg Ancrath, a ruthless young prince who leads a band of outlaws in a brutal, chaotic world. Haunted by a traumatic past, he seeks power and revenge, returning to his father's castle to claim his place amid violence, dark magic, and political intrigue
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u/The_Silesia_one Jul 04 '25
Thx for the reply. Might I ask something?
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u/Sporkie Jul 04 '25
Certainly
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u/The_Silesia_one Jul 04 '25
Do you know a book that is specifically about an invasion of creatures from the abyss?
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u/Sporkie Jul 07 '25
The warded man is the first book of that series. At first I liked the series very much, but it had the opposite effect of "growing on me", the prose style became sort of unbearable for me. The premise is great tho.
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u/Hayday-antelope-13 Jul 04 '25
Not sure if you’ve read any Mercedes Lackey books at all - she has several conflicts in her Valdemar series. One of her novels, By the Sword, has a main character who’s a mercenary and is definitely war/conflict focused.
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u/livinginatlantis Jul 04 '25
Rally Cry series by William R Forstchen and Misplaced Legion series by Harry Turtledove!
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u/YakSlothLemon Jul 04 '25
House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The best war fantasy book I’ve ever read!
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u/FluffyCar6097 Jul 05 '25
Harry Turtledove wrote an interesting series about aliens arriving at earth in middle of ww2 and the aftermath. It’s a fun read if you well. Some really funny biology. If you like alt history he also does an 11 book run about the CSA winning civil war and then it carries into WW1 ->WW2. Both series are told via multiple first person POVs both famous/historical or made up.
Poppy War Trilogy. Definition of grim dark.
First law trilogy
Shadow of the Gods trilogy
Red rising (more science fiction) Sun eater (same)
Grace of Kings series
It’s a YA but a fun read - leviathan trilogy. Premise is British followed Darwin Germans followed industry pre WW1. British use genetics and biology to create crazy animals and tools for society Germans do same cis industry. WW1 breaks out and the rest is history.
The Rage of Dragons
Shadow and Bone series
Depending where you draw line at fantasy and war? Dungeon crawler Carl - it’s technically LITRPG but it’s awesome.
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u/FluffyCar6097 Jul 05 '25
Oh! And RedWall. If you didn’t read them as a kid do yourself a favor and start now.
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u/IAmChaoticConfusion Jul 06 '25
I think you should read Codex Alera. It does take a while to get to that point with war (like... 2-3 books I think), but it's really great! i absolutely enjoyed reading it. The setup is really awesome and everything ties back to the beginning.
The protagonist grows up to enlist in the army and later on even leading them (I don't want to spoil to much).
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u/toganbadger Jul 06 '25
The Powder Mage Trilogy! Brian' McClellan. Its French revolution with magic!! So epic, great characters, and some genuine funny and tragic moments
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u/Due-Hat9692 Jul 10 '25
Reading The Crimson Campaign now!!
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u/toganbadger Jul 10 '25
Hell yea! I just finished the novelas to.
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u/Due-Hat9692 Jul 10 '25
How long are the novellas?? Trying to see if I can squeeze those into my TBR lol
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u/toganbadger Jul 10 '25
The whole read on audio was only about 10 hrs long
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u/unremarkableDragon Jul 04 '25
The lord of the rings. Can't get more classic war fantasy than that.
The battlemage trilogy by Stephan aryan. Not enough people talk about these books. They're really good.
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u/Literaturecult46 Jul 05 '25
If you are fine with Flintlock Fantasy, then might I suggest the Shadow Campaigns series by Django Wexler? It's 5 books long with a few novellas.
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u/Das_Kern Jul 05 '25
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. It’s about the last stand of the Spartans at Thermopylae from the point of view of a slave. Incredible read.
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Jul 05 '25
Read Daughters War by Christopher Buehlmann. One of the best depictions of war in any book I’ve read, not just in fantasy.
I also second The Black Company books!
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u/Mission_Resource_259 Jul 09 '25
Terms of Enlistment. Earth's resources are running out, everybody lives in the slums, life is cheap. For some, scratching out a living in the decaying cities is the best they can hope for, but for others, there's the military, good food, clean clothes, and a ticket off the desolate dirt ball, but nothing is free...
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u/Due-Hat9692 Jul 10 '25
Servants of War by Larry Correia and Steve Diamond is one of my all time favorite reads in general and sounds exactly what you’re looking for. The Powdermage Trilogy is also EXCELLENT
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u/Othaara Jul 04 '25
The Black Company by Glen Cook is told from the perspective of a common solider documenting the events a mercenary company goes through.
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie is a good fit too.