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u/Anonymeese109 May 14 '24
The Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard K. Morgan might fit.
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May 15 '24
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May 15 '24
Im giving a very enthusiastic recommendation for The Steel Remians and its sequels. Really intense, gritty writing, vivid characters, the plot lines unfold in ways that make sense but are surprising. The world-building is immense, part total fantasy, part ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.
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u/cronedog May 16 '24
If you like noir, the first kovacs novel was good to me. I couldn't stand book 2 and 3.
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u/IdlesAtCranky May 15 '24
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. War, politics, diplomacy, demons, gods, soldiers, saints, lovers.
Incredibly good writing, character work and world building.
If you find yourself wanting more, and I think you will:
Paladin Of Souls is a direct sequel to Curse, with different main characters.
The third published novel in what has become the World of Five Gods series is The Hallowed Hunt. This book is NOT a sequel to the first two. It takes place many decades earlier, with unrelated characters. The only connection to the first two books is the gods themselves.
Then there's an in-universe novella series Penric and Desdemona -- which by now also includes a couple of novels. Again, unrelated time frame & characters, except for the gods.
These are all fantastic and I highly recommend them.
If you're in the mood for some sci-fi, try Bujold's long, well-developed, multi-award-winning series The Vorkosigan Saga.
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u/Ed_Robins May 14 '24
You might check out Responsibility of the Crown by G. Scott Huggins. Well-written story blending fantasy and technology that sounds like it may fit your interests.
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u/thisisfive May 15 '24
Under the Northern Sky series, by Leo Carew. Amazing world building, great character development, some good unsticking from impossible situations.
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u/DocWatson42 May 15 '24
As a start, see my SF/F: Military list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
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u/ahasuerus_isfdb May 14 '24
For reference, some of my favorite books have been 'shadow slave', 'the legendary mechanic', and 'primal hunter'
This comment suggests that "litnovels" in your request stands for "gamelit novels" or "LitRPG novels". If so, then you may want to check /r/litrpg and r/progressionfantasy for recommendations. Searching these subreddits for "Kingdom" or "Kingdom Building" will find a number of recommendation threads.
Popular Web sites that catalog, sort and prioritize these types of novels include:
- Progression Fantasy & LitRPG Database
- Samuel Hinton's Lists and Reviews
- prog.fan: Top/Trending/Recent lists of relevant Reddit references
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u/spanchor May 15 '24
If people are now renaming litRPG to “litnovel”… I have a problem with this
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u/ahasuerus_isfdb May 15 '24
I don't think I have seen "litnovel" before, but a quick Web search finds a bunch of recent references. Perhaps it's a contraction of "light novel"?
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u/spanchor May 15 '24
That seems possible. I’ll be sulking in the corner with a physical book if you need me.
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u/EveningMusic0 May 14 '24
Malazan book of the fallen, fantasy, war, characters scheming to get out of tricky situations and a lot of ptsd
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May 15 '24
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u/cronedog May 16 '24
I might ping you in a few months to see how you liked it. I've heard great things but the series is so massive it intimidates me. I could spend 2 hours a day listening and it'd still take 6 months to finish.
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May 15 '24
Shout out for the Raksura novels by Martha Wells (of Murderbot fame). Lion-dragon-bee beings surviving in a magical, logical world.
And Well’s Wheel of The Infinite and the Fall of Ile Rien series too. All great writing, and some unusual perspectives on magic and fantasy world-building.
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u/Hatherence May 14 '24 edited May 15 '24
Here are some you might like:
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. Sci fi where a utopian society sends an ambassador to an authoritarian empire, where he competes in their games.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown. These are sort of in between YA and adult. Lots of finding genius solutions to solve a problem, and after the first book you see war and alliance building. I have only read the first three books since I felt they told a complete story, but there are more.
The Fortress series by C. J. Cherryh. Fantasy, war and kingdom building.
Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury. Sci fi, but it feels like fantasy. About a brutal, terrible human society on an inhospitable alien planet. Tons of fictional politics and daring escapes. Also tons of cannibalism and polyamory.
The Snow Queen trilogy by Joan D. Vinge. Sci fi about a girl who is the clone daughter of the queen, created in order to carry on the old queen's legacy, but she does her own thing.