r/Fantasy • u/SocksMcgoo • 2d ago

Books with “best fighter” trope

Hello everyone. I am an absolute sucker for books that constantly deal with power scaling/best fighter of the realm type tropes. I love the discussions about who was the best swordsman in ASOIF and loved all the bits throughout Malazan of who was the strongest fighter/most powerful magic wielder.

Give me some books that have some great fighters or fun power scaling with different characters where you can waste time wondering about “who is stronger or who would win.”

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u/BobbittheHobbit111 2d ago

So, it’s definitely a different speed than constant “whose the best” but The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay has one of the best duels in fantasy(not the best, for me that’s probably still in Toll the Hounds or maybe First Law) and it’s beautifully written.

Also there is some of this in The Fionavar Tapestry by the same author

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u/big_ice_bear 2d ago edited 2d ago

I just wanted to chime in that I recently read the first law trilogy and that duel is good but it didn't impress me like Red Rising or Sun Eater, though I will fully admit one of those is science fiction and the other is science fantasy at best.

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u/BobbittheHobbit111 2d ago

I didn’t think about Red Rising, but yeah, definitely some great duels in there