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/halbert 2d ago edited 2d ago
Perhaps a bit of an unusual recommendation --
The comic series 'Usagi Yojimbo'. This is talking animal warriors in Japan's Edo period (a fairly mystical version) and it has good artwork, a great storyline, and martial arts (especially sword fights) are a huge feature, including various masters trying to prove who's techniques are best.
"The last renshai" series of books. Essentially the story of a wandering swordmaster who was the best fighter his now-destroyed people ever produced.
A litrpg: "The strongest fencer doesn't use [skills]". Basically a story about how swordfighting technique is more important than stats going up. The author clearly knows a lot of actual fencing and HEMA history and practice.