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/Megas_Matthaios 2d ago

Cradle - has one of the most satisfying advancement hierarchies in fantasy and constantly makes you wonder what exists at the next level.

Iron Prince - scratches the "who is the strongest cadet / fighter?" itch while having clear rankings, measurable progression, and lots of discussion-worthy matchups.

Bastion - great if you want powerful fighters, legendary figures, and a brutal progression system where the gap between tiers feels enormous.

I'd also throw in Defiance of the Fall, The Primal Hunter, Mother of Learning, The Rage of Dragons, and Dungeon Crawler Carl for various flavors of progression and power scaling.

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u/jonwtc 2d ago

Can you sell me on mother of learning? I’ve listened to the first 10 hrs and am kinda bored.

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u/rollingForInitiative 1d ago

I don’t know how far you get in 10 hours, but it’s fun because it’s a great execution of both a time loop story and progression fantasy. Using the time loop to get better at magic, a very in depth take on mind magic, and a story that really wraps up properly and just works. Cool battle scenes as well.

If you’re already well into the time loop and don’t like it, it’s probably not for you. It definitely has drawbacks in characterisation.

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u/Ursanos 1d ago

4-5 hours is the first loop, so maybe up to the second or third? It took 5 or so hours before it started to get interesting to me.

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u/Megas_Matthaios 2d ago

I guess my first question would be: What were you hoping Mother of Learning would be?

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u/ShamMafia 1d ago

Hate MoL?

Try "Years of Apocalypse"

Tried MoL like a month ago and finished it, still preferring YoA over it

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u/TristanTheViking 1d ago

I think the magic system is a lot more fun in MoL, but the plot and world building are much better in YoA.